Latest news - come along and join us at our finishing bike meet in Matlock Bath see below for details!

The BBC are on board!

We're very excited to have the BBC covering our challenge in a number of ways. BBC Radio Nottingham are featuring us on their website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/content/articles/2007/08/08/long_way_up_bike_challenge_feature.shtml)

with regular updates and telephone interviews throught the challenge. Fran will be calling us at 10am on Friday 17th, Tuesday 21st and Thursday 24th to check on our progress - tune and listen to our latest adventures!

BBC Click and Radio 4's Digital Planet are also featuring the challenge as a backdrop to the research Alex is conducting into motorcycle ergonomics. Digital Planet presenter Gareth Mitchell (himself a biking fan!) will be joining Alex and Ben in Aberystwyth and Harlech with a BBC film crew to catch the action! Come along and you might be on the TV!

Our current fundraising total has now topped £2,700!

Thank you so much to everyone who is sponsoring us - we really appreciate it and we know our charities will welcome all your help. We're on target to raise about £4,000 but would really like to hit the £5,000 mark! Please help us if you can! Please remember to make a FREE dedication (go to our 'Dedications and Message Board page).

If you can't meet up with us on the way, come to our finishing bike meet in Matlock Bath!

Come along to 'The Fishpond' (www.fishpond.co.uk) at Matlock Bath from 3pm onwards on Sunday August 26th as see us as we cross the finish line! Mick Extance will be there to wave the chequered flag as we finish and we've been given the function room for our own use. Adrian Culshaw, the manager of 'The Fishpond' was happy to support our worthwhile event, there's 'The Pav' car park across the road and the pub caters for bikers and families with a great range of pub food and a restaurant. We plan to be there from 3pm - come along if you can make it!

The 'Long Way Up!' is on YouTube!

Its seems like a motorbike challenge isn't complete these days without a few cheesy clips posted up on YouTube! Pop along and have a look at ours http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOC7mjOTNKA - we'll also try and post up our video diaries on the challenge itself.

BBC Radio Nottingham (103.8 & 95.5 FM, digital & on-line)

We popped into the radio station to show our bike to Fran the bike mad morning show presenter. Alex's mother-in-law spoke very openly about iving with cancer. See photos of our visit on our 'Gallery' page. BBC Radio Nottingham also plan to cover the challenge whilst we're on it!

BMF bikers show they care! The ‘Long Way Up!’ had a stand at the BMF show in Peterborough where Alex & Ben spent all weekend collecting for their charities! We collected over £850 for Cancer Research UK and the Acorns Children’s Hospice Trust.

Ben said “thank you so much to everyone who gave so generously, we’ve now reached over £1000 for our charities which is a brilliant start!”

Alex said “it was a great weekend, we met some great people who we hope to see again on the main challenge this summer, and we also got some really important ergonomics research done as well”

Keep a check on the ‘Follow/Join Us’ page for meeting up points along the main challenge route.

Prize draw winners! At the BMF show the ‘Long Way Up!’ ran a competition to help raise money for charity. With fantastic prizes very kindly donated by Tecstar/Starcom1, Arai, Scottoiler, Draggin Jeans and John Reeves we were overwhelmed by the number of entries! The prize winners were:

1^st Prize (2x Midland G5 Radios) – S Cartwright

2^nd Prize (Arai Kit) – C Causton

3^rd Prize (Scottoiler Kit & Lube Tube) – S Edwards

4^th Prize (Draggin Jeans) – S Harrold

5^th Prize (John Reeves cartoon) – L Czarnobaj

Publicity

We’re planning a number of publicity and fundraising events before the main challenge in August where you can meet us, see our motorbike and find out more about the 'Long Way Up!' We’re happy to hold specific publicity meetings, come along to a club night and talk about our challenge, and/or conduct press interviews throughout our challenge. Just contact us to get the wheels rolling so we can arrange things. Soon we’ll have a press pack you can download with the 'Long Way Up!' press releases and photos.

Events

November 2007

Acorns Children's Hospice Trust Annual Dinner - Solihull . Alex & Ben will be presenting the Trust with the sponsorship raised from the Long Way Up! (date to be confirmed).

Cancer Research UK . Alex & Ben will be presenting the charity with the sponsorship raised from the Long Way Up! (date to be confirmed).

August 2007

17th - 26th : the Long Way Up! Please refer to the 'Follow Us' page for events that will occur during the main challenge itself.

July 2007

Cancer Research UK shops (various locations around the East Midlands - dates and locations to be confirmed). Alex & Ben will be fundraising.

April 2007

17th - 19th Ergonomics Society Annual Conference 2007 - Nottingham . Alex will be presenting papers on motorcycle ergonomics and exhibiting his bike:

Motorcycling is a pain in the neck, numb bum, aching wrists - or all these things! A rider comfort survey
RULA for motorbikes!

January 2007

BMF 'Motorcycle Rider' Magazine. Alex has written an article on Motorcycle Ergonomics.

MAG 'Street Rider' Magazine. The 'Long Way Up!' featured.

December 2006

19th : Behaviour Research in Transport - University of Nottingham . Alex presented a lecture on motorcycle ergonomics.

November 2006

4th : The Acorns Children's Hospice Trust Annual Dinner - Solihull . Alex & Ben attended the dinner to promote the 'Long Way Up!'

October 2006

10th : The Ergonomics Society East Midlands Regional Group Meeting - University of Nottingham . Alex presented a lecture on motorcycle ergonomics.

27^th: The NEC BikeShow 2006 - Birmingham . Alex & Ben attended the preview day to launch the 'Long Way Up!' and meet our sponsors.

Publicity

In the run up to, as well as during the 'Long Way Up!' your company could take advantage of the publicity we'll receive by advertising on our website and motorbike. The motorbike will provide a mobile advert throughout the UK as we travel over 2,000 miles! If you’re a company thinking of supporting us, please download our corporate sponsorship pack from our 'FREE Downloads' page or contact us to discuss how you can help us and what we can offer you in return.

We are putting together a number of packages with different levels of publicity throughout the 'Long Way Up!' By supporting us, you will be able to:

Get your company seen – with your logo on our motorbike for the fundraising activities we conduct prior to the main challenge and during the main challenge itself.

Put your company on the map – quite literally, your company logo will be a mobile advert seen throughout the 2,000 mile challenge from Lands End to John O’Groats across the UK mainland. It will also be on show at strategic fundraising and publicity points throughout the challenge.

Raise your company’s profile – receive special mention on our website (homepage and dedicated sponsors page) with links to your own site to help increase the numbers of people visiting you.

Show your support – by association with our challenge and the other companies already supporting the challenge, you will be showing your customers that you care about the charities we’re raising sponsorship for.

We will soon have details of our packages here, as well as corporate sponsorship packs available on our 'Free Downloads' page. In the meantime, please contact us directly to discuss your requirements.