A Yarra Ranges duo are one week out of going on the adventure of their lives and have raised a whopping $5,600 for a good cause at the same time.
They can’t wait to participate in the incredicale Sh*itbox Rally Fundraiser and have gathered with friends, family and the team that have helped them get this far recently at the Bayswater Hotel and are ready to head off to Alice Springs to start the epic race later this week.
“It’s all starting to become real, both Skip and I are extremely excited,” said Alex Davenport.
“We hit our fundraising target (although we could always raise more!), we have our car (A magna advance) and we’ve had a great send off from some supporters,” he said.
The team is named Do it for Stu and consists of Aidan ‘Skip’ Skipsey and Alex ‘AlDav’ Davenport, the pair are set to drive from Alice Springs to the Gold Coast and all funds they have raised will go to the Cancer Council.
The rally begins on 24 October and Alex said the event has been almost a year in the planning, but it feels like they signed up only yesterday.
“We’ve had some huge help along the way from some great in kind sponsors from Compliance Services Australia and Ultimate Offroad,” he said.
“They’ve helped us no end, especially when getting the car road worthy!”
The duo said they would also really like to thank the Robert Connor Dawes Foundation (RCD) for their support.
“While we are raising money for Cancer Australia, we also want to raise awareness of Paediatric and Adolescent Young Adult Brain Cancer.
“The RCD fund research, music therapy and much more specifically for paediatric brain cancer sufferers and their families,” said Alex.
“Not many people know it but brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death in children and there’s been little to no improvements in treatment for decades,” he said.
The two will be blogging the journey at “doitforstu.com”, where they are also still raising money.
Friends for several years and they both wanted to contribute to a charity, the rally will give them a chance to both raise funds for the Cancer Council and rise to a cross-country challenge.
On the website, the Shitbox Rally is described as not just a race but ‘rather a challenge to achieve the unthinkable’.
The pair explain on their online fundraising page that there are many reasons they are fundraising but primarily it is in honour of their mate Stu.
“Stu died in 2020 of Anaplastic Astrocytoma, a devastating brain cancer. Losing a good friend has had a huge impact on our lives and even impacted Alex’s career direction,:” read the post.
Aidan brings a background in mechanics and tinkering to the table. and Alex is a scientist working in immunotherapy and in 2022 he returned to Australia to find new cures for brain cancer,
Alex said they are looking forward to heading into the red centre, meeting some great people and raising some serious money for cancer.
“As a group we had a target of raising $2 million AUD and we’ve blown through that target.”
Their latest blog reads the following ‘We are getting to crunch time with the preparations and a huge thank you to Skip’s Dad for driving us up!’
‘Double thanks due to the fact he literally just did this “Once in a lifetime” trip a couple of months ago, so we are extremely grateful he is making the trip into the red centre again with us and carting the trailer back. ‘
Travelling their humble sh*t box, a 2000 Magna Advance V6 covered in messages of support and love, the pair were gifted two pairs of Stu’s Sunnies and his old iPod for the trip.
“He will be with us all along the way,” read the blog.
