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Gobi Desert Ultra-Marathon success for Rolawn's Managing Director

Paul Dawson, Managing Director of Rolawn Limited, Europe’s largest turf grower and leading topsoil distributor, based at Elvington near York, has successfully completed the 250km Gobi Desert (China) ultra-marathon in 38hrs 22mins 43secs – finishing in 21st place out of an international field of over 180 competitors from 23 different countries.

The Gobi March is a self-supported footrace across 250 kilometres of Gobi Desert in China, consisting of six stages, lasting 7 days. 

Each competitor had to carry their own gear, food and clothing in a backpack. Competitors had to be fully self-supported throughout the event, the only assistance provided was water, tents and medical assistance. The average backpack carried by the runners weighed about 25 pounds.

Paul Dawson commented “the Gobi March has been an epic experience of a lifetime, so many aspects of the race were unpredictable, the weather has been extreme.  After months of dryness, a storm hit while we were going over a 3,800m mountain pass, instead of blazing desert heat we were hit by rain, sleet and even snow, followed the next day by stifling heat with no wind.”

“The local culture has been fascinating and we have experienced incredible hospitality from the people, we stayed in the homes of many locals during the week.  Another outstanding feature of the race has been the racers themselves, those you might have expected to make it dropped out, while others who you expected to give up stuck with it to the very end.

An amazing amount of improvisation was also often needed during the race, at times even the most high tech equipment had to be replaced by local technology – the donkey cart, used to help everyone across swollen rivers and camels were used to bring competitors in trouble through altitude sickness down from the mountains. I can honestly say that the whole experience was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before and I’m rather relieved to have finished in one piece and pleased to have been able to raise money for The Neuroblastoma Society whilst doing so” he commented.

To make a donation on-line visit 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gobi-desert-dawson

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Important update: Temporary 6.5% surcharge effective 7 April 

At Rolawn, we are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality and service our customers expect, so we want to be open with our customers about a change that will affect pricing from Tuesday 7th April. 

This decision has been taken in response to disruption to energy supplies, which has led to significant increases in wholesale prices, affecting not only fuel and fertiliser but also costs throughout our wider supply chain. As a business that relies heavily on fuel for both transport and operations, these sustained cost pressures have become increasingly difficult to absorb.  

While we have worked hard to mitigate the impact, the scale and pace of recent price increases have now exceeded what we can sustain internally, and we therefore need to recover a proportion of these externally driven increases. 

From Tuesday 7th April, a temporary 6.5% surcharge will apply to all products.  

We know that any increase in price is frustrating, particularly at a time when many businesses and households are already feeling under pressure. That is why we want to be clear that this is not a decision we have made lightly, and not one we wanted to make. It has been introduced solely to help offset unavoidable cost inflation and allow us to continue delivering the quality, reliability and service standards associated with Rolawn. 

We will continue to monitor market conditions closely and will review this surcharge as soon as circumstances allow, providing reasonable notice of any changes. We recognise that any price increase is unwelcome, but this step is necessary to ensure the continuity and reliability of our operations during a period of ongoing uncertainty. 

We remain committed to providing the quality, reliability and service standards you expect from Rolawn, and we truly appreciate your understanding and continued support. 

If you have any questions, please contact our customer support team who will be happy to help.