The Fabulous 50 became the Magnificent 70 as Thanet’s charity champions smashed their target of travelling on 50 different forms of transport in 50 hours.
KMFM presenter Johnny Lewis, his wife Donna, Tracie Stevens, marketing manager at Westwood Cross retail centre, and her partner Harcus Copper are on target to raise £5,000 for the development and training of a guide dog.
The challenge saw the colourful costumed team set off from our media centre in Cliftonville on Friday lunchtime in a police car accompanied by the area’s PCSO Tom Askew and arrive back at Westwood Cross on Sunday in a classic 1924 Model T Ford.
In between they travelled on a huge range of transport including jet ski, banana boat, crane, digger, bumper car. horse, trike, skateboard, beach donkey, hospital trolley, wheelchair, hearse, helicopter, ferry, lifeboat, train, light railway, underground, motorbike, shopping cart, the London Eye.
A jubilant, hot and tired team were greeted at Westwood Cross by members of the local guide dog association, whose Hiliary Johnson said: “They are truly charity champions. We cannot thank them enough for their magnificent effort.”
Johnny said: “It was a big challenge and the weather was scorching to be in costume all the time but it all clicked into place and went so smoothly that we managed 70 types of transport and beat our challenge target easily.
“People were so generous en route and we were quite a big attraction in our costumes - jesters, Snow White and beefeater - in London. Tourists stopped to take photos of us with their families; and the London Eye team have asked to use a picture of us in their promotional material.
“Tracie, Donna, Harcus and myself want to say a huge thank you to all those who backed us up behind the scenes with their time and effort to make this possible, and also to those who continue to donate to our target.”
Money is still being collected and collated but the fund raisers are confident they will be close to their target.
You can still make a donation at the justgiving website by using this link www.justgiving.com/WX-Guidedogchallenge. Justgiving sends your donation straight ton the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer.