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.
Looking after the countryside on our ride today. Putting escaped lambs back where they belong pic.twitter.com/UXJUrcIns3
— Jonathan Brownlee (@jonny_brownlee) April 12, 2017
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.
20 thoughts on “Brownlee brothers rescue spring lambs during training ride in Yorkshire”
Less helping out friends of
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!
sergius wrote:
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.)
JonD wrote:
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!
Quite common to find sheep
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?
I also experienced a stray
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.
The Brownlee boys came to the
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.
As a Bikeability Instructor
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!
All Creatures Great & Small..
All Creatures Great & Small… Based on a book written by a Sunderland man. Hint: Sunderland isn’t in Yorkshire…
Man of Lard wrote:
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… 😉
brooksby wrote:
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
. You can stick your warm beer, Geoffrey Boycott, Michael Parkinson & Dickie Bird 
Man of Lard wrote:
Yeah, but don’t forget we have Yorkshire cheesecake too (Mmmm – Yorkshire cheesecake…
).
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).
He put it back were it
He put it back were it belonged…….on a dinner table.
Sorry Durianrider.
Are you sure he’s rescuing
Are you sure he’s rescuing that sheep ?
Anthony.C wrote:
He does have a slightly guilty look on his face…
guyrwood wrote:
He does look a bit sheepish.
This just about sums it up.
This just about sums it up.
I saw some piglets fighting
I saw some piglets fighting in a sty near Northwich last year, that was good
animated version
animated version
To add to the farmyard fables
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.
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.