Daring duo ready for an extreme taxi ride

Peter Moore from Ballyclare and Graham Elliott from Straid, both aged 27, are bidding to complete the wacky three-week adventure as part of an extreme charity challenge.

The daring duo, who have been friends since they met at Ballyclare High School, will jet off to South America at the end of June and do some travelling as a warm-up ahead of their gruelling drive through the Andes on August 1.

Peter and Graham are planning to drive a traditional 125cc 'mototaxi' from Cuzco is southern Peru, across the Andes to Bolivia, through the rainforests and across the salt pans, finishing up in Asuncion, Uruguay three weeks later.

"We wanted to go travelling and saw the 'Mototaxi Junket' advertised and thought why the hell not?" said Graham, who works at Kilroot Power Station. "The journey is paired as a fundraising venture for a great cause, and if you're going to travel across the Andes in a sofa it might as well be for a good cause."

The charity in question is Operation Smile - an organisation which treats children with cleft palates in developing countries. Providing simple surgery, the charity helps ensure that children aren't doomed to spend their lives marginalised from their communities and families because of an easily treatable facial disfigurement.

Not content with trying to negotiate a 'motorised sofa' across 4,000km of rough terrain, Peter and Graham are aiming to make their adventure even more extreme.

"We've set up an online donating page and we hope to get plenty of support from friends and family, but we'd like to step it up a gear," explained Peter, a veterinary student at Cambridge.

"We'd like people to challenge us to do something a bit more alternative on the trip. We want people and companies to bid for a challenge, for example for us to do the trip in reverse or do it covered in gold paint, or worse. We'll do pretty much anything to get your cash to help the world smile," he added.

The highest bidder, or the idea that's voted the most ridiculous, will win and their donation will go straight to Operation Smile and the lads will have to fulfil their agreement. The plucky pair are also putting their team name 'up for sale' in a bid to raise even more cash for the charity.

Every penny donated will go straight to Operation Smile as the costs of the trip are being covered by Graham and Peter, which means they will probably be eating porridge and living in tents for weeks to cut down costs.

Any individuals or companies interested in challenging the team, bidding for the team name, or providing sponsorship should telephone Peter on 9334 0520 or email [email protected]

For more information about the challenge, or to make donations, log on to www.charitygiving.co.uk/peterandgraham