On Sept 20th 2009, six friends will embark on an epic journey from Marbella to the Arctic Circle in two right-hand-drive SEAT Marbella cars.

With a 40bhp 900cc engine, and a ‘deckchair’ for a passenger seat, the 6700 mile challenge will be tough, but the six friends from Southampton, Nottingham and Pisa are confident their two twenty-year-old micro-cars will make it from Marbella to the Arctic circle in just 10 days.

They are doing this to raise awareness and money to help sufferers of the painful and incurable genetic skin-blistering disorder, Epidermolysis Bullosa, across the whole continent. In Spain and the UK, DebRA is the research charity which provides patient support and research into the disorder.

The SEAT Marbellas will be decorated with DebRA charity logos and butterflies. This is because sufferers of the disorder are often referred to as ‘butterfly children’ owing to the extreme fragility of their skin, comparable in strength to a butterfly’s wing.

The international adventurers have chosen Marbella to start the journey as they wanted to take their SEAT Marbellas ‘home’ to start the challenge. Marbella is also amongst the most Southerly towns in Europe, and is as far as you can get from the Arctic Circle and still be on the continent! Marbella is also the location of the DebRA charity headquarters in Spain.

Brida Heartford, the niece of one of the drivers, was born with Epidermolysis Bullosa and lived only 14 months before she died of malnutrition, caused by painful blisters in her digestive system. Brida’s great grandmother Dorrie, who has lived in Andalucía for 20 years, never met her before her short life was ended by this painful and distressing disorder.

It is hoped that Dorrie, now aged 89, will be amongst those at the starting line waving the cars off under the famous Marbella sign. More information about the SEAT Marbellas to the Arctic challenge can be found on the website http://arcticmarbellas.webs.com