EDITOR'S CHOICE FARMING NEWS Helston fatstock show success Health and wealth study award for Cornish farming couple Show tickets Get tickets for the Royal Welsh Smallholder and Garden Festival. Win a prize for inventing a gadget. Click here for more information GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL Just register

Most read Comments 1 Prize for inventor at top show 2 Cattle sale success 3 Mastitis warning from damp straw 4 NFU claim huge boost in membership 5 Cornish farmers' successes 6 Scottish midge still source of concern for bluetongue - South West Farmer takes an in depth look at the bluetongue disease and the methods being devised to combat and halt its spread 7 Sheep leader in Paris 8 Looking good for pigs at Smithfield 9 Farmers should carry extinguishers in tractors 10 Lower somatic cell counts Today | 7 Days 1 Land Army girls recognised at last

Steve Burgess, a farmer from West Yorkshire, has put himself and his Land Rover Defender into the record books as he became the first person in history to successfully cross the Bering Straits in a road vehicle - and he says he has his Cooper 4x4 tyres to thank.

Earlier this year the 52-year-old from Mirfield, near Huddersfield, travelled 10,379 miles in 50 days to the Easternmost tip of Russia. Despite driving across icy tundra and frozen riverbeds with temperatures as low as minus 46 degrees Celsius in some of the most remote places on earth, the Cooper Discoverer ST off-road tyres provided the added traction and outstanding performance Burgess needed.

Then, in a masterstroke that differs from others who tried the voyage before, instead of trying to cross the Straits while they were covered with ice, he simply waited for them to melt in the summer.

Once they did, he strapped two huge floats on the sides of his Land Rover, added a motor and propeller on the back and sailed across the 56-mile stretch of water, pausing on the island of Little Diomede as the weather closed in, before continuing a few weeks later when conditions improved. He landed at 1a.m. local time on the beach of Wales, Alaska, on Friday 8 August, earning his place in history.

"It's been a phenomenal trip," said Burgess. "I can't say it was all enjoyable - I wouldn't do it again - but it has been incredible. We were on ice roads virtually all the way from Moscow - thousands and thousands of miles - and could not believe how much traction we got from the Cooper tyres; they were phenomenal.

"Landing on Wales was brilliant. It was the culmination of nearly nine years work, and to be the first to get across was incredible. I'd watched other people before me try to do it - rich people, big companies, and I thought how am I going to square up to these people?' But I showed them how it's done!"

Despite the achievement, Burgess's epic journey is far from over. After returning to the UK to raise more funds so he can continue the trip, he plans to drive all the way down North and South America to Cape Horn, after travelling a total of 30,000 miles.

ENDS For further information, please contact: Andy Bothwell Paul Rayner T: 0208 541 3434 T: 0208 541 3434 M: 07944651166 M: 07929 344082 E: andyb@performancepr.com E: paul@performancepr.com Notes to Editors Attached photos, by Mac Mackenny, are available in high resolution on request Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio, USA, has more than a century's experience at the leading edge of tyre technology. Cooper produces a full range of tyres for passenger car and 4x4 applications under the Cooper and Avon brand names, together with Avon motorcycle tyres.

Avon motorsport tyres are supplied to over 140 championships around the world, including the Avon Tyres British GT Championship and the British F3 International Series, as well as series supported by Audi, Ford, Porsche and Honda.

For more information visit www.coopertire.com or www.avontyres.com Paul Rayner Senior Account Executive, Performance PR Ltd Tel: 020 8541 3434 DD: 020 8939 7754 Fax: 020 8541 3554 E: paul@performancepr.com Visit: www.performancepr.com The information in this email is intended only for the addressee(s) named above. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient of this message any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken in reliance on it is prohibited and may be unlawful. Performance PR Ltd and/or its subsidiaries do not warrant that any attachments are free from viruses or other defects and accept no liability for any losses resulting from infected email transmissions. Please note that any views expressed in this email may be those of the originator and do not necessarily reflect those of this organisation.

11:46am Tuesday 26th August 2008

Print

Email this