Yamaha Donating 5 Super Teneres to Charity

The five Yamaha Super Ténéré XT1200Z motorcycles will operate in rural areas in Zambias Eastern province, helping to provide efficient detection and diagnosis of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and other illnesses. Yamaha will also provide a support package of replacement parts to ensure at least three years of operation.

Yamaha is proud to support the invaluable work performed by Riders for Health. We hope our Super Ténéré bikes can contribute to make a difference to many hundreds of people who are currently without access to the medication they need to stay healthy, says Arno Sunnotel, Yamaha Motor Europes Division Manager.

To help raise awareness for the charity, Yamaha is organizing an adventure ride with 24 Super Ténérés from Paris, France, to Marrakech, Morroco, where five of the machines will be donated to Riders for Health.

The ride will be held in four stages and will include a group of Dakar Rally veterans, journalists and riders chosen in an essay-writing contest, who will be among the first people to ride the new motorcycle. The first stage, led by Dakar Rally rider David Frétigné, began May 4 in Paris at the Eiffel Tower, the original starting point for the Dakar Rally. The fleet of Super Ténérés and support vehicles will travel to Toulouse, France. At Toulouse, Frétigné will hand things over to another Dakar veteran, Franco Picco and another group of journalists who will ride the second stage to the next waypoint, Madrid, Spain.

At the Spanish capital, nine-time Dakar Rally winner (six times on Yamaha motorcycles, another three in Mitsubishi SUVs) Stephane Peterhansel and a third group of press will ride the third stage to Lisbon, Portugal. The final stage will see Dakar Rally rider Helder Rodrigues lead the five riders chosen from the essay contest to Marrakech to hand over the five Super Ténéré motorcycles to Riders for Health. The caravan is expected to arrive on May 17.

We are delighted that Yamaha Europe are helping to support our work in Africa with this event, says Andrea Coleman, chief executive officer of Riders for Health. This is another great example of the motorcycle community coming together to help some of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable people by ensuring they can receive the basic health care the developed world takes for granted. These motorcycles will make a big difference to our work in Zambia, and we are very grateful to everyone that has helped to make this possible,

The entire journey will be chronicled online at http://rideforlife.super-tenere.com/, as well as Twitter and Facebook.

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