Rev-up4DSI 2010Saturday May 1st 2010 saw 160 like minded souls set off from Joe Duffy’s BMW around Ireland on the fifth annual motorcycle challenge in aid of Down Syndrome Ireland.
The event, first run in 2006 has grown to become one of the biggest charity motorcycle events on the Irish Calendar, covering a cumulative distance of 650,000km to date on the highways and by ways of the Emerald Isle!
Saturday’s run took in the counties of Kildare, Laois and Longford before making its way into the West with a checkpoint over looking the Atlantic Ocean in Keel on Achill Island. After a brief coffee stop it was back onto the N59 and onwards to Beltra in Co. Sligo. From Beltra and under the guidance of the local Garda Traffic Corps, the participants paraded through the city streets en masse to the Sligo Clarion Hotel where the event was hosted for the weekend.
After a fabulous barbeque on Saturday evening in the company of the Sligo Branch DSI (in a converted Church!!) where the riders got to recharge their batteries, Sunday morning broke with beautiful sunny skies overhead as they made their way up the coast of Donegal for the Kennedy Motorcycles sponsored Poker run where the participants picked up five cards at various checkpoints dotted around the County with prizes for the winning hands. Through the Glenties, Dunglow and Dunfanaghy before turning south once more to complete the loop through Letterkenny and Donegal town, each person completed at least 300km on some of the most scenic roads in Ireland.
Back in the splendour of the Clarion Hotel a banquet dinner awaited the weary riders where awards were given for the smallest to the oldest bikes (amongst others) which were unbelievably won by a Kawasaki KH100 and a 1982 Lambretta Scooter, if that’s not hard core well what is!!
BMW Motorrad Ireland who have generously sponsored Rev-up4DSI since its inception once again scooped the biggest corporate donor award. With BMW’s on going support of the event alongside the other sponsors and the endeavours of the riders and their donors, the 2010 Rev-up4DSI raised in excess of €155,000 in much needed funding which takes the total raised on Rev-up4DSI over the past five years to €975,000!!
Pole Position Travel as one of the primary sponsors of Rev-up4DSI, as well as hosting a charity auction of motorcycle memorabilia at the Valencia round of Moto GP, also sponsor the main prize on Rev-Up’ weekend which is an all expenses paid VIP trip for two to the Valencia GP. This year’s winner was Ted Courtney from Dublin who along with a guest will be wined and dined in true VIP style by Gordon Howell and the team in Pole Position Travel as only they know how!
Monday again saw beautiful weather greet the riders as they bade farewell to Sligo and headed East through Ulster en route to Monaghan Town before passing through Newry and on to Carlingford where most stopped for an ice cream to enjoy the early summer sun. From Carlingford it was down the East Coast before gathering at the Regency Hotel in Drumcondra, on the outskirts of Dublin City, where Garda Traffic Corps outriders once again led all the participants in a parade, this time to the Clarion Hotel in Liffey Valley where a huge reception committee cheered them and their achievements.
Rev-up4DSI spokesperson Aidan Lynam:
“First and foremost it’s great to have all the participants home safe and sound. We have had a fantastic weekend riding some of the most stunning roads that Ireland has to offer and being looked after fantastically well by all the staff in the Clarion Hotels in Sligo and indeed in Liffey Valley. The amount of money raised this year is testament to the hard work that the participants are willing to undertake on behalf of DSI, and speaking as a parent we are truly grateful to them and those that sponsor them. Massive thanks of course to Steve Pitt and all the team at BMW Motorrad Ireland, Gordon Howell and all at Pole Position Travel and of course to Andrew Reeves and Joe Duffy’s BMW for facilitating us so well every year. Roll on Rev-up4DSI 2011!”
For further info log onto http://revup4dsi.ie/index.php or call 01 4266500.
