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 On 24th July myself (Jamie MacDonald) and 2 friends Mark Woodhouse & Jenni McCallion will be driving 10,000 miles to Mongolia for charity as part of the Mongol Rally 2010. Our team is called Catch us if you Khan, our web site is www.catchusifyoukhan.com and we are raising money for 3 fantastic charities. Our main charity is CYPPD - Children and Young People's Protection and Development which is based in Mongolia and we will hopefully be donating our vehicle to them once we arrive in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. Our other charities are Help for Heroes and Cancer Research UK. We are 1 of very few Scottish teams this year and will be taking on this epic adventure with a unique twist of our own, we will be driving there in a 1998 Ford Transit minibus. Most teams will drive there in cars but not us, oh no that would be to easy. There are nearly 500 team entered this year all looking to cross a third of the planet in the name of charity & of course adventure. Ever since the Mongol Rally got too big to fit into one country, let alone into Hyde Park, it's been growing on a global scale. In 2009, the Mongol Rally left simultaneously from Goodwood race track in England, Barcelona in Spain and Milan in Italy and will do so again this year. We have chosen the central route which consists of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov, Russia, Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan, Back into Russia, Mongolia via the Gobi Desert, Finishing in ulaanbaatar Mongolia's capital city. Then home via train to Beijing and fly home. All teams have 2 days to make it from there launch site to the Czech Republic for the one and only check point and for a monster party in a castle. Once the teams leave the Czech Republic they're 100% on there own. We are still looking for sponsorship, both in the corporate world where businesses would be added to our web site and on the bus, as well as general sponsors (you can donate online on our web site). I work for http://www.idogifts.co.uk/">I Do... Gifts in Bank Street, Kilmarnock who are our main sponsor and is donating the vehicle. Our other sponsor so far are http://www.williefishoban.com/">Willie Fish, Roxy's cafe Oban and the http://www.one2companyone.com/">one 2 Company Fenwick. We are also looking for donations of children's toys and clothing. Our team is looking to promote what we're doing to hopefully raise awareness and more money for both charity and delivering our bus to CYPPD. We will be hosting a charity night at Roxy's cafe on Argyll Square, Oban and in Kilmarnock in the summer before we go (date's to confirmed) http://www.bbc.com/">here
Mongol Rally DVD Trailer">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeeL09NH-SA/">Mongol Rally DVD Trailer THE MONGOL RALLY 2010? Well think about this..... 10,000 miles, 15 countries, brutal deserts, bloody great big mountains, bandits, bad roads & no roads. The Mongol Rally is about getting stuck up to your armpits in all sorts of unpleasant delights in the arse end of nowhere, then hoping you can find a way out. If nothing goes wrong then everything has gone wrong! There's no back up or support of any kind, no set route and no guarantee you will make it to the finish line. It's not a race, there's no prize for arriving first and the teams who don't quite make it usually have the best stories. The real fun starts when you break down in the desert with nothing but a short stick and some chewing gum. Launching from the UK, Spain & Italy, teams converge in the Czech Republic for a monster of a party with their trusty steeds. Many head south to Iran and Turkmenistan, others head across the Kazakh desert and some have gone as far north as the Arctic Circle. Just when you think you're making progress, the roads run out and and you hit the wilderness of Mongolia. There are no roads, no signs and some of the most punishing terrain in the world. Navigation is a mixture of compass, luck, bravery and asking directions from nomadic horsemen who point at roughly towards the next big mountain and laugh. On top of making grown adults wet their pants with excitement, enormous amounts of money are raised for charities who work in Mongolia and countries along the way. By donating directly to the official charities the rally teams bring massive benefits to the countries that make the adventure a reality.
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