Dr. Jeff Allan and his son, Ben Cottam-Allan from Birmingham are setting off at the beginning of July to try to beat the cross-Europe record. The pair have already won a Guinness World Record for the shortest charging time driving an Electric car from John O’Groats to Land’s End.
Jeff said: “It is going to be difficult to find a new challenge after this one. I first did an Alzheimer’s event in 2014 – climbing Ben Nevis in an Alzheimer’s Society organised event, rather selfishly because I wanted to climb Ben Nevis. Ever since then I have tried to raise money for Alzheimer’s each year – I climbed Skiddaw last year in an Alzheimer’s event but I have also cycled from Land’s End to John o’Groats as well as raised money through the Guinness World record attempt for electric charging Lands End to John o’Groats. My mother had short term memory problems in the last years of her life but it was never diagnosed as Alzheimer’s. I am just aware of how important it is.”
The route starts at the north end of Norway in Nordkapp and crosses Europe for 4000 miles to Tarifa in Southern Spain. The aim is to charge en route for no more than the current Guinness World Record time of just under 20 hours.
Jeff and Ben will be driving their Tesla P85D saloon car in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and Spain. The current record is held by a team of three drivers from Germany who also used a Tesla for their record run.
Ben said: “Our next trip will have to be somewhere no-one has been to in an electric car, maybe the South Pole.”
Jeff and Ben will be raising money for the Alzheimer’s Society on the journey.
Carolyn McDonald, Community Fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Society said: “We’re very excited Jeff and Ben have decided to undergo this challenge to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Society.
They are hoping raise at least £500, hopefully more! Please support them by donating through their Just Giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jeff-Allan4.
The funds raised will support people affected by dementia through valuable services along with important research into the condition. We wish Jeff and Ben every success with the challenge!”
