TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES AND THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN’S RIDE RENEW THEIR PARTNERSHIP FOR FIVE MORE YEARS

Triumph Motorcycles are proud to announce that they will continue as main partner and supporter of The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride (DGR), one of the world’s largest and most stylish charity motorcycle fundraising event, for another historic five years.

The renewal of this important partnership represents a natural continuation of what has been a great success story, both from the perspective of raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health, but also in the incredible participation and the riding community it has generated for hundreds of thousands of motorcyclists worldwide

As the DGR’s major sponsor since 2014, Triumph Motorcycles are proud to have played a key role in partnership with Mark Hawwa and his team in helping develop the DGR into the world-spanning event that it is today. Contributing support and resources across the years that have raised awareness, amplified the DGR’s voice and rewarded its participants has been at the heart of Triumph’s role. This in turn has led to legions of Triumph riders, Triumph dealers, staff, family, and friends enjoying their motorcycles, dressing dapper and sharing a common bond in support of their community.

The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride’s was founded to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health, by uniting classic and vintage style motorcycle riders, old and new all around the world. Triumph Motorcycles embraced this cause and in early 2014, committed to support the DGR through their global marketing team and channels, and to provide The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride with Modern Classic motorcycles to be won as prizes to reward and promote fundraising.

Over 8 incredible years, Triumph Motorcycles and The DGR have worked together with the common goal of increasing the profile of The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride around the world, to grow this amazing community of riders and ultimately increase the number of people participating and the level of funds raised to support the cause.

On 28th September 2014 the first Triumph-sponsored DGR took place in 58 countries, 257 cities and it was attended by 20,000 dapper-dressed classic and vintage riders, raising a total of $1.5m. Growing to 79 countries, 410 cities, 37,000 riders and $2.3m raised in 2015, and 90 countries, 57,000 riders and $3.6m in 2016, these numbers have just kept growing and growing – up to the DGR’s record breaking year in 2019, where 116,00 riders raised $6m by riding dapper together in an amazing 104 countries across the world.

The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic presented a challenging landscape for The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and riders alike. Despite such difficult times and dynamics, the DGR worked hard to develop a new format that made it possible for riders to show their support and passion safely, with the Ride Solo Together event. This enabled the global DGR community to achieve its most global event ever, with 171 countries and 2,531 locations riding solo together, all connected together through social media.

As challenges persisted during 2021 The Distinguished Gentleman’s ride adapted its format again to reflect the different level of restrictions worldwide, where depending on the restrictions in place in each area DGR fans enjoy a normal group ride event, route only or solo ride.

As a result of this evolved approach, we saw a considerable increase in participants and funds raised compared to the previous year with 65,300 riders, almost 10,000 more compared to 2020, raising $4.1m, $1.4m more than 2020. 

In 2021, the event moved from September to May, and every indication gives hope and confidence for an amazing ride in 2022 ride, which everyone involved is committed to making the most successful year ever.

Mark Hawwa, Founder/Director of The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride
“In 2014 when we first partnered with Triumph Motorcycles, I was incredibly excited. They are the only motorcycle manufacturer that I felt perfectly fit with The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. We’ve done some wonderful things since then; together we have been able to reward some of our top and most dedicated fundraisers with brand new bikes from the modern classic range and built the custom one-of-one 2021 Triumph Thruxton RS. Today, 8 years later as we announce the 5-year continuation of this partnership, I am even more excited than I was in 2014 because, with the next 5 years, I know that we can do even more together with the goal of raising funds and awareness of men’s health.”

Paul Stroud, Triumph Chief Commercial Officer
“From the very beginning we could see the DGR was something truly special that the team at Triumph were incredibly keen to be involved with, both for the cause it represented but also the great day of riding and fun of dressing dapper it delivered. We are proud to have been the main partner for the last eight years and honoured to have been able to play a part in helping grow such a positive and impactful force for good. Across our world, from our dealers to our staff, to Triumph fans and DGR riders globally it’s very easy to see how much passion and engagement there is for this significant event and riding cause. The renewal of our partnership with The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was a natural decision to take, based not only on the success and growth of participation that has raised Triumph’s profile, but also because we share that passion and are committed to supporting Mark, his team and the DGR community worldwide in their mission, to reach ever higher”

 

 

ABOUT THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN'S RIDE

  • The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (DGR) unites hundreds of thousands of classic and vintage style motorcycle riders all over the world to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s mental health. 
  • The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2012 by Mark Hawwa. After inspiration from a photograph featuring classic suits and vintage motorcycles, Mark decided a themed ride would be a great way to combat the often-negative stereotype of motorcyclists and connect the global motorcycling community, and to raise funds for a cause important to every rider. 
  • DGR raises funds for its charity partner, Movember, and is dedicated to raising funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men's mental health programs. Together, we have funded key research and community programs to help men make better connections with mates and lead happier and healthier lives.
  • Since its first year in 2012, our global community has raised almost $30m USD for men's health. The event operates in over 700 cities and 114 countries around the world.
  • For more information and to join your local ride, visit www.gentlemansride.com

 

 
 

– END –

 

For further information contact:
Lisa Jones, Global PR & Events Manager
lisa.jones@triumph.co.uk 

