Cairo to Cape Town World Record Attempt 2023

---CAIRO TO CAPE TOWN 2023 - KEY INFORMATION---

Challenge: Visually-impaired Steve Bate will attempt to ride a bicycle from Cairo to Cape Town as fast as possible. The distance is 6,500 miles, with over 150,000ft of ascent through 8 countries.

How can you help? By making a donation to this page no matter how big or small, and sharing it with your friends, family and network. Steve and his team are extremely grateful for any help you can give. Your donations will be spent on the logistics of supporting the small team racing down Eastern Africa. Thank you!

What's in it for you? Steve's sponsors and friends have put up a load of rewards for your kind donations, so please scroll down and see what's on offer. You will also become an important member of this record-breaking team.

What's the reason? "I'm super passionate about adventure and I love riding my bike, but the opportunity to inspire a generation of disabled young people into dreaming about their goals and chasing after them is a huge motivator for me." - Steve Bate MBE

Who's the charity partner? Steve and his team have a very exciting charity partner to announce very shortly. They are currently working together to find the best way to raise as much money as possible for this incredible Cairo to Cape Town challenge. But please remember, your donations help Steve and his team get to the start line, then the charity partner will take over and do their thing. More details coming soon, so watch this space!!!!

Steve Bate: Steve is a professional Para-cyclist who races for the Great British Cycling Team and ParalympicsGB. A Paralympic, World Record Holder, World Champion and adventure seeker, Steve has a degenerative eye condition named Retinitis Pigmentosa which has no cure, and which will probably rob him of his sight over time.

In 2017 Steve was awarded an MBE for services to cycling.

Important dates: Steve will take on this challenge in February 2023, after competing at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. In an ideal world, the project would have raised the funds by December 2022 (fingers crossed).

---REWARDS---

A huge thank you to the people behind these rewards, I can't thank them enough for their support and belief in the Cairo to Cape Town World Record attempt. Can I please point out that no rewards will be sent out before the end of September, as I will be away in Tokyo for the Paralympic Games, so apologies in advance for this. Please read the reward items carefully, as they may have further instructions or longer delivery dates.

Up to £50 - You'll receive a heartfelt thanks from Steve for your contribution to this project, and become an important member of this world record attempt. You'll also received a hand written C2CT thank you postcard.

£60 donation - Awesome, you've got me covered! The team at Happy Bottom Bum Butter have got you covered for the ride. Charlie and the Bum Butter team are my chamois cream sponsor and have kindly donated a limited edition tub of bum butter for your generosity! Check out the details of this vegan friendly, mildly antiseptic and anaesthetic bum butter here: https://www.bumbutter.co.uk/steves-fast-africa-bum-butter-56-p.asp

£75 donation - The lovely people at Alpkit have donated a £20 voucher to use on their online store for this generous donation. Alpkit do a fantastic range of outdoor equipment, so you can start planning your own adventure to go nice places and do good things. Check out what's on offer at their website here: www.alpkit.com

£100 donation - Wow you legend! Speaking of legends, Steve Peat and the team at Peatys Products have offered you guys, and more importantly your bikes, a Clean, Degrease and Lube pack seen here on https://peatys.co.uk/products/wash-degrease-lubricate-starter-pack. The Peatys crew are all about looking after not only your bike, but the environment as well.

£150 donation - The C2CT team are super grateful, thank you! The top men at HebTroCo have kindly provided £50 vouchers for you to spend on their British-made products for this generous donation. They do a range of super cool hipster mens clothing and go by the tag line 'don't be a dick!' Locals to me in Hebden Bridge. these guys are as bike mad as they are clothing mad. You can check out all their amazing products here: www.hebtroco.com

£750 donation - This one's for you, and a plus 1! With such a kind donation, Steve will invite you to Hebden Bridge for a personal cycling photo shoot with professional outdoor photographer Paudie Spillane. Just bring your favourite bike, your favourite kit, and your best mate. Then you'll all go and ride in some incredible locations and capture images that are yours to keep and share with your family and friends. Get in touch to find out more details about this one.

£1000 donation - Bosh! You Champion! What a difference this will make. As a special thanks for your incredible commitment to the project I'll send you a limited edition Cairo to Cape Town Watch* from the lovely team at Elliot Brown Watches. This beauty has been designed by the master watch makers down in Poole and RRP at £580! There are only 250 of these hand-made watches available, so don't miss out. Pictures to be added soon

£2500 investment - You Incredible human being! Just for this kind donation, Steve will come and share a personal account of his journey with you following his ride. Stories from the build up, the Games, the ride and much more. Steve will also throw in one of the Elliot Brown limited edition Cairo to Cape Town watches* worth £580rrp. Details do apply so please get in touch to find out more.

