Excellent! - excellentdevelopment.com

4th May 2005: Cyclists Richard Barnes and Sam Towndrow have set out for Africa – a round trip of 3,000 miles. They were sent on their way by actress Antonia Okonma, currently starring in ITV's Bad Girls.

The team have set themselves an ambitious target of 30 days to complete this gruelling challenge. They set out from Kew Gardens, at 10.30 on Wednesday 4th May. The cyclists and their support team will then head to France for the first big test of their endurance, the Pyrenees. Next they across into Northern Spain and the dangerous Basque region before turning towards Gibraltar where they will cross the Strait touching land in Morocco before immediately embarking on the return leg.

Excellent Development hope the attempt will raise £20K to enable the building of 20 small-scale sand dams which will provide safe, clean water during the dry season for up to 25,000 people living in Kenya.

Low cost sand dams have proved extremely effective in regenerating small communities which have been hardest hit during the droughts of recent years. Not only does the project galvanise the community by getting them working together, the resulting water supply stabilises their lives, freeing the women from the burden of trekking up to six miles a day in search of water. The modest income gained from selling vegetables also means families can begin to plan for their futures for the first time.

The team will return to a heroes welcome at Kew Gardens, followed by a party at Century, Shaftesbury Avenue on June 3rd 2005 having successfully completed the challenge.

Go to the Race For Africa home page by clicking here.