Hi, I’m Ron Scanlan I’m a 48 year old self employed, motorsport enthusiast from Lower Hutt.

In October of 2005 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer of the lymph nodes.
I was told I had the “Lucky Cancer” and there was a 95% chance of a successful treatment outcome.

However I was not to be so lucky. My bone marrow was severely damaged from an unexpected reaction to my first treatment with chemotherapy.
Over the last four years I have had many, different types of treatment including many cycles of chemotherapy and radiation.

 All have failed to rid me completely of this cancer. However they do seem to wind back the clock so to speak and although I have been at times very ill, I find myself feeling no worse now than when I was first diagnosed back in 2005. Perhaps a few Kg’s lighter however.

I guess cancer has a way of focusing a person on what really counts in life.
Family and friends become more precious and dreams suddenly become goals. You realise that time is something you may no longer have on your side.

In early 2006 I decided to build a dedicated tarmac race car and live my dream of competing successfully in local motorsport, in particular tarmac hill-climb events. Something I had dreamed of doing since I was a teenager. I realised that if I didn’t do it now, I may not get another chance. So I designed and built my “Evo” race car, a 1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

All through my treatment I continued to pursue my love of motorsport, often racing just days after my release from hospital and more often than not, winning an event even when I was barely able to walk more than a few metres without fatigue. I used my motorsport as a focal point, something to aim towards while going through often difficult medical procedures .

In March of this year I had high dose chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant using my own harvested stem cells.

Even then I still entered events, winning most. At one event I still had a PIC line hanging from my arm as I raced. The line was there to allow me to have weekly  blood transfusions until my bone marrow regenerated. Having a good sense of humour certainly helps in these situations.

I guess people noticed my dogged determination as in June this year I was awarded the “Wellington Motorsport Person of the year” in recognition of my dedication to the sport both on and off the track.

It’s this dogged determination and dedication to my motorsport that see’s me entering the Dunlop Targa 2009 even though my cancer has again returned. I see this as a way of fore filling a long held dream of competing in this prestigious event and at the same time raising both funds for the Cancer Society and raising peoples awareness of the fantastic work they do for cancer patients and their families.

Victor Yuen

I’m a 24 year old commercial real estate agent with a young passion for motorsport (started competing mid 2008). My family and I came over from Hong Kong back in 1990 and I was brought up in Christchurch. In 2005, I made the move to Wellington and started a new life as an income earner.

Previously a financially focused ‘young gun’, I have recently become clear on what really matters and what it is that I want to achieve out of life. Of course, motorsport then became a big part of my life and the people around it. I thoroughly enjoy the very friendly and social atmosphere and sharing a common passion with other like-minded individuals. You’ll see my partner Alexandra Baker and myself at most local events and I have a commitment to working my way up to the top level of rallying, with a view to use that profile for promoting great causes.
As I got more involved in motorsport, in late 2008 I recognised the difference motorsport made to my driving ability and general safety and confidence on the roads. From this idea, SafeSpeed was created and run on April 5th 2009 to promote road safety through the use of motorsport – www.safespeed.org.nz

It was about the time of SafeSpeed that I started getting to know Ron better and began to learn more about his fight with cancer. Ask anybody in the local motorsport community that knows Ron and he’s usually related to as an ‘inspiration’ and one that has a massive zest for life.
Recently, as Ron closed up his workshop Total Performance to focus more on his health, I asked him what else he wanted to do in life. I was a little taken aback when he told me that he wanted to help people, maybe do some community work. Then he mentioned his dream to do the Targa one day and so… the Targa Life Challenge was born.
It’s an amazing opportunity to push myself in taking on a project like this and a massive privilege to be co-driving and making this happen with Ron Scanlan. He is simply an inspiration to be around and I look forward to partnering with Ron to raise $10,000 for the Cancer Society and fulfill his dream of competing in the Targa NZ.