Kinross rugby players raise £10,500 for CHAS

Nov 27 2009 by Johnathon Menzies, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

BIG-HEARTED members of Kinross Rugby Club raised over £10,000 for charity by driving almost 10,000 miles during the world-famous Mongol Rally.

Scrum-half Chris Carragher, alongside his brother Liam and fellow Nutznboltz team members Cameron Crawford, Ian Harley, Mark Harvey and Duncan Wood conquered everything from deserts to mountains on their epic adventure.

The six lads were raising money for three good causes: Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS), a Mercy Corps project in Mongolia and the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation.

Racing against 300 other teams, in vehicles with engine capacities of no more than one-litre, Chris (25) revealed the group had to deal with more than just the soaring 48-degree heat on their journey from Kinross-shire to the Asian country’s capital, Ulaan Baator.

Speaking after the gang were re-united for the first time since completing the rally in August, he said: “I’ll never forget what we went through, it will stay with me for the rest of my life.

“Because there’s no roads in Mongolia we had to travel at an average speed of about 18 miles an hour the whole time.

“By the time we reached the Mongolian capital we’d covered 9804 miles. We thought about driving around a wee bit more to take us to the 10,000 mark – but thought better of it!

“To put it in perspective, I drove from Manchester to Kinross on Friday and it took roughly four hours – to cover the same distance out there would’ve taken around 16!

“We had some ‘interesting’ encounters with border patrol police in a lot of the countries too, but I suppose the fact that we got through it was the main thing really.

“And, the fact that we raised £10,500 for the charities is fantastic. We couldn’t have done that without the help of a whole host of local residents and businesses.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank-you to everyone who donated.”