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Michael ‘Mickey’ Shannon, a 36-year-old industrial cleaner from Billingham, is getting ready for his first ever Scumrun. He’ll be joining his wife Debbie, 35, on the mystery tour around Europe in a BMW they bought for less than £500. Action caught up with Mickey to find out how preparations were going…
Mickey & Debbie Shannon: "Any charity that looks to find cures and solutions to so many conditions is worth raising a few quid for.”
Congratulations on getting a place on Scumrun! Have you ever done anything like this before?
No we haven’t, but it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time. We follow the Scumrun every year on social media and have seen all the videos they post, so we’ve got a rough idea about what we’re getting ourselves in for!
Debbie and I don’t often get the chance to have some time to ourselves, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to take on a challenge, drive around Europe and raise money for a great cause.
Tell us a bit more about the car you’ll be driving.
Well, it’s a 2002 BMW 320ci (pictured right). We bought it last year and have spent a bit of money doing it up. It’s loosely based on a 1973 3.0 CSL touring car and styled around a modern racer, so a bit of a hybrid if you like! I actually got the idea from my son; he has a toy version of the 1973 model and joked that it would be cool for us to make our real car just like it!
Why do you want to help Action Medical Research?
We hadn’t heard about the charity until we signed up for Scumrun, but once we did a bit of reading it made us so proud to think we could be helping families across the UK. My sister was actually born premature and was on life support for many weeks. Sadly my wife and I lost two children through miscarriage a few years ago and so we know first-hand the trauma such tragedies can cause. There are so many things that can go wrong with pregnancies, so many illnesses and diseases that can affect little ones; any charity that looks to find cures and solutions to so many conditions is worth raising a few quid for.”
What are you looking forward to most about the Scumrun challenge?
I think just the unknown and the adventure that comes with it! I’m looking forward to meeting the crazy people that are the ‘scumrunners’ but most of all I’m looking forward to the memories and sharing the stories with friends. To be able to say ‘I did that’ is important to both of us.