Closeburn Pair on Charity Race to Africa

Nov 25 2009 by Kieran Westbrook, Dumfries Standard Wednesday

Closeburn Pair on Charity Race to Africa

A CLOSEBURN father and son are looking for sports donations to take to Africa as part of a charity race.

Mike and Stuart Steele are all set to embark on a 4,000 mile drive from Closeburn to West Africa in the Plymouth to Dakar fun run.

Team “Steelegoing” is the only Scottish entrant in the race and are looking for donations to bring as gifts.

Mike said: “The trip should be good fun and it is for a good cause.

“We have been thinking about going for several years and are now getting excited with just a month to go.

“What we’re really looking for is old football or rugby strips for us to give to people when we get to Gambia.

“It would be great to see Gambian children in Annan or Queen of the South football strips!

“We have a number of local sponsors whose logos we will be sporting, and there is more information about the trip at the community website at www.nithvalley.net”

Mike and Stuart will set off in an old Dutch Landcruiser taking three weeks to drive through Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal to Banjul the capital of Gambia.

They will be in Marrakech for Christmas and the middle of the Sahara for New Year.

The pair set off on December 17 and will auction off what’s left of their Landcruiser for charity when they reach the finish line.

Mike is a director at the Nith Valley LEAF Trust, who are in the process of buying up 235 hectares of spare woodland in Clauchrie Forest.

And he is hoping the trip will help raise the profile of their cause, and bring in more money through donations.

He said: “Primarily this is an attempt to raise money for charity, but hopefully it will also let people know what we are doing at Clauchrie Forest.”