Sean Curnow: Welcome to the seventh update for the UAE Charity Challenge Team.
CHARITY
With summer holidays almost over the Dubai Centre for Special Needs is due to reopen its doors in September for another year. Judging by the reaction of the students when we last visited – I bet they can’t wait.
Our charitable project in Uganda is starting to take shape. I will be travelling to Uganda in the September/October as part of my work commitments with one of our Platinum Sponsors (Heritage Oil & Gas). During this trip I will be meeting with Ugandan Ministry of Health officials and a representative of the WHO to discuss our plan to supply up to 10,000 ITN’s (Insecticide Treated Nets) to the people living on the edge of Lake Albert (Hoima District) in Uganda.
Our intention is to work with the Ugandan Ministry of Health to compliment there existing Malaria Control Programme and speed up the process, focusing on the Hoima District on the edge of Lake Albert.
More to come on this in the October update!
TRAINING
The month of August has seen temperature drop slightly from the scorching temperatures seen in July – but not much! Generally it has been an improvement on previous years with the anticipated humidity staying away for now. The UAE CC team continue to train out in the desert every weekend. The high midday temperatures inevitably still reach +40ºC which means that we are continuing to train in the mornings (up at 4:30am) to take advantage of the milder temperatures (32-34ºC).
We also recently took delivery of our Garmin Foretrex 201 GPS units that can be mounted to the handle bars and used in navigation route training. Small enough to strap on to the handlebars this device literally points you to the direction of the upcoming waypoint. Although this will not be actual GPS used during the race, it does teach us how to navigate whilst negotiating high speed technical routes, and constantly keeping an eye on our soon to be fixed road books (a roll of paper fixed onto the handlebars with written instructions and warnings about the track which the rider must manually unwind and frequently adjust according to his GPS coordinates throughout the ride)
Gecko motorcycles have stepped in here and have started inviting the UAE CC team along to join in training runs using the Garmin GPS units that reflect the various race conditions we could see on a day to day basis. These GPS training runs are invaluable as you need to ensure you are within a 200m radius of each of the respective waypoints – or you will incur a time penalty.
Thanks again to Gecko for their continued support!
MEDIA
Wednesday 6th August 2008 / Dubai Eye 103.8FM – Jonathan and I appeared on Dubai Eye 103.8FM Nightline with Jeff Price for a fourth time to promote the UAE Charity Challenge. We were amount a large group this time which included representatives from the newly formed Dubai Social Responsibility Fund and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), Caribou Coffee and more.
Abdulaziz Al Hinai (Manager - Social Responsibility Fund) gave the listeners a brief explanation of the role the Social Responsibility Fund hopes to play in increasing both corporate and community involvement in terms of Social Responsibility.
Jeff ran another great show with several calls from the public.
Thursday 24th August 2008 / Xpress – Xpress wrote an article on the UAE Charity Challenge Team highlighting the progress the team had made in securing sponsorship. A copy of the article can be viewed on the Xpress website at the following URL - The Magnificent Four – Xpress.
Sunday 24th August 2008 / 4Men – 4Men magazine wrote an article on the UAE Charity Challenge Team. A copy of the article can be viewed on the 4Men website at the following URL – 24/7 - 4Men Magazine .
SPONSORSHIP
It has been a solid month for the UAE CC in terms of securing further sponsorship. In the month of August we managed to secure one Silver sponsor and two Bronze sponsors.
Dubai Duty Free has joined the UAE CC as a Silver sponsor.
Located in the heart of Dubai International Airport, Dubai Duty Free is regarded as one of the most innovative retail operations in the world and is currently ranked No. 3 in the world in terms of turnover. Established in December 1983, the operation celebrates 25 years of retailing success which has seen the sales figures grow from US$20 million to its targeted US$1 billion in 2008.
Sponsorship and the support of local and international sporting events has been an integral part of Dubai Duty Free’s marketing strategy since 1983, and it has proved to be a highly successful platform for the global promotion of Dubai and its world-class sporting, leisure and business facilities.
Pemco Supplies and U&A Drilling Services have joined the UAE CC as Bronze sponsors.
