Committed to Giving,
Committed to the Future
A massive thanks to everyone who donated and supported us on our adventure. You donations will go a long way to helping Soft Power Uganda achieve their goals.
Watch this space for THE CAMEL BIKE RUN 2023!… We must be mad!!
Founded in 2021 by a group of triathlete friends based in United Arab Emirates, Ireland and Netherlands, The Camelbike Run is a yearly endurance challenge undertaken with the sole aim to raise funds for Children’s charities.
Every year a swim, bike or run challenge will be set. The challenge will be a known course or route. Nothing easy or straightforward, it should require several months training and preparation.
Our guiding principles include that all costs associated with the challenges are borne by the participants with 100% of any funds received going to a defined capital project of a chosen Children’s Charity.
We welcome corporate sponsorship but only in the form of direct donations through our pages.
Challenge 2022
The first challenge will be the Wild Atlantic Way on the West Coast of Ireland. This will be completed by the team in May 2022 when we cycle the 2,599km from Derry to Kinsale in 14 days to raise funds for Soft Power Education in Uganda.
In aid of
Funds raised through this campaign will support Soft Power Education in Uganda.
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Since 1999, Soft Power has been working with communities in Uganda with a mission of: “improving quality of life through education”. SPE focuses its work within rural areas of Uganda, on three key related areas:
- Alternative Education – supplementing mainstream education with innovative ideas
- Livelihoods – empowering people to drive forward their own development
- School Infrastructure – providing safe, clean and inspiring learning environments
Up to date they have supported over 100,000 number of children in Uganda through different programs.
All fundraising efforts from this campaign will go towards completely renovating seven classrooms at the Nkondo Primary School where 605 pupils attend school. This renovation will ensure that the children are learning in safe and inspiring classrooms.
Meet Patrick
Born and raised in Cork before emigrating in 2009, Patrick, his wife and three kids are currently based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
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he Camelbike Run is a yearly endurance challenge undertaken with the sole aim to raise funds for Children’s charities.
Back in August 2019 while lying on a beach in the Indian Ocean, sipping Pina Colada and reading The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, Patrick finally succumbed to peer pressure and signed up for his first triathlon. With a limited sporting background, he initially self-assessed himself as a strong swimmer, having been a competitive swimmer at a young age, an average cyclist, because he could ride a bike, and a hopeless runner… because he was. However, it soon became apparent that he was overconfident and had a lot to learn. In October of that year, he competed in the Roy Nasr Memorial Triathlon in Dubai and hasn’t looked back since.
In 2009 Patrick completed the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle Challenge. In June 2021 when the event was cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, the organizers announced the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle – Your Way. The ride could be completed anytime, anywhere so he gathered a group of eight friends to get it done. Not content with the set distance of 170kms he upped the challenge to 200kms – just to keep it interesting. The group cycled 202kms in the Dubai desert heat and humidity in the name of charity.
This ride spurred on a ‘what’s next’ conversation…
Meet Jimmy
Born and reared in Dublin, Jimmy is married with three children, he emigrated from Ireland with his family in 2007 and is currently based in Dubai in the UAE.
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Jimmy’s fitness journey started after a holiday with family and friends in 2014. Jimmy had doubled in size from 72kgs at aged 30 to 140Kgs in 2014. The holiday really highlighted the “size” of the issue. Armed with a step counter and the MyFitnessPal app a journey began to lose weight and get fit. Once the weight loss had started Jimmy was cajoled to enter a super sprint triathlon. With little to no knowledge of Triathlon the race was a disaster and included a crash on the bike, however Jimmy finished the race and fell in love with Triathlon and thus began a journey of lycra, bikes, chaffing, tears and hours of training eventually leading to the completion of three full Ironman distance races, three marathons, multiple IM 70.3 races as far away as China, two half Marathons and lots of local races. Jimmy went on to lose over 50kgs in total.
An offshoot of this newfound fitness was a desire to use these events to raise money for Children’s Charities. Along with a colleague Jeroen and supported by their employer GCC Services, Jimmy hiked the Druk Trail in Bhutan with Gulf for Good, with the group raising a large amount of Money for Mission Himalaya, an eco- home for orphaned children in Nepal. Following this and again with support from GCC Services, Jeroen and Jimmy joined 27 colleagues in completing a half marathon in Abu Dhabi, raising a significant sum for SOS Children homes in Lebanon. .
The lock down in 2020 resulted in sports events being cancelled and with restrictions on training Jimmy gained back a large amount of weight. With an impending 50th birthday coming fast in 2022 a plan of action was drawn up. Lose weight and complete the 5for50 (5 endurance events in his 50th year with a lofty charity target of 50,000 dollars) was agreed the highlight of which is the Camelbikeride 2022 completing the Wild Atlantic Way. – Jimmy has travelled and seen a large amount of the world yet Ireland holds a part of his soul and this bike ride feels like a homecoming of sorts. What better than 14 days with friends enjoying 4 seasons a day on the glorious West Coast of Ireland.
