7:00am Saturday 4th September 2010
A team of adventurers has survived a crash like a “Hollywood disaster film” in their attempt to circle the globe in a fire engine.
The group – led by Wimbledon man Steve Moore – is aiming to set a new world record for circumnavigating the world in a fire engine. Almost two months into their 26,000-mile challenge, the intrepid crew is travelling east into the wilderness of Mongolia.
Their toughest moments so far came in Latvia, where a drunk truck driver ploughed his lorry into a queue of parked vehicles including the fire engine near a border crossing, sending cars flying 70m through the air.
An entry in the team’s online diary said: “Where we had been sat 15 minutes earlier now resembled a film set from a Hollywood disaster film... It was like a bomb had gone off. Steve was met by a man with clothes ripped off and covered in blood from head to foot. Fires were starting in the cars, which we put out.”
The team used medical training picked up before the start of their trip to help the injured, and reported it was “truly a miracle” no one was killed in the crash on July 30.
The fundraising trip was inspired by Mr Moore’s father Garth, a former firefighter who died of cancer last year. It is raising cash for Macmillan Cancer Support, the Fire Fighters Charity and the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
The expedition leader – a City trader and Griffiths Road resident – will be joined by a rotating team of friends for different stages of the journey, which began on July 18 and is set to take nine months. It will take them through 28 countries including China, Mexico and Morocco.
So far the team, which includes Wimbledon residents Amy Harpin and Robert and Matthew Poderoso, has tackled glaciers in Mongolia, encountered armed police in Hungary and played games of cricket on the Russian Steppe.
For more information, visit followthatfireengine.com.
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