Since 2004, The Mongolia  Rally, set up by the Adventurists Charity, is a journey designed to take a team 10,000 miles, around a third of the earth,  from Goodwood Raceway to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, all in aid of charity. In this time, the team will encounter a wide variety of terrains, from the highest mountain ranges to the flattest plains and deserts due to each team deciding their own route from start to finish. In the past, teams have journeyed south through Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan or some have travelled north through the Ukraine, Russia, and Kazakhstan.  This flexibility, or ‘un-route’ allows each group of individuals to take from the challenge what they desire and create a journey like no other that’s been before.

Another added challenge to the ten thousand mile long journey is that travelling in style isn’t allowed. It’s the adventure that we explorers crave, hence the birth of the one litre rule. No car that has an engine larger than 1 litre (ish), and registered after January 2003, is allowed to make the hallowed voyage. There is nothing like staring down the bonnet of a small car at hundreds of miles of dirt track and foot-high rocks.  Upon reaching the final destination, each car is then sold at auction with the proceeds going to a grass roots charity.

In the past seven years, this event has helped raise over £2 million for charity and with each year, the total continues to rise. Each team must raise a minimum of £1000 for charity, half of which goes to a charity of the teams choice, and the other half goes to the official charity of the rally, which this year is Lotus Children Centre Charitable trust (LCCT). They work with vulnerable children and families to provide the basic human rights of shelter, food and education in Mongolia. The LCCT currently care for up to 150 abused, orphaned and abandoned children at any one time.

 

Meet the Team - “The Team of Choice”

The Team is being put together by David who is a local lad having lived in the Fylde for the last 10 years.

Being the self-proclaimed brains and driving force of this venture, David would probably be considered a team joker by his friends and family. Formerly a student at King Edward VII School in Lytham, he is a keen sportsperson, formerly representing the county at rugby union and being an important member of the school’s first mixed hockey side. His future ambitions lie within the Armed Forces, with trying to gain selection to Sandhurst as an Army Officer his top priority.

David’s reasons for going on this trip are to raise money for the charities and to help further his future goals, by proving to himself that he can help plan and take part in such a major, long running event, establishing great organisational skills and a desire to succeed.

The Chosen Charity

David is a laid back individual who treasures his own independence, has the ability to work both in a team and alone and loves a challenge. Yet whilst taking part in his chosen sports, or when at work, he has encountered a large number of groups and individuals that require constant care to go about their lives. In particular, as a lifeguard, David takes real pride in his ability to swim and care for others in the water, yet when seeing adults old enough to be his parents rely upon the aid of others to even stand in a pool it really moves him. As a young man with his first real grasp of independence to see other people who require the assistance of others within sports and going around their basic day to day activities, hit him hard. The plight of these men and women showed him that he had the opportunity to do something really meaningful for an issue close to his heart.