Tony Merriman and Gareth Crichton Complete Budapest-Bamako Car Race

That the Parliament congratulates Tony Merriman and Gareth Crichton, both from Orkney, on completing the Budapest-Bamako charity car race; understands that the endurance event is a 9,000km overland road trek from Budapest to Sierra Leone and is the world’s largest amateur car rally, involving around 700 competitors racing through four European countries and four African countries before finishing in the National Stadium in Freetown, Sierra Leone; acknowledges that, each year, the rally brings between €0.7 and €0.9 million worth of aid to West Africa and that Tony and Gareth were part of a team that has donated their car as an ambulance to a rural hospital in the Mokanji Hills; commends all those who took part and completed such a demanding challenge; thanks all the competitors, and those who supported them, for their fundraising efforts, which will provide essential assistance to families and individuals across West Africa, and wishes Tony, Gareth and all of the competitors a safe journey home and a bit of time to recover.