04/09/2008
NEWS STORY
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McLaren boss Ron Dennis has been forced to dig into his somewhat deep pockets yet again, though this time for a good cause.
As previously reported, Dennis had pledged £50 for every fish Liam Fairhurst caught in the McLaren Technology Centre's famous circular lake in his efforts to raise money for the children's cancer charity CLIC Sargent in memory of his friend, Jack Wilkinson, who died of the disease.
To everyone's surprise, the youngster caught 25 fish in a single hour, which meant Dennis had to fork out £1250. Dozens of McLaren Group employees, Pitpass editor Chris Balfe and many of Liam's family and friends also pledged to sponsor his fishing exploits.
Thanks to my brilliant fishing instructor, Martin Locke, we were able to complete our challenge and in the process caught 25 carp!" said Liam. "Thank you to everyone at McLaren who came out to watch me and added to my ever growing total on my Just Giving page and to everyone else who has donated. With Ron's money we are nearly up to £3000 which will make a huge difference to families like mine and this now takes my grand fundraising total to just over £278,000. I'm back in hospital for chemo this week but wanted you all to know how much I enjoyed yesterday and how it took my mind off hospitals. Thanks to all of you."
"Liam has shown great fighting spirit," said Dennis, "both in coping with his illness and his determination to raise funds for and awareness of CLIC Sargent - which is a hugely worthwhile charity. Like myself, Liam couldn't resist a challenge and showed huge prowess with a fishing rod. He has earned the admiration and respect of a huge number of our employees who have stepped in to sponsor him, and the awareness raised via the internet has helped raise a significant amount of money for the charity. His efforts have been suitably rewarded and we at McLaren are proud to have played a role in his commendable fund-raising efforts."
Helping out, was Heikki 'Popeye' Kovalainen, who said: "I only caught one fish, but after that I spent some time coaching Liam during the hour. He did really well."
Our picture shows (L-R) Martin Locke, Heikki and Liam. The thing with the 'Dennis pout' is a carp.