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Triumph Motorcycles

  • First established in 1902, Triumph Motorcycles celebrated 120 years of motorcycle manufacture in 2022. For more than three decades, Triumph Motorcycles has been based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and has produced iconic bikes that perfectly blend authentic design, character, charisma and performance.
  • With more than 83,389 motorcycles delivered in calendar year 2022, and on track to reach a milestone 800 dealers across the world in 2023, Triumph is the largest British motorcycle manufacturer.
  • This focus, innovation and engineering passion has today created a broad range of bikes suited to all motorcycle riders, including the stunning Speed Triple 1200 RR, Tiger Sport 660 and Trident 660, all-new transcontinental Tiger 1200 and epic Tiger 900, world leading Rocket 3 R and GT, the new high-performance Street Triple 765 RS, iconic Scrambler 1200, and the legendary Triumph Bonneville family including the Bonneville Bobber, Thruxton RS, Speed Twin 900 Twin, Scrambler 900, and the iconic Bonneville T120 and T100 and the stunning Chrome Collection modern classics.
  • Triumph currently employs around 3,000 personnel worldwide and has subsidiary operations in the UK, North America, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan, Sweden (Scandinavia), Benelux, Brazil, India, China and Thailand as well as a network of independent distributors. Triumph has manufacturing facilities in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and Thailand plus CKD facilities in Brazil and India.
  • The Triumph Bonneville, famously named to celebrate Triumph’s 1956 land speed record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA, was the original British superbike and a race-winner straight out of the crate, chosen by famous motorcyclists of the past for its legendary handling, style, and character. Recently updated with even more performance, capability and style, it’s that handling, character and iconic looks, married to modern rider-focused technology that makes the new Bonneville family THE authentic modern classic choice today.
  • Triumph has a glorious racing history, competing in and winning races in almost every class and field of motorcycle sporting achievement. From winning the second ever Isle of Man TT in 1908, through to 1960s road and track domination in Europe and America, right up to contemporary racing achievements with the Triumph triple powered 2014 and 2015 Supersports titles and World SuperSport racing, Isle of Man Supersports TT wins in 2014 and 2019, courtesy of Gary Johnson and Peter Hickman, plus an average speed of over 130mph 2023 by Peter Hickman on his Triumph STR765, and a thrilling last-lap victory at the legendary Daytona 200 by Brandon Paasch on the Street Triple 765 in 2022.
  • Triumph’s racing legend continues as the exclusive engine supplier to the FIM Moto2™ World Championship since the start of the 2019 season. Triumph Motorcycles provides all of the teams with race-tuned 765cc triples, each of which is based on the class-leading Street Triple RS powerplant. Redefining the class and breaking record after record in the inaugural year, including the first ever +300km/h Moto2™ top speed, the 2020 season got even faster with another 11 all-time lap records and seven different winners from 15 races. Reflecting these great successes, the wonderful feedback and partnerships that Triumph have had with the riders and their teams, and the incredible response from Triumph fans across the world, Triumph and Dorna, in 2021, decided to extend our relationship and sign a new contract for another three years of racing: 2022 – 2024. The 765 Triumph Triple has so far achieved 73 race and outright lap records, enabled 21 different riders to win a Moto2™ race, with 8 different winners in 2022 alone. A 300km/h top speed has been reached at least once in each season, with the bar being moved even higher during practice at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, when both Celestino Vietti and Darryn Binder recorded the highest ever top speed in Moto2™ of 301.6 km/h.  Triumph 765cc triples have raced more than one million kms, proving the engine’s outstanding performance and reliability.
  • Triumph’s racing activities are further bolstered by a return to the World Superbike paddock in 2022 with a factory-supported race team, Dynavolt Triumph, in the World Supersport Championship.
  • In 2021 Triumph announced their forthcoming entry into the Motocross and Enduro worlds as well as a new factory racing effort, with a commitment to top tier championship racing in both Motocross and Enduro series.
  • In 2022 Triumph revealed their partnership with Thierry Chizat-Suzzoni, one of the sport’s most experienced and successful team owners, who will field two of Triumph’s all-new 250cc 4-stroke MX bikes in the 2024 MX2 class and will add an entry into the 450cc MXGP class in 2025, and with Team Principal Bobby Hewitt and Team Manager Stephen ‘Scuba’ Westfall to field its all-new Triumph 250cc 4-stroke MX bikes in the 2024 SuperMotocross World Championship, which is comprised of the Monster Energy Supercross World Championship, and the Pro Motocross Championship, with three season-ending SuperMotocross rounds.  For the 2025 season Triumph will additionally field its new 450cc bike in the SuperMotocross World Championship.
  • In July 2022, Iván Cervantes secured victory in the Baja Aragón. Cervantes dominated the 450km race and crossed the finish line 1 hour and 6 minutes ahead of his rivals in the Trail category. In the scratch classification, which included professional riders with light 450cc rally motorcycles, Cervantes achieved an even more remarkable 11th position, clearly demonstrating the Tiger’s ability to compete at an elite level of competition.
  • In 2023 Triumph officially claimed the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for ‘The greatest distance on a motorcycle in 24 hours (individual)’.  Riding a factory-specification Tiger 1200 GT Explorer on the High-Speed Ring at the Nardò Technical Center in Italy, 5x Enduro World Champion and Triumph Global Ambassador Iván Cervantes travelled more than 4012km in a 24-hour period, beating the previous record of 3406km by a huge margin of more than 600km.
  • In 2023, Triumph launched the Speed 400 and Scrambler 400 X: two all-new models. Designed from the ground-up with a brand-new single engine platform at their heart, these new models have been designed to deliver a fun, agile and confidence-inspiring ride for riders of all ages and experience levels. Conceived and designed in Hinckley, UK, these accessible new models represent incredible value for money and bring Triumph’s iconic style, quality and performance to a whole new generation of Triumph riders.