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Bob Champion sets out on 10,000-mile trip for charity

bob champion

Amy Mathieson, H&H news writer

14 February, 2010

Grand National winning-jockey Bob Champion is undertaking a 10,000-mile journey this year, to raise £250,000 for charity.

The Champions 60:60 Charity Challenge is in aid of the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and The Injured Jockeys Fund and the inspirational jockey will set out from Ascot racecourse on 18 April.

Bob will visit all 60 British racecourses, on 60 consecutive racedays, driving between tracks in a Lotus, to end on 16 June back at Ascot.

Bob was diagnosed with cancer in 1979 and told he had eight months to live, but two years later he won the Grand National with Aldaniti.

“The charities are very close to my heart. It’s a three-fold mission — to raise money for them as well as trying to get more people into racing,” he told H&H.

Supporters are asked to make a minimum donation of £50 and choose which race meeting they want to attend.

They will then spend the day with Bob — meeting jockeys and going on a behind-the-scenes racecourse tour.

“I initially wanted to ride to each racecourse in 60 days — but it just wouldn’t work,” said Bob. “You can’t exactly canter up the M1 and it would probably have taken me three years!

“It was quite hard to find 60 days in a row with a meeting on, so there’s no logical order to the journey — I’ll be going backwards and forwards through England, Scotland and Wales.”

Everyone who supports the challenge will be entered into a draw for prizes including a trip to the 2011 Dubai World Cup and a behind-the-scenes tour at Channel 4’s The Morning Line.

For more information visit: www.champions6060.org.uk

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (11 February, '10)



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