Charity mower run John O'Groats to Land's End

[County4x4]

Hi all,

 

Nothing at all to do with trees, but thought I'd post it up anyway.

 

I raced lawnmowers for many years as some of you will know, and two of my old club mates are doing a top to bottom run starting on Sunday, in aid of Cancer Research and Help for Heroes. They're expecting to do around 200 miles a day on two race prepared Wheelhorse mowers, with a few mods to make them road legal.

 

If anyone could spare a pound or two to support them, they'd really appreciate it!

 

There was a piece on Granada Reports last night which is here:

 

Granada Regional News | Granada Reports - ITV Local

 

and full details here, along with a link to the detailed route, and how to contribute if you'd like to help:

 

North West Lawn Mower Racing Association - The Lawn Way Down

 

Worth bearing in mind that these machines have no suspension at all, and whilst the roads are generally a bit smoother than the places we normally race, I reckon they'll be feeling it after 200 miles a day! If you're along the route somewhere, keep an eye out and give them a wave as they go past!

 

Cheers all,

 

Andy

[Stu3k]

Worth bearing in mind that these machines have no suspension at all, and whilst the roads are generally a bit smoother than the places we normally race, I reckon they'll be feeling it after 200 miles a day! If you're along the route somewhere, keep an eye out and give them a wave as they go past!

 

 

Good luck up here in the Highlands, we seem to have a new Traffic Calming measure in force called

Inverted Speed Humps(potholes), oh you'll be popular if going on the A9(road of death)

[blue beastie]

Aye, tell them to watch out on the A9!

Anywhere between John O'Groats & Perth is accident central this time of year. I've seen some really bad ones this year, and some bl*#dy close near misses too.

Good luck!

[scbk]

It's ok, they'll be trundling past belladrum festival on kicking out day and then off down the A82, so no one will be able to overtake for about 30 miles

[combined tree services]

seeing im only a few miles away can you let me know when they expect to get to lands end and i will be waiting there with a tenner and a beer for them . i take my hat off to anyone who is prepared to do something like then . top men !!!!

[County4x4]

seeing im only a few miles away can you let me know when they expect to get to lands end and i will be waiting there with a tenner and a beer for them . i take my hat off to anyone who is prepared to do something like then . top men !!!!

 

That's damned decent of you mate - nice one!! Somewhere on that info page I linked, there's an online fleet tracker which will tell you exactly how far they've got. Hopefully it will be working once they get logged in and set off. If all goes according to plan, the last day they'll be starting out from Trowbridge. Just checked now and the link is working - there's a log in and password on the info page. I have friends who live in one of the lighthouse keepers cottages at Longships - they're hoping to get along as well. I'm sure it would really make the lads day to have a bit of a welcome when they arrive.

 

Not sure how fast they're going to be going to be honest. I think they're supposed to do like 25mph according to the DVLA or whoever makes the rules - as they're registered under some agri or horticultural category. I do know they've been clocked at 53mph on the GPS on a recent test run in Derbyshire though:biggrin:

 

Just as a bit of contrast - I also posted the original message on the Transit forum, where I'm also a member. The first response was:

 

Charities are a scam!.... slowly but surely in this modern world corruption is slowly and surely being exposed!

 

Cancer will NEVER be cured, too much money at stake... and just suppose there is a cure, do you think it will be free?

 

As for help for heroes, I like many in this country appreciate the troops we have to defend THIS land, not fight in wars in other countries that are not our concern, the soldiers made a choice, they know the risks and take 'em.... if they recieve injuries through the governments doing, then it is the government that should look after them....

 

what next 'Help for Doctors and Nurses' :roll:

 

Money is robbed from this country by the EU, immigration and benefit scammers.... that's why we can't help our own!

 

Jeepers - it's a nasty twisted world some of us live in eh?!

 

Thanks again mate - appreciated!

 

Andy

[Big T]

Be sure to let us know when they will be at lands end, I will try and pop down!

[Billy]

did you expect any better from 'the average working man' on the transit forum? sounds ike an awesome challenge i wonder how far inthe novelty will wear off hehehe, fair play to them.

[County4x4]

Hi all,

 

Just a quick update for you. The mower lads spent the night near Trowbridge after a fairly long stint of 240 miles or so yesterday, and today will be doing the final push to Land's End. No major problems so far - couple of issues with belts overheating and with the brakes on one mower, but nothing that couldn't be sorted easily enough. One of the support bikes had bigger worries - can't remember what it was but a big Honda tourer thing with lots of bodywork. That had an oil leak, alternator failure, speedo failure and something else, and had to be swapped at Wigan for another one!

 

If you want to follow progress over the last day and possibly meet the guys at Land's End as a couple of you mentioned, then here's the link to the tracking

 

http://foretrackbeta.yourfleetonline.com/Devices/DeviceLocationMap.aspx?DeviceId=13559

 

The user email is [email protected] and the password is nwlmra2011

 

If you then click on Daz & Tony mowers on the left, and the the daily summary tab, and finally on the "plot" icon for todays date, you'll see where they are. I don't know if it's the same on all computers, but if you leave the site open, it will refresh the position automatically every five minutes or so. Otherwise just refresh the page yourself. Sometimes if the signal isn't great, the gaps can be bigger, as we discovered when they took an unintentional detour around the Lake District and over Kirkstone Pass to frighten a few tourists!

 

Think they're starting to feel it a bit - Daz's steering was getting the once over last night, but they thought it might just be 'cos his arms were tired out rather than a fault!

 

Anyway - there you go. Pop along and say hi if you can!

 

Andy

[County4x4]

another update - seems as though the tracker has died - possibly due to the weather. I'll try and get a report when they get to Redruth and post it here.