Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

news

Brownlee brothers rescue spring lambs during training ride in Yorkshire

Olympic gold and silver medallists have a bit of an All Creatures Great and Small moment

In what the Yorkshire Post wonders might be "the most quintessentially Yorkshire moment ever," two of the region's sporting heroes, Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee and his brother Jonathan, rescued some spring lambs while on a training ride and put them back in their field.

Jonathan - who took bronze behind his brother at London 2012 and silver last year in Rio as Alistair retained his Olympic triathlon title - posted a picture of the episode to Twitter.

The Yorkshire Post notes that their younger brother, Ed, would be impressed by their efforts - he is training to be a vet.

A cynic might say that saving a lamb before Easter is a bit like rescuing an escaped turkey from the roadside before Christmas, but the brothers get a thumbs-up from us.

If you cycle in the countryside, of course, you'll know that coming across wayward creatures is not that unusual - so let us know in the comments below about your experiences of helping out our four-legged or feathered friends.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

Add new comment

20 comments

Avatar
fignon | 6 years ago
0 likes

 

I once ushered some Tups from the road into a field full of sheep who were eager to make their aquaintance.  Farmer didn't look too happy.

Avatar
smhopkins | 6 years ago
1 like

To add to the farmyard fables, my son and I while doing the C2C in Cumbria released a sheep that had tried to jump over a fence and got entangled in the barbed wire. A pair of short nosed pliers eventually cut through the ensnaring wire, but the sheep failed to say thank you. Baabaric manners.

Avatar
riotgibbon | 6 years ago
2 likes

animated version

Avatar
riotgibbon | 6 years ago
2 likes

I saw some piglets fighting in a sty near Northwich last year, that was good

Avatar
Kendalred | 6 years ago
3 likes

This just about sums it up.

Avatar
Anthony.C | 6 years ago
2 likes

Are you sure he's rescuing that sheep ? 

Avatar
StraelGuy replied to Anthony.C | 6 years ago
2 likes
Anthony.C wrote:

Are you sure he's rescuing that sheep ? 

 

He does have a slightly guilty look on his face...

Avatar
lindow_man replied to StraelGuy | 6 years ago
2 likes
guyrwood wrote:
Anthony.C wrote:

Are you sure he's rescuing that sheep ? 

 

He does have a slightly guilty look on his face...

He does look a bit sheepish.

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 6 years ago
3 likes

He put it back were it belonged.......on a dinner table.

 

Sorry Durianrider.

Avatar
Man of Lard | 6 years ago
1 like

All Creatures Great & Small... Based on a book written by a Sunderland man. Hint: Sunderland isn't in Yorkshire...

Avatar
brooksby replied to Man of Lard | 6 years ago
5 likes
Man of Lard wrote:

All Creatures Great & Small... Based on a book written by a Sunderland man. Hint: Sunderland isn't in Yorkshire...

But weren't the books set in Yorkshire, and based on James Herriott's time in practice in Yorkshire? So I think we can let his Sunderland roots slide...   3

Avatar
Man of Lard replied to brooksby | 6 years ago
1 like
brooksby wrote:
Man of Lard wrote:

All Creatures Great & Small... Based on a book written by a Sunderland man. Hint: Sunderland isn't in Yorkshire...

But weren't the books set in Yorkshire, and based on James Herriott's time in practice in Yorkshire? So I think we can let his Sunderland roots slide...   3

Alf White (for it was he, James Herriot was a nom de plume) was not a Yorkshireman, as much as he may have lived there and wrote about it, you cannot deny his roots. 

Typical of Yorkshire to attempt to claim everything is built/based/best in Yorkshire.

Well, I have a counterclaim - I'm from the best side of Yorkshire. The outside smiley. You can stick your warm beer, Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Parkinson & Dickie Bird 

Avatar
brooksby replied to Man of Lard | 6 years ago
2 likes
Man of Lard wrote:
brooksby wrote:
Man of Lard wrote:

All Creatures Great & Small... Based on a book written by a Sunderland man. Hint: Sunderland isn't in Yorkshire...

