Guardian News

No strings attached for charity rally racers

By Katie Durose

8:30am Friday 3rd September 2010

TWO Middlewich men will take to the road this weekend to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Mark Haughton, 33, of Fairacre Drive and co-driver Chris Stockton, 36, of Welbeck Close, will travel 4,000 miles in an old Citroen banger, joining more than 40 other drivers in the Dumball Rally.

The event will begin with a parade of all the cars on Brighton’s seafront on Friday, before taking them across the channel to France.

From there they will drive south through the heart of the Austrian Alps, into the former Yugoslavia and down to Greece, where they will spend a day at the foot of Mount Olympus.

After a ferry across the Ionian sea, into main land Italy, they will end their journey on the sun–soaked island of Sicily.

However, dad-of-two Mark, said he’s most looking forward to the adventure across war-torn Bosnia and Kosovo.

He said: “Obviously things have moved on since then but the scars of war still remain.

“At some point we will have to drive through a minefield.”

The pair entered the event after they decided they wanted to do something worthwhile for charity.

After researching online they found the a cause most suited to them.

“For the last two years the Dumball have been raising money for the state of the art unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital,” said Mark, assistant branch manager at Travis Perkins in Winsford.

“It will care for young people with cancer.

“Chris’s mum is a nurse at Leighton Hospital children’s ward, the doctors and nurses there have been very supportive and helped raise money.

“We are no petrol heads we just thought it would be a really good cause.”

Already they have managed to raise £2,500 but hope to reach their target of £4,000 by the time they get back.

They said the support from local businesses has been fantastic and have so far been sponsored a host of local businesses, including the Golden Lion pub.

Chris, an airline pilot and former Middlewich High School pupil, said: “The regulars have been extremely supportive, every one of them has sponsored us.”

To sponsor the team visit: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Spectrum

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