Each autumn, the Dorset Centre of the
Velocette Owners Club, UK, holds a charity bike run, the Bob Foster Run, raising funds for Naomi House Children?s Hospice and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.
The veteran bike run takes place on Sunday 20 October, 2006 and regularly attracts well over 120 participants. The starting point is the Village Hall at Crossways, Dorset and from there the route winds through the lanes and villages of Thomas Hardy's Dorset, passing close to Dorset landmarks such as the Cerne Abbas Giant and T.E. Lawrence's cottage at Clouds Hill. After a lunch stop at on the coast, the route takes the bikes back to the Village Hall at Crossways. The village hall car park is small and prone to overcrowding, so organizers have asked that this area is kept for registered riders; spectators would be appreciated at other points along the route.
Bob Foster was a well known road racer in the thirties and forties, riding for many different factory teams, including Velocette, AJS, Levis and New Imperial. He won many races, including the TT, and in 1950 was world champion on a 350cc MkVIII Velocette.
Originally coming from Gloucestshire, he was known as the 'Cheltenham Flyer', but settled in Dorset where he owned garages in Blandford and Parkstone; though he took to spending the winter months in South Africa, where he raced with considerable success.
The Velocette name came into being in 1913 and the company stopped production of bikes in 1971. In 1961 a basically standard Velocette Venom roadster became the first and only 500cc motorcycle to average over 100 mph for 24 hours.
Pre-registration is required to participate in this run; if anyone is interested in taking part, use the 'contact us' form in the navigation bar and the Activity Holidays Guide team will pass on your details to run organizer, David Cox.
