Taking on some of the world’s toughest roads....on a sofa
TAKING on some of the world’s toughest roads is enough of a challenge for even the most adventurous types.
But a Leamington engineer has added a new weight to his madcap challenge - in the shape of a sofa.
James Collier, of Livery Street, Leamington, will join school friend Ben Humphreys next month to travel 3,500 kilometres from Piura to the Sacred Valley, Cuzco, Peru, to raise money for some of the country’s poorest people.
But rather than use a traditional method of transport such as a four-wheel drive vehicle, the 34-year-olds will be driving the front half of a motorbike, welded onto a sofa on wheels.
In doing so, they will be raising money for international development charity Practical Action’s projects in Peru. The Warwickshire-based organisation helps around one million of the world’s poorest people every year by working with local communities to provide technical solutions to the problems they face every day.
The 34-year-old acoustic engineer, who works for Jaguar Land Rover at Gaydon, said: “I have been thinking about going away and using my skills to help other people in the world for some time now and this is a good way of getting an idea of what I can do to help. I like the way Practical Action use technology, some of it simple, some of it more advanced, to improve people’s lives.
“We are paying for the whole trip ourselves and have arranged it through a company called The Adventurists. You leave the starting point, wave goodbye and are told to get to the end by yourself. You are expected to break-down, get stranded and think on your feet.
“All sponsorship will go to directly Practical Action, who promise that 87p of every pound we raise is spent in on their projects in Peru.”
To find out more about the challenge, log on to www.theadventurists.com/the-adventures/mototaxi-junket. To sponsor James, visit www.justgiving.com/kamikazecabs2012
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leamington
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 3 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 30 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North
