The Team for Dambusters2013 takes shape...

2013 is the 70th Anniversary of the Dambusters Raid which was the inspiration for our charity motorcycle ride for Help for Heroes which took place in May this year.

In 2013 we will build upon what we learnt this year and deliver a charity motorcycle ride that is bigger, better and with significantly wider biker participation.

This time the plan is for bikers to travel from the UK to the continent via three ferry ports. Harwich to the Hook, Hull to Rotterdam and Newcastle to Ijmuiden. From there the bike routes will follow the navigation routes of the Lancaster bombers of the first and second waves of the real Dambusters in May 1943, with all the riders coming together at Ahlen (as did the real Dambusters in their Lancasters),for the final ride down to the Mohne Dam in time to commemorate the lives lost on both sides at 12.19am, 17th May.

Again, our primary charity will be Help for Heroes www.helpforheroes.org.uk but this time we will also have a secondary charity, Motorcycle Outreach. Check them out at www.motocycleoutreach.org

I am thrilled to again have the confirmed support of 617 sqdn, the Dambusters.

My main contact with the Dambusters for 2012 has been promoted and posted (more on that a bit later in the post). However, the good news is that in 2013 the 617 Sqdn participation will be coordinated by the one and only Flt Lt Stew' Campbell, Tornado GR4 pilot and biker! Stew' is already firmly linked with Dambusters2012 as he flew our Help for Heroes Teddy No.2 on its combat sortie over Afghanistan and then he joined us at the Birmingham Help for Heroes Ball on 3rd November to both help us sell the teddies and to represent 617 sqdn and RAF Lossiemouth. Stew' is pilot in the image below and 'on stage' at the Birmingham H4H Ball.

 

 

The even better news is that Warrant Officer Paul Peden, the man who made Dambusters2012 Teddy Bears over Afghanistan happen will also remain part of the team as much as his commitments to his new role will allow! Paul is a top man and Dambusters2012 and Help for Heroes are in his debt. the image below shows Paul with one of his 617 Sqdn charges at Kandahar Airbase during Operation Herrick 16 this year.

If we are going to be bigger and better we need to gain better PR and visibility, to be much more professional with our promotion. We are therefore thrilled to have Craig Carey-Clinch on the team. Craig is MD of Rowan Public Affairs and a Member of the Chartered Institute of PR. He is also an extremely experienced overland biker. Top man.

Also new to our team for 2013 is Al Hunter. Al, a New Zealander by birth, runs his own IT Consultancy and rides a a big orange KTM. Al has kindly agreed to pick up the delivery of a much more professional web presence for us in 2013 - once built our web url will be www.dambusters2013.org.uk  Sadly I don't yet have a piccie of Al so you have to use your imagination!

The team is rounded off by myself and fellow Dambusters2012 rider and fund-raiser Victor Chevens. Dambusters2013 will be the third charity ride Victor and I have done together for Help for Heroes. Victor is a great man to ride with, level, calm and good company too. Rides a bright red Triumph Daytona. The pic below was taken at the Mohne Dam on 16th May this year during our charity ride to and from the dams as Victor was being interviewed by Laura of BFBS for the short news film at the top of this post.

 

and then there is me!

So that's the team. Bigger and more capable than in 2012. 

The teams first full meeting is at the Motorcycle Live Show - watch out for more information on how to get involved soon after that!!!

We already have indications of support from a helmet manufacturer, two of the ferry companies on the routes we plan to use...

Bring it on I say!