{"id":501368,"date":"2026-03-29T06:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T06:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/501368\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T06:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T06:54:14","slug":"mike-tindall-and-his-mates-start-charity-bike-ride-to-rugby-match-in-honour-of-former-star-ed-slater-as-he-fights-motor-neurone-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/501368\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Tindall and his mates start charity bike ride to rugby match in honour of former star Ed Slater as he fights motor neurone disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-1002\/ed-holt.html\" class=\"author\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ED HOLT<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  08:37 EDT, 28 March 2026   |  Updated:  10:17 EDT, 28 March 2026   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\"><a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/mike-tindall\/index.html\" id=\"mol-fc711880-2a95-11f1-bff5-0f424bfb0285\" class=\"class\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Mike Tindall<\/a>\u00a0and his rugby mates have set off on a charity bike ride to to raise money for their fellow former rugby player Ed Slater who has Motor Neuron Disease (MND).<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Fellow rugby legend\u00a0Martin Johnson CBE will go\u00a0go head-to-head against Mike in a team cycle race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">They are cycling approximately 45 miles from their respective home stadiums to Villa Park &#8211; where a Slater Cup rugby match is set to be played today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Mike will be racing from Gloucester&#8217;s\u00a0Kingsholm and Martin will set off from Leicester&#8217;s Welford Road.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The Slater Cup was created in honour of\u00a0former Gloucester and Leicester Tigers player Ed Slater following his diagnosis with MND in July 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It is contested between Ed&#8217;s two former teams every season and this year marks the first time it will be played outside of a rugby ground when roughly 40,000 fans travel to Aston Villa&#8217;s home ground later today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Both teams are raising money for the 4ED Foundation. The charity was set up by Ed Slater following his diagnosis to support people affected by MND with much needed support, including adaptations to homes, days out for carers and mental health support.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">So far <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"class\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gloucesterrugbyfoundation.org\/4ed\/racetoslatercup\/\">the 4ED foundation<\/a> have raised \u00a328,531 of their \u00a3100,000 goal.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-b15e4d3e6a2dde90\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/107492339-15687205-image-a-23_1774705442335.jpg\" height=\"1002\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Mike Tindall at the start of today's race to Villa Park ahead of the Slater Cup fixture\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Mike Tindall at the start of today&#8217;s race to Villa Park ahead of the Slater Cup fixture<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-9002483e3a2c64e3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/107492337-15687205-image-a-24_1774705463025.jpg\" height=\"912\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Mike is racing fellow\u00a0rugby legend Martin Johnson CBE.\u00a0They are cycling approximately 45 miles from their respective home stadiums to Villa Park\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Mike is racing fellow\u00a0rugby legend Martin Johnson CBE.\u00a0They are cycling approximately 45 miles from their respective home stadiums to Villa Park<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-dd438929d0baa747\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/107491411-15687205-image-a-3_1774701041055.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Ed Slater and his wife Jo in November 2025. Ed was diagnosed with\u00a0Motor Neuron Disease (MND) in July 2022\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Ed Slater and his wife Jo in November 2025. Ed was diagnosed with\u00a0Motor Neuron Disease (MND) in July 2022\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Mike previously said:\u00a0MND is a horrible disease and it&#8217;s been really difficult to witness how it&#8217;s impacted Ed and his family, as well as others in the rugby community.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;What has been very special to see is how the community has united through it all, most recently with the news about my good friend and former teammate, Lewis. It will be a privilege to represent both Leicester Tigers and the wider rugby community as part of The Race to The Slater Cup next year.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Ed spoke of how honoured he felt that &#8216;two absolute legends of the game&#8217; were taking part in the challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">He said: &#8216;Both Gloucester and Leicester mean a huge amount to me and I&#8217;m forever grateful to the support they&#8217;ve shown me and my family, particularly over the past three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">&#8216;While my name is in the title of The Slater Cup, it&#8217;s about so much more than me; it&#8217;s about raising awareness of this cruel disease and funds to support people impacted by it. I&#8217;m sure with the weight of Tinds, Johnno and others, we can make a big difference to the MND community.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        Mike Tindall and his mates start charity bike ride to rugby match in honour of former star Ed Slater as he fights motor neurone disease<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By ED HOLT Published: 08:37 EDT, 28 March 2026 | Updated: 10:17 EDT, 28 March 2026 Mike Tindall\u00a0and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[97,60651,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-501368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-mike-tindall","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-rugby","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}