LEMURS! Preparing for attack!?!
… well actually, this is about a slightly different type of Lemur.
Last Saturday, we had a bit of a special day at Wildilocks @ Cuba in Wellington.
Not really anything unusual (for us) hair wise… some stripey patterns, some crazy beard shaving… just a regular olde day… here, lookie:
All in a day’s work, wot!
But….the reason for this particular couple of hairstyles, was anything but ordinary!
Aimee Whitcroft (convener of NerdNite Wellingtonand much other awesomeness) approached Wildilocks a couple of weeks back with a crazy plan.
Aimee (@teh_aimee) and her partner in crime, Dane (@dene), made the decision to enter an insane and arduous road trip for charity – the Mongol Rally.
….the what???…. you ask?
The Mongol Rally is a car rally that begins in Europe and ends in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. It began in 2004 and is an annual event with entries from countries all over the world, but very few from the Southern Hemisphere.
And it’s not like a standard car rally, either. The 16,000 kilometers of the rally is approximately 1/3 of the earth’s surface … and … “The Rally’s rules have traditionally stipulated that a participating car must “generally be considered to be crap.”” ie – tiny, inappropriate vehicles, ideally with High Comedy Value, are required to participate. The Mongol Rally has become insanely competitive to enter, with places being filled mere seconds after registration opens each year. But the best bit, is that all competitors are raising money for charity – and in this case, half will be going to the UK and the other half to worthy NZ-based organisations, in a mightly 50/50 hemispherical split of grand generosity and derring-do.
Lemur Attack Force managed to secure a place for next years Rally, and subsequently have been working on their strategy for visibility and awesomeness in the lead up and preparation for their arduous journey in 2012.
Aimee & Dane needed something to make them stand out to promote their team’s entry, right from the get-go. We wanted to express the spirit of “Lemur” (which, incidentally, means “spirit” in the Latin) as visibly as possible, and chose a palette of golds and browns: combining the best of the golden crowned lemur with the most well known ring tailed lemur, with the most delightful stripes – and where else but on our team’s crowning glory – and who else but Wildilocks to do it??
Below are a sample of images of the day, but you can see the full gallery here (and over here for the Google+ crowd 😉
Colour on! And a nice hot chocolate…
Golden lemur base colour achieved!
Phase 2 almost complete…
Aimee finished!
Dane from behind…
Purdy pic provided by Aimee…
Ta da!
Aimee and Dane were great sports and very pleased with the lemur-esque results, and plan to continue to show the world their stripes as they train for the rally and raise awareness by travelling up and down New Zealand: so look out for them if you are in Wellington or anywhere in NZ, they may be passing through soon!
You can keep up to date with Lemur Attack Force by following their blog on The Adventurists’ site which documents all rally teams, over >here, or follow their brand new Twitter account here. They also have a gallery of gorgeous pics, which of course they will add to over time 🙂
So, of course I haven’t written this very detailed post just to show off their awesome Wildilocks hair – there is an ulterior motive here. As this is a charity event, we want to raise awareness for their entry as early and as effusively as possible – and that’s where you dear reader, can assist. Lemur Attack Force are already accepting preliminary donations, and you can start supporting them NOW!
All teams are required to raise at least 1000 pounds for charity to be eligible to enter, so you can assist to make sure they meet this requirement by clicking the donate button below:
Every little bit helps, so even if it’s just a dollar or two, it will help get them to Mongolia and also help very worthy causes (see here for more details on the charities that the Mongol Rally supports). We also would like to say that we highly approve of The Adventurists’ various events and causes, and note they held a smashing Steampunk Xmas Party last year, which we wish we could have gone to!
Lemur Attack Force are seeking other corporate sponsors too, so if you think you can help, contact them asap 🙂
We’ll post more closer to their departure, but we want to say that Wildilocks wishes Lemur Attack Force every success! (and to not meet a grisly fate in some remote Mongolian steppe at the hands of bandits, please).