Feature

The Macmillan Cape to Cape £1,000,000 Marathon

Alresford Allsorts Car Club member John Hankin and his neighbour Terry Addison are taking on what could be the very final Cape to Cape event in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. John has done 11 of the last 13 events and Terry co-drove on the last event from Cape Trafalgar (SW Spain) to Cape Cornwall (SW Cornwall). The aim of these events is to raise as much money for Macmillan Cancer Care as they can and originally they set out to raise £1M and including the Gift Aid they have achieved this. However, the participants decided that it should be them that raised this awesome sum unaided by the Government's Gift Aid so persuaded Dennis, the organiser, to lay on this (possibly the last) Cape to Cape and appropriately to do it within the confines of the United Kingdom and Ireland, so this year they will cover the only 3 Capes in this country of ours.

Please note that none of the money raised goes in any way to cover the costs of the organisation of the event, each participant has paid an entry fee to cover those costs and obviously they cover their own expenses for hotels and fuel etc and that all monies raised go directly to Macmillan Cancer Care.

Previously, the Cape to Cape has been described as the toughest classic car tour in Europe and the forthcoming fifteen-day 3,700mile event will in all probability live up to this nomenclature. This year they travel from Cape Cornwall (SW Cornwall) to Cape Wrath (NW Scotland) to Cape Clear (SW Ireland) and back to Cape Cornwall via the main C and D class roads but on occasion forest tracks and maybe a race circuit or similar venue. They won’t know the route until the day they do it as they have no idea of each day’s route until that day, scary sometimes. Around forty classic cars (two dating from the 1930s) will set off from Cape Cornwall on the 23rd of April 2022 on this marathon tour, which will cover all four countries of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

The route has been carefully selected to incorporate some of the best scenery each country has to offer, but the competitive nature of this unique event will include a small selection of tests, hill starts and at times a requirement for precise navigation if the desired penalty free performance is to be achieved. Over the past sixteen years, only a few have finished with a flawless performance, the maximum being three teams in 2007. In 2019, the last event organised there were none.

However, the modus operandi of the Tour is, that whilst enjoying their classic cars along quiet roads, to raise as much money as possible for Macmillan Cancer Support, and with over £910,000 already raised (excluding Gift Aid), it is anticipated that they will reach the magic £1m mark by the time that the weary competitors return to Cornwall. The participants decided that it should be themselves that raised the £1M rather than have the Gift Aid as part of the amount!

Why does it? Well, when asked, John’s reply was that he was very lucky to own such a car as his 1951 Jaguar XK120 and as both, his parents had used Macmillan Cancer Care when they needed cancer support, his wife Jane suggested that it would be a great idea to put the car to some good cause and she would navigate. This she did for several events until 2015 when she to succumbed to this terrible disease, which spurred John on to try to raise greater funds for Macmillan.

They would like to re-iterate that all participants on this event pay their own entry fees, fuel and hotel bills plus any fines the organisers seem fit to charge for missing a checkpoint or running over their toes on a steep hill start, and so all donations and fundraised monies go directly to Macmillan Cancer Support. If you would like to make a donation to the event, which will go straight to Macmillan to help people living with cancer, then please donate. And please, if you are able, tick the GIFT AID section as that will add 25% to your donation and it won’t cost you a penny more.

You can donate by using this website and your donation will go directly to Macmillan https://macmillan.org.enthuse.com/pf/ john-terry or if you would prefer to use a Sponsorship Form one can be obtained by giving either John (07778 142974) or Terry (07933 480581) a call. Or you can drop off a DONATION at either Heidi’s Patisserie or Hetre Shoes in West Street, Alresford.