A patron of the Amy Gillett Foundation and a wide variety of other charities in the past - Mark still felt he wanted to do something more, something personal, for charity. The inaugural 2003 Cadbury Schweppes Mark Webber Challenge was held in Tasmania to fulfil his desire to challenge himself while giving back to the Australian community, and after a two year break, the Challenge was launched again in 2006 with a vengeance, this time as the Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge.

To umbrella the Challenge and all his future charitable fund-raising and events, Mark created the Mark Webber Challenge Foundation. Each year, the Foundation supports two nominated Challenge charities - and in 2007 this included the Leukaemia Foundation and the Save the Tassie Devil Appeal.

The Mark Webber Pure Tasmania Challenge came back in full-force in 2007, and was kicked off with a successful March launch at the Australian Grand Prix.

Sports stars such as Olympic silver medallist pole-vaulter Tatiana Grigorieva, Olympic champion swimmer Michael Klim and world champion adventure racers, Richard and Elina Ussher set the standard early on when they signed up for the multi-disciplined adventure race. Also attracted to the unique event as sponsors or team entrants were well known brands such as Telstra, Lonely Planet, RBS, Drizabone, Cadbury Schweppes, Europcar and Virgin Blue to name a few.

For the first time in its three year history, the Challenge was split into two categories - the 2theXtreme Cup, for sporting doubles and celebrities, and the Van Diemen Cup, for four person corporate entries - and from November 17-23, 60 competitors battled it out for more than 450kms over some of the most unforgiving, yet stunning terrain in the world.

The Challenge will be back in 2008, so keep an eye on www.markwebberchallenge.com for up-to-date news and the latest photos and videos, details on how to donate and all the information on past Challenge's.

Mark has recently joined the Amy Gillett Foundation as one of its Patrons. Established in memory of Amy Gillett, the Australian cyclist who was tragically killed by a motorist while out training with 5 team mates in Germany in July 2005, the Foundation aims to:

• promote a safe and harmonious relationship between cyclists and motorists
• provide an annual scholarship for emerging female cyclists
• assist the five women injured in the crash in Germany

www.amygillett.org.au