But weren't the books set in Yorkshire, and based on James Herriott's time in practice in Yorkshire? So I think we can let his Sunderland roots slide...   3

Alf White (for it was he, James Herriot was a nom de plume) was not a Yorkshireman, as much as he may have lived there and wrote about it, you cannot deny his roots. 

Typical of Yorkshire to attempt to claim everything is built/based/best in Yorkshire.

Well, I have a counterclaim - I'm from the best side of Yorkshire. The outside smiley. You can stick your warm beer, Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Parkinson & Dickie Bird 

Yeah, but don't forget we have Yorkshire cheesecake too (Mmmm - Yorkshire cheesecake... angry).

I wasn't disputing where he was from - all I was saying was that you'll find that if someone says "All Creatures Great and Small" they really don't think "Oh yes, a Sunderland man!".

(So are we only allowed to claim a quintessential London novel (for example) as "London's" if the author was also from London as well as writing  about it?  I hadn't realised that).

 

Avatar
Bhachgen | 6 years ago
1 like

As a Bikeability Instructor my colleagues and I quite often end up rescuing escaped dogs at work. Helped a toad across the road a couple of weeks ago too.

Thought I was going to have to rescue a lamb whilst out on a ride the other day but the sight of me advancing through the marshy pool he seemed to be stuck in was the inspiration he needed to finally pull himself out. Wet feet for nothing!

Avatar
LaVieEnVelo | 6 years ago
7 likes

The Brownlee boys came to the school where I teach and run a big sport relief fundraiser to say well done to the kids. They were completely fantastic all day - played football (Jonny's pretty handy) complete with slide tackles, the day before leaving for their Olympic training camp last year (my heart was in my mouth - imagine the broken ankle). They were so relaxed and forthcoming in the company of hundreds of selfie-blagging teenagers. I couldn't have been more impressed by two young men on the brink of greatness.

Avatar
Andrewmj54 | 6 years ago
1 like

I also experienced a stray cow at the bottom of Ranmore Common Road a couple of months back. Similar to the Brownlees boys I Did my civic duty with fellow riders and ushered it  back into the field and reported broken fence to national trust to avoid it happening again. 

Avatar
dottigirl | 6 years ago
1 like

Quite common to find sheep and other livestock dozing in the road in mid Wales. The tarmac retains the heat really well and it must be nicer for them than lying on damp ground?

Avatar
sergius | 6 years ago
0 likes

Less helping out friends of the four-legged kind and more of the two wheeled!

I'm came across some escaped cows loose on Ranmore Common Road while riding up it one morning.  Had to flag down the group descending at speed I came across a minute later - the last thing you want to see is cows blocking the road at high speed around a blind corner! 

Avatar
JonD replied to sergius | 6 years ago
1 like
sergius wrote:

the last thing you want to see is cows blocking the road at high speed around a blind corner! 

Or a group of cyclists, walkers, or even something vehicular !

(And yeah, I've caned it down there myself..if you can't stop in the distance you can see, you're going too fast ! On one section somewhere round there I've seen some prat run into the back of a car whose driver had - considerately - stopped to allow oncoming cyclists more room to pass.)

Avatar
Al__S replied to JonD | 6 years ago
1 like
JonD wrote:

if you can't stop in the distance you can see, you're going too fast !

 

Round here there's loads of descents that I go down hauling on the brakes thinking how lovely it would be to go down with closed roads for a guarentee of no oncoming things.

 

Had a close call a few weeks ago with deer on a group ride- saw them running full pelt in the field next to us, getting closer. Spotted in plenty of time though to slow up (also there was someone off the back we anted to let catch up)- just at that moment they burst out of the next cap in the hedge across the road. We'd have been skittled!

Latest Comments