Good Year For The Gentleman
The annual Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride was moved from September to May this year, resulting in the best turnout yet for the global charity ride. Triumph Motorcycles is one of the event’s main sponsors in North America and reports record growth in money raised for the Movember Foundation, a leading men’s health initiative. The May 19th event saw 959 separate rides in over 100 locations worldwide that drew a record-breaking 113,000 riders who contributed or raised a total of $7.6 million. This will go a long way towards treating both physical ailments and mantal health awareness while dressing up in their best dapper tweed and formal wear is always a blast.
The event started in Australia and has ignited a worldwide response with groups of like-minded motorcyclists gathering for parade-style jaunts in cities both large and small. Organizers say the goals are raising cash for research into mental health, suicide prevention, and prostate cancer prevention, while the effect of seeing so many well-dressed riders together helps dispel the common notion that everyone on two wheels is some sort of “Sons of Anarchy” wannabe gangster.
CRM contributors Blair Powell and Jay LaRossa are both veteran DGR participants with the latter helping to corral the hundreds-strong ride through the streets of his native Long beach, California. The riders throughout North America again led the way in fundraising for 2024 with 14,767 riders from 187 rides in the United States, raising $2.53M and 2,167 riders from 28 rides in Canada, raising $521k, there was a combined $3.05 Million dollars raised from rides between the two countries.
Looking back at motorcycle history, some of the very first charity rides aimed at raising awareness of the biking community’s good deeds were launched in the early 1960s by Rev. Bill Shergold of London’s original 59 Club. Black leather-clad rockers and cafe racers were shunned by the general public in 1960s England, refused service in pubs and restaurants and often harassed by local police. The efforts of these early charity events eventually proved a powerful means of altering the general public’s perception of motorcycles and the people who ride them, and it’s great to see the tradition carrying on today.
