Sponsored by
CHARITY BOOST FROM RICHARD'S MOTORBIKE DRAMA IN MOROCCO
THE overwhelming generosity of people in the Island means a charity for orphans in South Africa has received its biggest ever single donation from one source.
Donations sponsored Richard Drinkwater's motorcycle challenge l'enduro d'Agadir in Morocco, that he undertook in early March. Even though he suffered a broken shoulder and was unable to complete the challenge, Richard has raised thousands.
Richard, who is a director at Castletown Insurance Services Ltd, spread word of his plan to undertake the 700km challenge among colleagues and friends.
Sponsorship flooded in and he thanked them all, along with Kirsten Bennett, who works for the insurance company and co-ordinated and administered the fundraising.
Donations amounted to 10,700 — that equals over 150,000 rand — that will go a long way towards finishing the new nursery, paying off a third of the bond on a mortgage and towards running expenses.
While on business in South Africa Richard met Clifford Brooke, who works for Standard Bank Insurance Brokers and runs the charity Just One Child. He was moved both by the plight of the orphans (many of them have AIDS or a physical deformity) and the commitment and integrity of Clifford and his family.
Fortunately sponsorship was not conditional upon Richard finishing l'enduro, because at the end of day two of the three-day challenge he had a misunderstanding with a sand bank and fractured his shoulder.
But he had endured 500km out of the 700km and found that the rally is well named. The terrain was very challenging, he said, rocky then sandy it goes by steep ravines and along narrow winding paths.
Because it's a race, no one stays back to help you — if something goes wrong, you're largely alone.
Richard had some experience of off -road racing, thanks to world enduro champion David Knight, from Sulby, but he discovered l'enduro is on a different scale.
After a day's training, the race began at Agadir.
'We set off two by two from a ramp, there were crowds of people,' said Richard. 'I was very, very nervous.
'We battered along on the first day and covered 250km and it took seven hours. I was tired at the end. The route was shown with arrows painted on rocks —kids turned the rocks around!
'I went down a narrow path, there was a 60 foot drop, I got stuck in some sand. Some local kids saw me and I was like a spaceman come down to earth.
'I thought this was the end of the race, it was really hot and I was hassled.
'I felt quite unsafe. You're going hundreds of miles through the wilderness.'
The next day he hit a rock that bent the sprocket and took the chain off, but he was helped by a marshal.
Then came the sand bank.
Holding the bike was 'a bit like driving a pneumatic drill, my hands are still calloused'.
After seven hours of riding, he said, there was a long stretch of sandy beach.
'It was 17km long. You've got to keep going on sand. I did not know where to go, it got wetter and wetter, eventually I found four-wheel drive tracks across a river and a steep bank up.
'The sand was like talcum powder. To get it up I knew I needed to pin it. I got to the top and just took off, they call it "taking air".
'I flew off through the air. I looked down and I was 30 feet high. I just hit the deck. It's like hitting concrete, I found myself lying on my front with the bike lying on top of me, there's a hot exhaust pipe, I managed to get out.
'A local kid came over the dunes, I was able to wave at him to get help, they came up with a four-wheel drive. I was pretty dazed and winded. They put me on a drip and cut my clothes off and took me to local military hospital.
'I had a whole group of people looking at me. Nurses and their friends came in and said: "Look, there he is!" There was also the local police and a guard, they treated me nicely.'
He was forced to retire from the race, but would otherwise have completed day three. Richard said: 'It was a great experience, it was challenging. Morocco is beautiful, there's a whole range of different landscapes, the riding is very exhilarating.
'I'm not sure if everybody would want to do it.'
His arm in a sling, having been operated on in London, and his hands still calloused, he said there was no question the trip was a success, certainly in terms of the funds raised for the orphans.
He said he would even consider doing it again, but would use his clutch more next time!
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Weather for Isle of Man
Saturday 04 February 2012
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