"I'm Basically Your Average Rider"
I
THE ARCTIC RIDER
t started in 2011 with a simple ride to honour a spe-
cial person and organisation. What started as a
ride to the Arctic Circle, a ride that didn’t really go
to plan, has become a near obsession with the arc-
tic, an obsession with riding a bike, and
an obsession with helping great
organisations that are committed to
helping others.
You see for most of us, we jump
on a bike and ride. We ride wher-
ever we want, we stay where we
want, we see what we want …
for some that is almost impos-
sible, as is the case for Rob-
bie Stuart, who as an infant
suffered brain injuries due
to a lack of oxygen caused
by a near fatal incident of cot
death. Robbie survived and
over the course of his life has
astounded the medical profes-
sion with his determination to
prove them wrong, perhaps in-
spired by his older brother Gordon;
The Arctic Rider.
There’s little doubt that Gordon draws
his inspiration from Robbie especially when
he set out in 2011 to ride his Kawasaki ER5 to the
arctic circle to raise money and awareness for Cerebra, the
TRAVERSE
children’s brain injury charity, that has helped Robbie and
the Stuart family tremendously. Gordon was determined to
repay some of the generosity.
Gordon’s ride made it as far as northern Sweden before an
accident ended the ride. He wasn’t stopped. Plan-
ning for a return started immediately and he
set off three years later, this time aboard a
Suzuki GSX650F.
Raising £5,000 Gordon made it to
Nordkapp in Norway, well above
the arctic circle, 10,000 kilometres
in 13 days. It wasn’t enough. He
needed to do more.
In 2016, Gordon took on a
ride many consider crazy, an
Iron Butt, from Lands Ending,
England to John O’Groats,
Scotland, in just 18 hours.
Crazy? Perhaps so! Yet he was
able to turn crazy into good
and raised another £1,600. The
beneficiaries of both, Cerebra
and Tiny Lives Trust out of New-
castle in the United Kingdom, didn’t
think he was crazy. They think he’s an
inspiration.
As an ambassador for Cerebra, Gordon has
met some amazing people, he draws from this and
sets himself challenges to push his boundaries, to push his
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