How economical do you think a 125cc bike can be? Do you think you could ride 1250 miles to Spain for just £125, one pound per cc? Well that’s what a TV star, bike shop owner and one lucky competition winner will be doing in the next few weeks as they head to Valencia for the final round of MotoGP.
After months of whittling down the competitors (all non riders before the competition) and setting them tasks to see who would fit in on the epic adventure to Valencia from the UK with just £125 in their pocket, a winner has finally been chosen for Challenge125. He is George Nickless from Manchester, who narrowly beat Claire Hobden and Zarina Kadylbek in a two-day long final held in and around Worthing in Sussex. He will now join actor Danny John-Jules (best known as Cat from Red Dwarf) and bike shop owner/feature film rider, Steve Keys, on the 1250-mile charity fund-raising journey on behalf of Riders for Health. The trio will leave the UK on November 3rd armed with just £125, their wits and a cheeky smile to make sure they cover the cross-European trip on their Yamaha YBR125s, without going over budget or doing anything illegal!
The three finalists were set a number of tasks during the two days, including camping in the wilds of Sussex, making supper on a budget (road-kill not allowed!) and showing how well they had progressed with riding a motorcycle – because all were non-licence, non bike riding entrants at the beginning of the process. Following these tests, Keys, John-Jules – via satellite phone from the set of ‘Death in Paradise’ in the Caribbean – and Moto3 racer Danny Webb, conducted a thorough assessment of the three before declaring Nickless to be the best suited to taking on the adventure. As part of his prize for winning the competitions, Nickless will also get to keep the
Yamaha YBR125 that he is riding to Spain on, whilst the two runners-up both received their full access motorcycle licences paid for courtesy of Get On (www.geton.co.uk ).
Challenge125 is the latest event for MotoVentures to raise funds for Riders for Health. RFH is making sure that via the use of motorcycles, millions of people across Africa receive regular, reliable health care, often for the first time in their lives. Challenge125 follows the success of 2011’s Viva Valencia, where John-Jules and Keys – ably joined by BBC TV’s Matt Roberts – donned pink leathers and rode pink Yamaha R1s from the UK to Spain, this latest project is sure to test them even further.
George Nickless said “I am so excited, I honestly cannot wait! I’ve been grinning since I found out and really can’t think of a better way to spend seven days. I’m sure there will be plenty of mucking about, laughing, as well as a few up-and-downs as we go through France and Spain, but I’m sure it will be an amazing adventure.”
Steve Keys said “It’s been a fantastic couple of days with the three finalists and at the end a very hard decision because they all had their own attributes that would have benefitted the trip. But George just had a little bit extra that will make him a big asset to the team and Danny and I are very happy to have him onboard, so congratulations to him and also a big well done to Claire and Zarina, they were both brilliant and we hope they enjoy their biking future now they’ve got their licences. We now have a lot of work to do before we head off to Valencia, but it’s good to know who will be with us now and we can start planning the trip in-depth.”