76-year-old Bourne driver battles blizzards to complete European car challenge for charity

Fresh from her 2,480 mile driving challenge across Europe, Carolyn Corliss is back home safe in Lincolnshire.

The 76-year-old driving enthusiast recently completed the ‘Famous Fireball Monte Carlo Rally’ for children’s charity Action Medical Research.

“I had an absolute blast” admits the Bourne resident. “We were a bit unlucky with the car and the weather, but some of the scenery was still simply stunning.”

Carolyn set off on her week long adventure from Dover on Thursday 23 May.

Adopting a ‘Middle Earth’ theme, the original plan was to drive her second-hand Nissan Primera – complete with a homemade dragon attached to the roof - through seven European countries.

But Carol and her companions (Richard Gumsley, 77, and nephew Chris Gamble 44) hit an early snag.

“We were just enroute to the start point in Kent when we started to hear a terrible noise from the gearbox. To cut a long story short, we sadly had to ditch the dragon and my Nissan in Dover and find another vehicle.”

On the morning of the challenge, the teammates headed back to Richard’s house in Berkshire to pick up his Ford Mondeo Estate.

Catching a later ferry, the trio still managed to complete the challenge, despite the weather doing its best to dampen spirits.

“Some of the rain was torrential and certainly made camping more of a challenge than it needed to be. Some unseasonal snow also blocked a number of routes which meant we had to double-back a couple of times. But that all adds to the fun of it!”  

The Nissan is now back in Bourne and Carolyn will donate 'Smaug' to Action's Peterborough Committee for any future fundraising events.

Now the driving challenge is complete, Carolyn is hoping to hit her own fundraising target of £2,000 – you can find out more on her fundraising page.

Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many of our children. It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.

Action is currently funding research into areas including premature birth, epilepsy, asthma, scarlet fever, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.

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Notes to Editors

This press release relates to the previous story sent 30 April:

https://action.org.uk/latest-news/76-year-old-bourne-driver-channels-hobbit-charity-car-rally

The Fireball Challenge took in a number of countries including France – Monaco – Italy – Austria – Liechtenstein – Germany – Luxembourg – Belgium.

Carolyn’s Nissan Primera was bought last year for £250, specifically for another car driving challenge – the Scumrun 2018. You can read more about that challenge here:
https://action.org.uk/blog/scumrun-75

For more information on Action Medical Research contact Peter Denton, Fundraising Communications Officer, on:

T: 01403 327412
E: pdenton@action.org.uk
W: action.org.uk

Follow us on Twitter at @actionmedres and @amr_events  
Like our Facebook page at facebook.com/actionmedres
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Action Medical Research is a leading UK-wide charity saving and changing children’s lives through medical research. For more than 65 years we’ve helped pioneer ways to prevent disease and develop treatments benefiting millions of people. Our research has helped to beat polio in the UK, develop ultrasound in pregnancy, fight meningitis and prevent stillbirths. But we urgently need to develop more new treatments and cures for sick babies and children and we can’t do it without you.

Join our fight for little lives today.

Charity reg. nos 208701 and SC039284.