Africa ride for charity

The founder of Irish MAG and the spokesman for the Motorcycle Industry Association start a memorial charity ride to and through Africa on Thursday (Nov 10).

The MCIA’s Craig Carey-Clinch and Irish MAG’s David French aim is to raise awareness for healthcare charities in developing countries through Riders for Health and a new programme, Motorcycle Outreach.

They are riding BMW F650 GS Dakar machines and ride in memory of Simon Milward – well-known motorcycle humanitarian – who died in West Africa earlier this year.

“Our only concern now is bad weather at sea. Our trip is well organised and it has been great to have a company like BMW. They have helped us with a lot of the preparation details,” said Craig.

Craig and David’s 42-day, 7,000-mile-plus ride will be mostly on Tarmac and take the duo across the Sahara Desert to the Riders for Health Headquarters in Gambia, West Africa – and back to London again.

At the time of his death in March 2005, Simon Milward was nearing the end of an around the world ride in support of projects aimed towards using motorcycles for the delivery of primary healthcare services in remote areas of developing countries.

In partnership with Riders for Health, he had established a motorcycle based healthcare logistics project in Flores, Indonesia, and Motorcycle Outreach represents the continuation of his work.