The 10th gentleman’s ride with a higher goal – “Because it is gentlemanly to take care of yourself and others”. This year again I had the honor and pleasure of covering the Distinguished Gentleman’s ride in Belgrade. Being my home city, Belgrade is a place especially close to my heart, and covering events with my friends on my home territory always come with a personal connection and a sense of homecoming.
The ‘Distinguished Gentlemans Ride’, on retro motorcycles, driven by men of different generations, stylized, elegant, in suits, with bow ties, most of them with mustaches, which are otherwise a trademark of this beautiful and humanitarian action. The mission of this ride, which has been held worldwide since 2012, and since 2015 in Serbia, and represents one of the most massive and successful humanitarian actions, is to raise awareness of the importance of prostate cancer prevention and suicide in men. This is the 10th “drive with a reason” in Belgrade. In addition to Belgrade, DGR is held in Niš and Novi Sad in Serbia. What should be emphasized is that this is not a classic motorcycle rally, but a two-wheeled exhibition ride, on unusual motorcycles and participants dressed in tweed. The ride itself takes place at a leisurely pace through the streets of Belgrade, all with the aim of drawing attention to two very important social problems.
The goal is for each participant to animate their environment to perform a prostate examination or to possibly donate a voluntary contribution, which is paid by sponsoring one of the participants or by paying to their own account, and then to a global account, from where the collected funds are distributed to world centers that deal with the examination this disease. The whole story is very transparent.
And that it is not only a male event is confirmed by the increasing presence of women, who come to gatherings on their motorbikes or as co-drivers. And also, they are often present as guest pedestrians before or after the parade itself. This manifestation was held today around the world in over 120 countries and in more than 890 cities.
ABOUT “THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMANS RIDE”!
DGR emerged as a global movement in Australia, inspired by vintage style, with the idea of avoiding the stereotype of motorcycle riders and attracting the attention of the environment in an attractive way. This is not a moto set, but the specific collegiality that motorcyclists have is used in the best way. That is why there are strict rules of participation, which are determined by the types of motorcycles, mostly retro, classic and café racers, as well as the dress code, which is also retro, with tweed and bow ties. The system is franchised, the same model of events is in all countries where DGR is held. All funds raised, through Movember, the world’s largest organization that deals with men’s mental health, are directed to institutions in the world that deal with these topics of men’s health. So far, in this way, over 340,000 participants who are the main motivators in their environment in almost 110 countries around the world, 27.45 million dollars have been collected.