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Stephen and Deborah take the chequered flag together
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At 5.05 pm on Thursday, June 11th, Stephen Warner, President of Nottinghamshire Law Society, and his vice-President, Deborah Hutchinson completed a sponsored 24 hour drive round Mallory Park circuit. Stephen and Deborah took it in turns to drive an Ape (pronounced Appey), a tiny van operated by scooter controls, raising a figure of about £10,000 for charity, with sponsorship money still coming in.
The charities who will benefit are Macmillan Cancer Support, the Alzheimer’s Society and the Railway Children for their projects with street children in India.
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Deborah said: “I was not sure that I had the stamina to keep going for 24 hours, two days on my hands are still aching from using controls built for larger hands than mine.”
They covered a total of 381.2 miles in the 24 hours at an average speed of approximately 15mph! Prize draw tickets were sold and the person with the ticket showing this distance (or the nearest to it) wins a helicopter flight for two.
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Deborah and Stephen celebrating
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Many people and organisations have helped to make the Buzzathon possible, and thanks go in particular to John Ward at Mallory Park Race Circuit for his generosity and forbearance, and to Severn Trent Searches, the lawyers of the Ghent Bar, Porterbrook and Central Helicopters for their sponsorship.
Deborah and Stephen are also very grateful for the generous sponsorship and support received from their clients and friends.
Finally, thanks are due to the supporting team – John Lymbury, Miche Broad and her colleague Clarie, Stephen Reynolds, Jenny Sheriston, Jeremy Allen, Brendan Haigh and Mike Lewis for giving their time and expertise.
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Stephen said: “The night shift for both of us was the worst – useless lights (a bright torch would have been better), rain, a need to keep the windows wide open to stop the windscreen misting up, and an unlit track made the whole thing slightly less than pleasurable.”
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1am – change of drivers in the rain
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The headlights did not greatly assist visibility
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Both Deborah and Stephen encountered a number of hazards.
In the early hours of the morning Stephen rounded a bend to find some geese calmly escorting eleven goslings across the track, and was relieved to find that the brakes on the Ape worked.
Later on Deborah had to swerve violently to avoid a small dog which ran out onto the track
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Deborah sleeps while the Ape has a quick service
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