With access to a far wider variety of information than ever before, I find it ironic that the main online media portals have become so selective and repetitive in the articles they choose to show. Whilst amateur opinions lacking deep thought or knowledge make it to the sport pages on a daily basis, an incredible record-breaking feat such as driving from London to Cape Town in 11 days almost went unnoticed.
Driving from London to Cape town as quickly as possible is nothing new, having started at the turn of the last century. There's more technology available today and cars are arguably better prepared for the ride but the participants still had to average 870 miles per day on a mixture of road conditions completing over 10,000 miles.
This particular expedition came endorsed by Ranulph Fiennes charity Help For Heroes, Mac from Max Adventures worked closely with Ralph on his ROTW attempt and had nothing but positive things to say about him, Mac has been a constant member of his team since.
Whilst people are keen to heap praise on the average sportsman at any minor achievment, adventurers seem to be unfairly overlooked today with exploration to conquere and claim no longer required, true travellers and oddballs with innovative ideas seem to get cast aside. In a blog post last year Mac mentioned that the UK doesn't really get what he's trying to do.
Often wrongly seen as rich kids realising their dreams in the name of charity, characters like Mac are the kind that deserve more attention. Having failed to be an RAF pilot as a young man due to a mixture of suspected heart illness and government cuts, he worked as an expedition leader and mechanic for a travel company specialising in Overland Africa trips. Later he became an off-road driivng instructor and took part in various long-distance driving journeys and a humanitarian mission to Albania during the Kosovan war.
One of his other projects is something that caught my eye, it involved travelling around The Downs by Land Rover collecting abandoned vehicles, typical companies that do this do not venture off-road meaning that the British countryside remains littered with burnt out vehicles and rusting wrecks. The project was succesful and popular in the nearby countryside, unfortunately it was put on hold due to a lack of sponsorship funding but it is still a brilliant idea.
Read more about it on their website
