Team Selected for Ultimate Ride Jet-ski from London to Auckland

by Angela Jones on 7 May 2010
The team who will attempt to break the world personal watercraft record by riding from London to New Zealand is in place and in training for their 32,000 km epic journey to boost public awareness about ways to prevent cancer and raise funds for global cancer research.

New Zealand pilot Jeremy Burfoot will lead The Ultimate Ride team of Irish 'petrol head' Adrian Erangey, Kiwis Travis Donoghue and Garry Learmonth and Ivan Otulic from Croatia. Otulic and Erangey are particularly well qualified to attempt the personal watercraft (PWC) record. Otulic last year broke the Guinness watercraft endurance record with a ride of 1,014 miles (1,641 kilometres) off Krk, one of a thousand islands on the Croatian Adriatic coast.

Erangey was the operations manager for Earthrace, which in 2008 took the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat. Earthrace, which ran 100% renewable biodiesel fuel and had a net zero carbon footprint, knocked almost 14 days off the previous record with its trip of about 24,000 nautical miles. And Burfoot, having survived his own battle with cancer, in 2006 became the first person to circumnavigate New Zealand in a Seadoo PWC.

The Ultimate Ride will set off from outside the Houses of Parliament on the Thames River in London on August 1 to ride some of Europe's most famous waterways, cross the Indian Ocean and finish in Auckland, New Zealand, sometime in November.

'The sheer enormity of what we're going to attempt is sinking in, but I'm reassured I'll have seasoned ‘experts' along with me on The Ultimate Ride,' says Burfoot. 'Wherever we are located in world, the team is gearing up for the challenge with a programme of gruelling training. We are going to take this thing.

'But as well as the physical preparations, we're also putting in place the relationships with cancer organisations in each of the countries we're going to ride through; each one will benefit from the attention and funding we bring to their cause.'

The Ultimate Ride has partnered with cancer organisations the Melanoma Foundation of New Zealand, Australia's Lifehouse at RPA, Dutch child cancer charity Kika Kenderen Kankervrij, the German Childhood Cancer Foundation, the U.K.'s Macmillan Cancer Support and Livestrong, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. (To donate to your local cancer organisation via The Ultimate Ride, click on http://london-sydney.com/donate-local.htm)

The challenge's organisers have set up a charitable trust and are seeking further sponsors to assist them with the journey, as well as securing coverage in global media to achieve the goal of raising funds for cancer research. A major naming rights sponsor for The Ultimate Ride challenge is still available.

The proposed route of The Ultimate Ride, one of the most challenging in the world, has been attempted in many different types of craft before, but never on anything as small as a jet ski. The current PWC distance record stands at 18,400 kms, a distance the team will surpass once they've travelled a couple of days past Singapore.

The Ultimate Ride route offers the riders a challenging mix of riding conditions including rivers, inland seas, ocean crossings, island hopping and coastal waters. The terrain will change from temperate northern European latitudes to the burning heat of the Middle East to the sweltering humidity of South East Asia and the unpredictable waters of the Tasman Sea.