Race2Recovery’s big summer ball is pencilled in for June 21

The difference this year is that the team have achieved their motto: “Beyond injury, achieving the extraordinary”. At the beginning of 2013, the ‘Race2Recovery’ team, which included Ballymena man Corporal Phillip ‘Barney’ Gillespie, set off for South America to take part in the Dakar Rally. This alone placed them in the history books as the first ever disabled team to take part. Unfortunately within the opening week, three of the four R2R cars taking part had had to pull out for various reasons.

However, one car remained which had Ballymena man Barney as co-driver and, on the evening of Saturday, January 19, Barney and his driver, Major Matt O’Hare, brought their car ‘Joy’ over the finish line.

Summer Ball organiser, Claire Todd said: “Words cannot even begin to explain the pride the people who had been following this story felt. With this in mind and the date set for the Ball, I knew instantly I had to make this one just that bit more special.”

The result is a ‘black tie’ event being hosted with a red carpet arrival, drinks reception, four-course meal and entertainment into the small hours.

Claire said she’s thrilled that a number of the team are making the journey over to join in the celebration and that there will also be the opportunity to see some of their ‘Dakar’ memories on the night.

She says: “We also cannot forget why they started this in the first place; to raise £1m for ‘Help for Heroes’ and their rehabilitation centre Tedworth House. You can do your part with tickets costing just £35 for what is sure to be a fantastic night.”

If anyone would like information about this event, contact Claire Todd at [email protected]

And this week, the Ballymena Times, which has suupported the fund-raising efforts throughout, has a special feature on a great new book specially writen to mark the achivement of local man Philip Gillespie and his comrades. See page 10 for full details.