A year ago I decided that the final 11,000 miles around the world would be run unsupported. To take a motorhome and a support team through the remaining countries would be far too expensive. As a charitable venture it just wouldn't have the financial rewards that such an effort warrants. The cost of fuel, insurance and RV hire not to mention the personal cost to the support team to get to the remaining remote locations would be huge.
So how do you run 11,000 miles unsupported?
I had an initial idea of pulling a cart with all of my supplies inside. It was Jimmy who then discovered a company, SJH Projects, that had made such a thing for an arctic marathon. I made contact with them and, after a visit to the factory in Nottingham to see a prototype, I decided that they were the right people for the job.
I had an initial idea of pulling a cart with all of my supplies inside. It was Jimmy who then discovered a company, SJH Projects, that had made such a thing for an arctic marathon. I made contact with them and, after a visit to the factory in Nottingham to see a prototype, I decided that they were the right people for the job.
The only stumbling block to getting the buggy project off the ground was money. That wasn't the case for very long at all and long term supporter, Chapman Ventilation, offered to pay in full for its production. The budget for the project was £20,000 and we agreed that any surplus money from that budget would go to my chosen charity for 2017, Useful Vision. As it turned out, £1070 has ended up being paid to the charity which is fantastic! A huge thank you goes to Chapman Ventilation for their continued support.
I announced my intentions to go unsupported using a buggy at the Around The World Ball in October 2016. To the amazement/disbelief of those in attendance I showed an image of the prototype buggy on the big screen. I'm not sure how many people took me seriously but I'm glad to report that 12 months later the Chapman Ventilation Around The World Buggy, or "Chappie" for short, is now a reality.
Another of my amazing sponsors, Fresh Freight Group (FFG), kindly transported the finished buggy from Nottingham back to the North East last week. By the way, the t-shirts designed by the children at Useful Vision and paid for by FFG have almost sold out. This is a classic example of making the sponsor's money work hard for the charities. a £645 spend has returned double that amount for Useful Vision. FFG also kindly packaged and posted all t-shirts which has also saved a lot of time and money. Another massive thank you goes to FFG for their brilliant support.
Back to the buggy. With a carbon fibre body, steel chassis and 16 inch BMX wheels, Chappie weighs 70kg when empty. The solar panel on the roof of the buggy is connected to an internal battery which means that I'll be able to power equipment such as my GPS watch, a GPS tracking device, laptop and photographic equipment.
I'll sleep in the buggy for the remaining 11,000 miles through Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Japan and New Zealand.
All of the supplies that I need will be inside Chappie including this collapsable set of pans. The first image below is a pot, frying pan and kettle all squashed down. The second image is all three in their full form. I can't wait to see what I can rustle up in those things after a hard day of running. It'll probably mostly be porridge but I reckon I might surprise myself a few times.
You'll be hearing a lot more about Chappie in the coming months and also the kit inside that I'll be relying on to help get me from Serbia to Kazakhstan in 2018.
