Dozens of dapperly dressed motorbikers will be going hell for tweed, wool and cotton when they hit the roads in and around Bishop’s Stortford on Sunday (May 19) for charity – and townsfolk and villagers are encouraged to turn out on foot and wave them past.
Last year’s inaugural Bishop’s Stortford Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) featured around 170 smart and stylish riders on classic and vintage-style bikes. The event raised more than £22,000 – and organisers of the 2024 sequel would love to top that total.
It is part of a global annual event. The DGR takes place in multiple cities and towns across the world on a single day, raising money and awareness for men’s mental health and prostate cancer research through the Movember movement. The event started in Australia in 2012 and since then has raised over $50 million.
So far, 161 riders have registered for Sunday’s local ride. They will set off from Goldtop, the motorcycle outfitters in Gipsy Lane, Stortford, at 11am, head out to Down Hall Hotel at Hatfield Heath, which is hosting the mid-point of the ride, and then go west to the finish point at The Star in Standon around 1pm to 1.30pm.
Stortford residents are encouraged to line Stansted Road from 11am to watch the pack pass southwards towards Hockerill and Hallingbury Road. Please do not go to Goldtop. The afternoon second leg will see bikers travelling through Sawbridgeworth between noon and 12.30pm and then along South Street, Potter Street and North Street through Stortford town centre, en route to Standon, between 12.30pm and 1pm.
Jo French, one of the organisers, said: “The ride is a slow ride with strictly no racing or reckless riding, and with the aim of being seen so that we can raise awareness of the charity, whilst also breaking down often negative stereotypes of motorcyclists.”
As well as Goldtop as main sponsor, the event is supported by Riverside Walk tattoo parlour Obsidian Ink and The Belgian Brewer at the Links Business Centre on the Raynham Road industrial estate.
Riders wishing to join in can register at https://www.gentlemansride.com/ and state Bishop’s Stortford as the ride they wish to do.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so here https://www.gentlemansride.com/rides/england/bishop%27s+stortford.