£5000 investment - Stop it! You're far too kind, we need more people like you in the world! Steve will come and share a personal account of his journey with you following his ride. Stories from the build up, the Games, the ride and much more. Steve will also throw in three of the Elliot Brown limited edition Cairo to Cape Town watches* worth £580rrp for you and your staff. Details do apply so please get in touch to find out more.

£ Joint Headline sponsors - there are two of these up for grabs. Please get in touch.

£ Headline sponsor - There can be only one! Let’s talk!

Please get in touch with the team if you have any questions regarding the the rewards on offer.

Thank you.

*The Elliott Brown Watches are being hand crafted, which means there is a lead time of 160 days. I know this is a long wait but for something truly special these will be worth every day.

---Steve's Story---

My name is Steve, and I have Retinitis Pigmentosa. This is a degenerative eye condition that is slowly robbing me of my sight, meaning I will probably go blind. I'm a professional tandem para cyclist, currently training to compete in the fast-approaching delayed Tokyo 2020 Paralympics starting on 24th August (which between you and me, is actually my birthday!) This will be my second Paralympic Games after a successful Rio 2016, where Adam Duggleby (my sight pilot) and I won 2 gold medals and a bronze in our 3 events. We even managed to break the mens World Record in the 4km pursuit on the first day.

Being an adventurous soul, I have often struggled to find my way in the great outdoors having an eye disability. It took me a while to understand that it was okay to ask for help. However with fantastic support from family, friends and the wider community, I try not to let my disability stop me from achieving my dreams, and racing down Africa on my bike is my next target. But again, I need some help.

Have you ever wanted to part of a World Record breaking team? Please allow me to give you that opportunity. In February 2023 I plan to take my bike, a carefully selected support crew, and try and break the Guinness World Record of cycling from Cairo to Cape Town, and you could help me make that journey happen. Mark Beaumont the ultra endurance cyclist has the current record standing at 41 days, 10 hours and 22 minutes, and he achieved this in 2015. Although there have been several attempts since, no one has managed to take the record from him. There has never been a disabled attempt to this date either, which I struggle to understand. Why can't people with disabilities take on these epic challenges? Do we simply not care for such records, or is it seen as too far out of our reach?

Together we can help put 'achieving with disability' in the spotlight and in the international news, and the thing that I want more than ever, is to inspire the younger generation to dream big and not let anything stand in their way. To show big, exciting mainstream World Records can be fought for and (all going well) won on determination, hard work and character.

I have been training for this over the past 4 years and feel now is the time to go live and put this wonderful adventure out there. My plan is to compete at the Tokyo Games and then come home and get straight into training for Africa. The logic behind this is that I'll be the fittest I've ever been in August, so instead of having to rebuild the engine so to speak, it will just need re-tuning. I'll transfer from a high energy racer into an ultra endurance athlete, which is super exciting.

I've been incredibly fortunate to have Mark Beaumont come on board as my mentor and adviser. With Mark overseeing the project I feel I'm in fantastic hands, as few people hold the records, accolades and have the business sense he does. Here's what Mark had to say when asked about my Cairo to Cape Town attempt.

“Cairo to Cape Town is an epic cycling World Record route and I am really excited to see just how fast Steve can go. He is a phenomenal athlete, mentally and physically, and I am proud to play a part in this attempt.

The African continent stands out as the most beautiful and exciting riding I’ve ever done, its people and landscapes are wonderful.”

Mark Beaumont

Athlete, Author and Broadcaster



Now that challenging thing, the money! Obviously a supported expedition of this scale takes a lot of financial backing. I had no idea until I sat down with my logistics team, Secret Compass, for this project, just how much this would cost. We will be travelling through 8 countries, crossing 7 boarders. Flying the team in and out, keeping them, mobile, fed, watered and sleeping on the move for about a month. There won't be any fancy hotels for the Cairo to Cape Town team, thats for sure! Please if you can help, that would be amazing, or if you could take the time to share this with your network, the team would really appreciate it.

From the bottom of my heart, thanks for reading, getting involved and sharing the love, it really is hugely appreciated.

Steve Bate MBE

NOTE: In the unlikely event that this doesn't go ahead, all money that has been kindly donated will go to the Quebeka Charity, that provides bikes for young African children. Here is their website: https://qhubeka.org