By: Janaki Jitchotvisut
The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride started in Sydney, Australia, in 2012. That means that the world’s premiere dapper motorcycle ride to support men’s health will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2022. By teaming up with Triumph Motorcycles early on, in 2014, the DGR has grown to become the massive global event that it is in 2021. Even though 2020 threw everyone for a loop with the onset of the global pandemic, DGR organizers still found a way to craft a safe event for riders to participate in. Ride Solo Together leveraged the amazing international network of riders that we now have, simply through all of our connections on social media. That meant an astounding 2,531 locations in 171 countries around the world participated in 2020—the most riders ever for a DGR event at that time. Through it all, since 2014, Triumph Motorcycles has both contributed marketing support to raise awareness of the event and its charitable goals, as well as provided Triumph Motorcycles to be official prizes. If you mentally picture the DGR and Triumph as a classic combo, much like peanut butter and jelly, who can blame you? Thus, it’s probably no surprise that Triumph and the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride just announced that they’ve renewed their partnership for the next five years. Considering how the DGR’s fundraising and global reach has managed to continue growing, even through the uncertainties of something like a global pandemic, it seems almost inevitable. “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,” said DGR founder and director Mark Hawwa in a statement.
“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,” Hawwa concluded. “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,” said Triumph chief commercial officer Paul Stroud in a statement. “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,” he continued. “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,” Stroud concluded. Since its inception in 2012, the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride has raised nearly $30M to support men’s health. Both organizations look forward to five more years of building a global, dapper-riding community event that continues to raise money for and awareness of this important cause.