Enduro Africa 2009: The Ride for Life!

ATP and Enduro Africa: Your help is needed (note: now completed)

Running Total: £5200.66

Target now reached!!! All donations go directly to the charities!!! Thanks very much to everyone who has donated so far, your money will literally help save lives! NEW: See the finished diary of events, photos and videos here! What a blast!!!

In October 2009, ATP (well…that's me, Nick Stubbs) will be hurtling myself around some of Africa's most beautiful and challenging off-road terrain on a Honda 250cc motorbike with around 200 others in Aid of some incredible charities with the help of Enduro Africa:

(If it is good enough for Princes William and Harry, it's good enough for me! Wills and Harry Enduro 2008). Here are the highlights from the 2008 Enduro Africa trip...(help)

This aims to be one of the most life-changing, challenging and rewarding experiences of my life but more than that, it will inevitably change the lives (for the better) for so many people who really need it. The challenge for me isn’t so much the riding part, I will love that, but it is to raise as much money as I can.

The target for each Enduro Africa participant is £4995 but I want to, at the very least, double that and I would like the help of as many people as possible! So as I have mentioned in our newsletter, if you have ever found anything at ATP in the slightest bit useful, you can pass on your gratitude to those who really need it.

Even if it is just £1 it will make a difference and that is just 1/5th of the price of a photography magazine!

To ensure that you don’t think I am asking for donations just to pay for my “jolly” with Enduro Africa, I will be stumping up the first £5000 by doing loads of fund raising things over the next 10 months. As I said, I want to make it to £10,000 so any and all donations from ATP readers or anyone else will go directly to the charities…in full.

DONATIONS NOW ENDED: THANK YOU!!!

This was when I progressed from a round, 20 year old parachute to a newer, nicer and more comfortable square one. The main photo was taken as I was nearing the end of my skydiving "career" and my 100th skydive.

Nowadays, I watch my kids heading off to a nice, warm and safe school every day as happy and healthy as they can be. I realise how lucky I am, but how many of us still sometimes think and complain that we are "badly off". We complain because we cannot afford that new lens or an upgrade to a new EOS 5D Mark IV etc.

Now try to imagine that when you send your kids off to school, they have nothing to sit on other than a hard, dusty floor all day. Plus you have to walk a few Kilometers every day just for fresh, clean water. Hard to imagine right?

For most of us, when we or our kids fall ill we simply head off to the doctors or to the local chemist for a simple remedy. However, a non-threatening illness to us could be life threatening to many people in Africa. Ridiculous when it could be so easily rectified!

Now think about children that are abandoned, abused, neglected, orphaned, disabled or terminally ill with Aids. Add to this years of drought and multiple crop failures making things even worse. The list goes on.

Any donation you can afford will make a big difference.

EVEN JUST £1

So, you can make a donation, (any size, it doesn’t matter), using the link below and I will add all the sponsors names to the page. I will also display the amount given (unless requested otherwise) so that you can see I am openly declaring everything.

I will also, in return for your generosity to Enduro Africa, give a free one way link to your website if you have one…I can't say fairer than that! Just add your website URL in the comments section when you make a donation.

So please, please, please, donate what you can to Enduro Africa using the PayPal buttons on this page (now removed). PayPal is one of the easiest and safest ways to pay for goods and services online but if you still don’t feel comfortable with that, you can send a cheque or postal order to: (collection ended).

Disclaimer: Now some people may think this is a scam or that I may "Siphon" some of the cash for myself. That is not what I am about. If you feel the need, you can contact the organisers directly at Enduro Africa's website (note: now ceased trading...do not contact) to confirm my part in this wacky adventure. ALL proceeds from ATP readers will be going to the charities above.

I will be receiving absolutely nothing financial from this but admittedly I will have a whole heap of fun, make new friends, have a great experience and I promise to blog the entire goings on (well, most of them) at ATP.

THANK YOU!

