In recent years rugby supporters in Scotland have become used to seeing Joe Reynolds run in tries for Currie Chieftains and Watsonians - and over the last few weeks he has been running five kilometres a day to raise funds and awareness for a charity that is very close to his heart.
Between June 1 and June 30, New Zealand-born Reynolds is covering the stated distance each day in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and, to date, he has raised nearly £2,500.
Reynolds, who first arrived in Scotland to play for Currie in 2013, has been living with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) for just over a year now.
Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition affecting more than 10,900 people in the UK. You are born with it and cannot catch it later in life, but one in 25 of us carries the faulty gene that causes it usually without knowing.
Reynolds, now 34, takes up his story: “During the pandemic I had Covid five times, a couple of times it was not too bad, but other times it really did floor me.
“I then had a persistent cough that just wouldn’t go away and a couple of other issues, so I went through lots of tests over about an 18-month period while the medics tried to work out what was wrong.
“It was hard to get to the bottom of it until one respiratory doctor that I saw at the hospital said that I was showing all the signs of Cystic Fibrosis.
“They wanted me to get tested for it I knew that I was already a carrier of the gene, but it turned out after that test that I actually has the genetic disorder and that’s why I’d been having all the problems I had been having.
“I look back now to when I was growing up in New Zealand and when I had a cough or a cold it always took me longer to recover than others, but still to get the news that I had Cystic Fibrosis was still quite a shock even if it all made sense.”
Since the news came last May, Reynolds has made changes to parts of his lifestyle to help manage living with CF and he and his wife Catriona, two-year-old son Lochie and seven-month-old daughter Georgie have all got slowly used to it. For example, his diet is now different while he takes medication three times a day.
He has done a lot of research online about CF and has followed the stories of people who have it on social media - and that is what made him decide he wanted to do his own challenge to raise awareness and funds.
“I go to the CF Clinic at the Western General Hospital about once every month and they have been brilliant with me,” he explained.
Reynolds added: “They help me with support and give me exercises and things like that to do and, at one of my early meetings with them, they told me about the great work that the Cystic Fibrosis Trust do.
“Once I started to read into the CF Trust and make contact with them I noticed that CF Week was between June 17 and 23 this year.
“During CF Week they raise as much awareness as they can so I thought June would be the perfect time to get involved.
“I started the 5km runs in and around Edinburgh on June 1 and most of them have gone well although that first weekend was tricky because I was also playing for an ‘old boys’ team at the Currie Sevens and I was a bit knackered by the evening of the 2nd!
“Seriously, though, the runs have been fun and what has been extra special is that friends have joined me on some of the runs and we have been able to catch up while we cover the distance.
“Those that joined me included the Currie head coach Mark Cairns while it was nice to do the run last Friday on the 21st alongside my wife on the day that, as part of CF Week, they tag ‘Wear Yellow Day’.
“Originally I was going to finish last Friday, but the good vibes and fund raising means I am now running until the end of the month on Sunday.
“I’d like to say a big thanks to all who have donated and those who have supported me since I was told I had Cystic Fibrosis, it means a lot.”
Reynolds, now a PE teacher at George Watson’s College, grew up in Pukekohe in New Zealand and played all of his junior rugby there before going to Sacred Heart College in Auckland.
"I played two years in the first XV there before moving down to Waikato University in Hamilton,” the man who mainly played centre during his career explained.
“While I was there I played for four years for the Hamilton Marist club and was in the Waikato Academy set-up.
“I then moved back home and worked on the farm with my dad for a couple of years and, while I was on the fringes of the Mitre 10 Cup and had a couple of bad injuries, I thought ‘let’s go abroad and give that a try’.”
On the recommendation of friend Simon Marcel who had played for Currie, Reynolds found himself pitching up at Malleny Park 11 years ago.
A broken wrist curtailed that first spell in Scotland before time with Vigo in Spain and a return to Currie alongside guys like James Semple and Travis Brooke who he had gone through school with back home.
Reynolds then met his now wife in the capital before heading back to New Zealand to finish his teaching degree at the Auckland University of Technology, playing for Counties Manukau at the time.
On returning to Scotland, Reynolds did a seven-week pre-season with Glasgow Warriors in the summer of 2018 and played in a friendly game against Harlequins.
“That was a great experience and seeing them win the URC at the weekend was amazing,” he said.
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“After my time with the Warriors I played for Currie until I joined Watsonians at the start of the Super6/Series era.
"My final game for Watsonians was the Championship final against Ayrshire Bulls which we won in extra-time in 2022 so that was a good way to go out!
“I then played most of the 2022/23 season for Currie after that and now, having hung up my boots last summer, I am getting more involved in coaching down at Malleny.
“To see the Currie guys win the Premiership down at Hawick recently was a great feeling because the club means a lot to me and we are excited about taking on the new-look Premiership after this summer because I think the standard of competition will be really good.
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