'Optimistic fools' to set off for Mongolia (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

'Optimistic fools' to set off for Mongolia

4:00pm Saturday 26th January 2008

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FREELANCE journalist Christoph Courth from Marston, near Devizes, is the latest intrepid motorist to take on a rally to distant Mongolia in a car that is past its first flush of youth.

Mr Courth, 26, has teamed up with his old university buddy Oliver Westgarth, 27, for the 8,000-mile trip across Europe and Asia to the Mongolian capital Ulaan Bataar, described as one of the greatest adventures in the world.

One of the rules of the contest is that each team must use a vehicle with an engine capacity of less than 1,000cc and they have been donated an ancient 1975 Renault 4, that is currently still in Guernsey, where Mr Westgarth is based.

Mr Courth and Mr Westgarth have called their team Optimistic Fools and they will join others of the same ilk at Hyde Park in London on July 8 to set off on their fools' errand.

They will be raising money for a number of deserving charities, including Mercy Corps Mongolia, the Christina Noble Children's Foundation, the Pancreatic Cancer Relief Fund and Christian charity COPA.

Mr Courth, who studied anthropology and German literature at Oxford Brookes University, will be writing regular reports on the team's progress.

He said: "After uni I worked as a builder and odd job man in and around the Marston area until I finally managed to secure my dream job in the Dominican Republic, working for two years for the UK-registered charity COPA, which has a big support base in Seend.

"I returned in February 2007 and have since been working in London for a visa outsource company."

This is the third year the Mongol Rally has been run. The last Devizes competitor was doctor's daughter Amelia Heaton-Renshaw, who travelled in a convoy of Fiat Pandas to Mongolia in 2006.

The previous year James Higgs and Damien Bottle, both from Devizes, got to within 100 miles of Ulaan Bataar before their Morris Minor gave up the ghost and they sold it to a Russian villager they met.

Anyone who would like to find out more about Mr Courth's entry or would like to sponsor him can go to the website www.optimisticfools.co.uk Seagry residents were holding their breath last night to see whether councillors gave plans for two cottages on land close to the pub the go ahead.

The controversial plans for two 2-bed homes in Henn Lane have been submitted by the Methodist Church.

The decision was due to be made by North Wiltshire District Council's Development Control Committee at a meeting last night.

People living near by have objected to the plans, fearing they are too close to The New Inn and that the site will be too cramped.

They also fear that because the housing will not be low cost it will not attract local buyers.

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