VholdR: Contour HD Helmet Camera to Review in Africa (Review Now Here)

Me - £500
Steve Scott, Arizona USA - £50
Victoria Ramsay - £20
Emma Ramsay - £25
Dave and Anne Ramsay - £100
Anonymous - £263.33
Sue and Terry Hills - £100
Andy and Kath Hills - £100
Peggy - £5
Mary, Ray and Harry - £5
Anonymous - £40
Kubota Image Tools - £985! (Net £660)
Becky Stubbs - £30
Bog Dog Training - £30
GE - £100
Sonia (‘er indoors) - £100
Gemma Morgan Photography - £10
Edward Kay - £10
Fiona Kijowski - £20
Maurice "Mole" - Stanford Photographic - £25
Phil Wallace - £50
Des Stubbs - £400
Jeremy Standley - £20
Rob Lipscombe - £50
Pat and Ray Cousins - £50
Roy and Alison Wilcocks - £30
Mike and Fiona Shaw - Accent Pro Images - £25
Steve Nash - Digital Photo Printing Services - £50.33
Patrick Stubbs - Natural Expressions Photography - £100

Bought Wedding Photography Blueprint Charity Special

Neal Strydom - $100
Olger Diekstra - $100
Robert Clark - $100
Christian Helm - $100
Dave Chan - $100
Jonathan Hilder - $100
Judith A Kaspar - $100
Silisia Rubel - $100
Ngaire Service - $100
Robyn Haydon - $100
Kay Pearson - $100
Todd Emerson - $100
Alain Perrigault - $100
Lesley Ward - $100
Jacqueline McKeever - $100
Lee Brooks - $100
Duncan Brown - $100
Patrick Mc Keon - $100
Bette BonFleur - $100
Richard van Leeuwen - $100
Sean Raphael Corbie - $100
Fred Haynie - $100
Vince Paludi - $100
Warren Papas - $100
George Moore - $100
Derek Gray - $100
Paul Keith Dickinson - $100
Leon Thonpson - $100
Robert Lipscombe - $100
Darren Moore - $100
Robert Pope - $100
Marc Day - $100
Bruce Barber - $100
Gary Helfrich - $100
Gary Ridgewell - $100
Athanasios Sismanis - $100
Peter Figura - $100
Mark Speight - $100
Dave Grammer - $100
A.A. Howarth - $100
Michael S. Clay - $100
Charlyce Altom - $100
Maureen Bisanti - $100
Bill Vogel - $100
Darren Maloney - $100
Lawrence Graves - $100
Anthony Short - $100
Geoff Bateman - $100
Robert D. Lawrence - $100
Alistair Ross - $100
Roberto C. Banares - $100
Rich Anderssohn - $100
Martin Pelss - $100
Allan Cullinane - $100
John Linnell - $100
Walter C Farrier - $100
Zachary Taylor - $100
Cletus M. Couture - $100
Deborah M Davis - $100
Irving W. Haywood - $100
Bill Coombes - $100

Update May: Enduro Africa 2009

Well, I went to the Enduro Africa training weekend deep in the heart of Wales earlier this month where I rode a proper off road Enduro bike for the first time. I have owned and ridden many road bikes and even the occasional trail bike in my time but nothing like this. After about 20 minutes in a disused quarry riding up and down some very steep slopes and learning the "feel" of the bikes, we headed out onto a professional Enduro course. Wow!

I foolishly chose a large Honda 450cc monster bike which was very powerful but also very heavy (everyone else was on lighter 250cc machines). It took us 1.5 hours to ride just 8 miles in the rain on wet, slippery, lumpy and "pot-holed" tracks and I can honestly say I was KNACKERED! Muscles ached for days afterwards that I didn't even know I had! I fell off about 4 times with one being quite spectacular according to one of the trainers and was told this is all good training as EVERYONE falls off many times in Africa!

We also got to meet the organisers and all four charities involved who showed some very moving videos and gave some very touching talks. I now have a greater understanding of why I am doing this and how much of an impact we will have with your generous donations so far!

Our flights have been booked and I am now feeling quite nervous because also at the training weekend were some of the Enduro Africa 2008 riders. They explained about some of the days ahead and the trials we will encounter. The longest single day is a solid 13 hours riding across rugged terrain in which time we should cover 320km! I have been training for 4 months now and lost 2.5 stone (15kg) in preparation for this and I still feel too unfit!

I plan to take my lovely new Canon EOS 5D Mark II with me to shoot and video the trip as it happens so if anyone would like to sponsor me a Hydration pack inclusive, waterproof, camera kit and waterproof clothing carrying Lowepro Dryzone Rover it would be much appreciated ; )

Hey ho! It's all good so I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has donated so far and to give you plenty of notice, I may be attending "Enduro Himalayas" next year at altitudes of 5,000 meters and above!

For those of you that would like to sponsor me for Enduro Africa 2009, there is still time and you can do so using any of the buttons on this page. All donations are split between the charities and 100% of what you give goes to them.

NEW: See the finished diary of events, photos and videos here! What a blast!!!