Some articles:
'SHERLOCK' IS BICYCLING ACROSS AUSTRALIA
378 words
13 October 2004
06:39
Associated Press Newswires
English
(c) 2004. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
PERTH, Australia (AP) - A former British soccer player raising money for
a leukemia charity set off Wednesday on a coast-to-coast ride across
Australia on a Victorian-era bicycle that is older than the country.
Leukemia survivor Lloyd Scott dressed up as fictional British
supersleuth Sherlock Holmes, complete with tweed coat, deerstalker hat
and a fake mustache for the 2,700-mile trip from Perth to Sydney.
He donned the costume to blend in with his 1885 "penny-farthing" bicycle
with a giant front wheel and tiny back wheel, as he crosses a desert
region known as the Nullarbor Plain where daytime temperatures are
likely to soar to 104 defrees Fahrenheit.
He said he hoped to wear the costume throughout his ride, but told Perth
radio station 6PR, "I must confess if there's a couple of days across
the Nullarbor when its perhaps a little bit warm and nobody's looking, I
might take the jacket off."
Scott, a former firefighter and professional soccer player from Essex,
southeast England, is no stranger to covering long distances in wildly
inappropriate apparel -- in 2002 he completed the New York marathon in a
vintage diving suit -- complete with boots and helmet -- that weighed in
at a hulking 130 pounds. He took five days to finish.
The father of three, who survived leukemia, is making what he hopes will
be a six-week trek through mountain ranges and desert plains in a bid to
raise 1.5 million pounds (US$2.7 million) for the charity Children With
Leukemia.
"Everyone I've sort of met over here has warned me of what to look out
for -- road trains, cattle grids, kangaroos, emus, bulls, camels -- and
I've got a list now that's nearly as long my arm," Scott told 6PR. Road
trains are the giant trucks that thunder along Australia's Outback
highways.
Scott said he had already wrecked one penny-farthing while learning how
to operate the original 1885 version he is using for his odyssey across
Australia -- a country that only formally came into existence in 1901.
He is riding with a support crew including his father, brother and a
physiotherapist, who plan to bunk down in mobile homes each night.
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BRITISH ADVENTURER AIMS TO WHEEL ACROSS DESERT: FOR LEUKEMIA RESEARCH:
PLANS TO WEAR HEAVY TWEED JACKET ON 4,350-KM TRIP
Agence France-Presse
613 words
14 October 2004
National Post
All but Ottawa @ Toronto
A12
English
(c) 2004 National Post . All Rights Reserved.
PERTH, Australia - Lloyd Scott has walked the length of Loch Ness
underwater and plodded the London Marathon in an antique diving suit,
but he admitted he will have to cheat to accomplish his latest feat --
riding an antique bicycle across Australia's desert outback in a heavy
tweed suit.
Dressed like Sherlock Holmes in a Norfolk jacket with knickerbockers,
deerstalker hat and a large fake moustache, the Englishman set off from
Perth in Western Australia yesterday bound for Sydney 4,350 kilometres
to the east.
His route lies across some of the world's harshest deserts, including
the dreaded Nullarbor Plain, where little more than native animals and
small shrubs can survive in temperatures that regularly top 40C.
"It's a long way," Mr. Scott admitted shortly before pedalling off on
his bone-rattling Victorian-era penny farthing bike. The machine, which
has a giant front-wheel and a tiny back wheel, was bought in the United
States for about $6,700.
"Will it be tougher than the Loch Ness walk? Well, there is not a great
deal of suspension on the bike," he said.
"There's only two springs under the saddle so I've cheated and put a
lambswool cover over it," added the cyclist, who was celebrating his
43rd birthday.
And although he donned appropriate period costume for the start of the
ride, Mr. Scott confessed he may loosen the tie and slip off the jacket
as temperatures in the desert begin to climb.
"I'm hoping to [wear the costume the whole time], although I must
confess if there's a couple of days across the Nullarbor when it's
perhaps a little bit warm and nobody's looking, I might take the jacket
off," he said.
The former soccer player overcame leukemia after a bone marrow
transplant in the 1980s. He has since defied convention with a series of
feats to raise money for leukemia research and to increase awareness of
the disease.
He claimed the record for the slowest London Marathon when in 2002 he
took more than five days to cover the 42-km course while wearing an
80-kilogram deep-sea diving suit.
His underwater stroll along 42 kilometres of Loch Ness last year took
him 12 days.
He anticipates the bike ride will take about six weeks to complete, a
feat he hopes will raise $3.4-million for the charity Children With
Leukaemia.
"I've done things on six of the seven continents but I decided to save
the best to last," he said.
Mr. Scott, a former firefighter and father of three from Rainham, east
of London, will be followed by a mobile home and his support team, who
include his father, brother and a physiotherapist. He plans to cycle for
about eight hours a day.
"Everyone I've sort of met over here has warned me of what to look out
for -- road trains, cattle grids, kangaroos, emus, bulls, camels -- and
I've got a list now that's nearly as long my arm," Mr. Scott said.
"I'm just concerned I am going to spend so much time looking out for
these things that I won't actually concentrate on what I'm doing."
Black & White Photo: Tony Ashby, Agence France-Presse, Getty Images /
Briton Lloyd Scott leaves Perth, Australia, for Sydney on a
penny-farthing bicycle yesterday. Scott has tried zany feats before,
including walking the length of Loch Ness underwater.; Graphic/Diagram:
National Post / NULLARBOR: (See print copy for complete
graphic/diagram.)
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