Pemco Supplies Middle East is internationally recognized as a leading supplier of Tubulars to companies in the Oil, Gas & Water Industries worldwide. Their primary objective is to supply OCTG products, which exceed the governing specification(s), providing the most economical final cost in hole to End Users within the required time frame.
U&A Drilling Services is one of the leading suppliers of OCTG, Drill Pipe, Line Pipe and General Oilfield Equipment in the world. U&A is committed to supplying quality products to the Oil, Gas & Petrochemical Industry at competitive prices and quick deliveries. An extensive inventory strategically located in Jebel Ali, Houston, Aberdeen, Singapore and Tianjin assures quick deliveries to your doorstep using only the most reliable shipping lines.
We welcome Dubai Duty Free, Pemco Supplies and U&A Drilling Services to the UAE CC team and thank them for their charitable support.
We currently have just in excess of 370,000 AED in committed sponsorship from our corporate and individual sponsors. We remain committed to achieving our final goal of raising 500,000 AED. Only 2 months to go – its going to be tight!
We are in negotiations with some additional sponsors and hope to make some further announcements in our next News Update.
As always, we would like to thank our corporate sponsors for their continued support and all those people who have contributed personal donations to the UAE CC. (see your names listed in the Sponsors page)
TECHNICAL
Gecko Motorcycles continues to carry out the necessary modifications in stage to get the bikes ready for the 2008 UAE Desert Challenge.
Quite a few modifications have been made in the past month. Although there is still a fair bit to do to, our bikes are now looking like proper rally machines equipped for the rough terrain and punishing heat. We have logged 50+ hours on these bikes so far, mostly through the summer months where engine and gear box fatigue is much more prominent. Taking the high temperatures and rev’s into account not much has broken down on these Honda 450’s. The bikes are well known for their reliability and high performance, hence the reason for their popularity in Dubai, allowing Honda to capture the majority of the off-road motorbike market.
Our new heavy duty Pro Taper handlebars have been installed. Being both lighter and stronger, they’re less likely to bend in the event of a fall. Their higher profile has also allowed us to install the Steering Dampers on the front fork which in turn helps to stabilize the bike while travelling at high speeds. Ultimately they should prevent a number of potentially very dangerous crashes where the rider would not normally have been able to control the rapid left/right movement of the front wheel. Even though we are still to test its true performance (as most of our training rides have been on the slower, more technical routes where dampers are not vital), we will undoubtedly be using them from today onwards as Gecko Motorcycles have kindly offered us to join them on their longer, more high speed GPS runs. These GPS routes are designed to simulate the various conditions we will be expecting in the Desert Challenge, without having to drive far from Dubai (these additional routes will be posted on our website).
After much initial debate, it’s now been a good few weeks since we’ve all been in 100% agreement about installing the new high performance pipes. So far we’ve all had a good couple of rides with these new exhaust systems and have all noticed a huge difference in the increased low end power it delivers. This should now decrease the chances of our bikes overheating, and the extra torque should see us through the softer patches of sand.
The seats have had their plastic covers removed and swapped for a smoother suede material, in hopes of somewhat relieving our rear ends after 6-8 hrs of daily chafing. Gecko Motorcycles had also offered us the option of replacing the seat foam with a taller/thicker version which raises the sitting position, thereby reducing the distance the rider needs to lift his body to a standing position. When done hundreds of times a day, this squatting movement between the sit and stand positions can really sap a riders energy. Nevertheless we have all opted out of this tall seat setup, worried about the possible changes in riding style and not being able to easily touch the ground when the bike is at a standstill.
Much of the electrics/wiring installation has been completed with brake lights connected (race regulations to road registration). The remainder of the wiring harness will be used to connect other devices such as the sentinel, road book, and GPS, all of which will be done last minute in order to avoid any expensive damage during training.
There are still some final modifications to come. We will keep you updated and also look to capture these upgrades in the ‘Technical’ section of the website.
VOLUNTEER WORK
Matt Wilson (Wilson Griffin Design) continues to carry out his volunteer work keeping the website up to date and making improvements. Changes for the Month of August are as follows -
- The 7th News Update has been added to the ‘NEWS’ page
- The Sponsors Page will be updated with all our latest sponsors.
