Pals aim to chill out in ice cream van marathon

Jul 10 2007 by Robert Brooks, The Journal

A PAIR of chilled-out pals are about to embark on an epic 10,000-mile journey from Northumberland to Outer Mongolia – in an ice cream van.

Automotive engineer Ryan Walker and photographer Alex Welsh, both from Alnwick, will set off from Hyde Park in London on July 21, bound for Ulaanbaatar, in one of the world’s greatest adventure competitions.

It will involve negotiating some of the worst roads on earth, not to mention seven mountain ranges and three deserts.

The 22-year-olds, who met as pupils at Alnwick’s Duchess High School, will be joined by a third team member, Cambridge weatherman Michael Hollaway.

The lads are among 200 teams taking part in the Mongol Rally, which last year raised over £200,000 for Mercy Corps, an international development organisation, which regularly supports rural communities and herding families in Mongolia through a range of economic, educational and agricultural programmes.

“The Mongol rally is an amazing event,” said Ryan, from Littlehoughton. “It will allow us to combine a challenging and adventurous trip while raising money for Mercy Corps and other charities at the same time

“The journey will take us from London across the Channel, through France, Germany and the Czech Republic, on through Hungary and down into Bulgaria to Turkey.

“From there we will cross into Georgia and Azerbaijan, taking a ferry across the Caspian Sea.

“After that, we’ll travel through lots of smaller states before cutting through Russia and back down into Mongolia.

“It should take us about a month, depending on how lost we become.”

The ice cream van was donated by a Yorkshire dairy, which has sponsored the team in their endeavour.

Alex, who is from Howick and is beginning a degree in fine art photography at Glasgow University, added: “Michael, Ryan and I hope to set a new world record by taking an ice cream van on this incredible journey.

“We hope to raise a smile on the faces of locals on our route, serving ice cream in some remote and very poor countries to people who will never have seen an ice cream van.”

Alison Christie, director of fundraising at Mercy Corps, said: “Mercy Corps is delighted to be the principle charity for the 2007 Mongol Rally.

“The ingenious and entrepreneurial attitude of the event organisers and drivers themselves is inspiring – and the uniqueness of the Mongol Rally is something Mercy Corps, as an innovative organisation, can really relate to.”

The Mongol Rally was originally launched in 2001 when a pair of adventurous Englishmen embarked on a trip to Mongolia driving a Fiat 126.

Although they didn’t complete the course, they vowed to return and so the new craze was born.

The official rally began in 2004, with four teams completing the distance out of the original six to start.

Every car in the race must be at least 10 years old and have an engine no larger than one litre – unless the team pays a penalty.

To find out more, visit their website at: www.icecreamadventure.co.uk