Excellent! - excellentdevelopment.com

3 men, 3 bikes, 3,000 miles in 30 days.

Antonia Okonma, star of ITV’s Bad Girls and a crowd of supporters, including African drummers, cheered the Race for Africa team over the finish line on Friday 3rd June at 10.30 am at the Thames Barrier Park, Silvertown, East London.

The WaterRelief Race for Africa was an epic achievement in which three intrepid guys have cycled 3,000 miles from London to Africa and back in just 30 days.

The race has raised over £12,000 for Excellent Development, a charity that helps communities in Africa to sustainably transform their environment by building small-scale dams that provide locally available clean water.

The WaterRelief Race for Africa was launched from the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew by Antonia. She waved the team off at 10.30am on 4th May 2005.

The 3,000 round trip has taken Richard Barnes and his support riders Sam & Ben Towndrow through France and Spain to Morocco and back. Sam supported the outward leg and Ben the return, with Richard doing the whole ride.

The event will enable the building of 10 small-scale dams which will provide a safe, clean water supply during the dry season for up to 15,000 people. Women in semi-arid Africa walk up to 6 miles twice a day to collect water for their families. For an average village without a dam, that’s 3,000 miles of walking in just two days, whilst carrying 20 kg of water on their backs.

Executive Officer of Excellent Development, Simon Maddrell says, “Half of Kenya’s population don’t have access to clean water. Richard, Ben and Sam’s tremendous endeavours have raised awareness of this plight and raised vital funds to provide relief for hundreds of families. We are immensely grateful for their generosity and extremely proud of them in achieving such a fantastic task.”

The Race for Africa achievement was hailed that evening at a celebrity party held at The Century Club, Shaftesbury Avenue, London attended by a host of celebrities and OK Magazine.