THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY - HONG KONG

presents

Vladivostok to St. Petersburg by Motorcycle

with Prince Michael of Kent

by

Victor Emery

on

Tuesday, 6 November 2007

The Jardine Penthouse, 48/F Jardine House, One Connaught Place

Complimentary Drinks Reception 6.30 pm; Lecture 7.30 pm

We are delighted to welcome to Hong Kong, Victor Emery, to tell the tale of an epic 8,000 mile ride by motorcycle from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, accompanied by Prince Michael of Kent and Prince Nicholas von Preussen. Mr. Emery, an Olympic gold medal winner for Canada, led the team on their journey. Mr. Emery is also to tell the stories of some events of his career as an adventurer.

On 12 June 2005, nine bikes rode into St Petersburg having completed an eventful 8,000 mile odyssey across Russia in seven weeks. With eight 1150cc adventurer off-road touring motorbikes and a X-3 car, the team, organised by Lord Nicholas Fairfax, started from Vladivostok. The riders flew to Vladivostok at the end of April 2005 and joined their adventure motorcycles and X3 vehicle already shipped there from the UK. They then rode from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg on a fascinating journey across Siberia to Khabarovsk, Chita, Ulan Ude to Irkutsk for the magnificent Lake Baikal. The route continued to Angarsk, Sheliykov, Krasnoyarsk, Bratsk, Achinsk, Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Yekaterinburg to cross the Urals near Perm. The completing stage was Samara, Nizhniy Novgorod, Vladimir to Moscow followed by Tver and Velikiy Novgorod to St. Petersburg, a distance of 8,000 miles. The riders arrived in St Petersburg as planned in the early part of June.

Mr. Emery’s lecture provides fascinating insights into the state of Russia, the glorious scenery on the route, riding adventurer off-road touring motorbikes, as the team encountered both adventure and misadventure.  The lecture is illustrated by both fine film footage and slides. This lecture was a sell-out at some 800 members at RGS London in 2006.

Mr. Emery, always an adventurer, enjoyed a diverse and interesting business career from director level appointments in major organizations such as United Aircraft of Canada and Air Canada, The Savoy and Orient Express Hotel Groups & The Leading Hotels of the World, interspersed with entrepreneurial initiatives such as the Lake Louise Ski area – the “jewel in Canada’s Crown”, alongside colour commentary on Canadian and US Television covering bobsleighing and cross-country skiing competitions. Mr. Emery is an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. Emery’s many action packed activities include navy flying off Canada’s only aircraft carrier, amphibian flying in Canada’s arctic, international sporting competition, sailing, skiing of all types and bobsleighing. Mr. Emery was the Olympic and World Champion gold medal winning bobsleigh pilot for Canada. In skiing, Mr. Emery was recipient of the coveted Roberts of Kandahar Trophy and Diamond Devil prizes, and currently is amongst the top 5 in World Masters Cross-Country Ski competitions.

In 2006, Mr. Emery completed the Grenaderen in Norway, the toughest long-distance ski race in the world in 8 hours and 41 minutes. It makes the other three races of similar length, all completed by Mr. Emery, Vasa Loppet at 90 kms, Troll Ski Marathon at 95 kms and the 2 x 80 km Canadian Ski Marathon, pale by comparison. But Mr. Emery’s real love is adventure, a new one of which he tries to fit in every year somewhere in the world. This year it is the Philippines for diving just before the present visit to Hong Kong, to be followed by a solo trek through the Kumbo region of the Himalaya. Last year was a 450kms cross-country ski trek from Russia to Sweden across Finland at the Arctic Circle.

This lecture is being held in the fine surroundings of the Jardine Penthouse. Members and their guests are most welcome to attend at HK$100 for Members, HK$150 for Members' guests and $200 others. This includes a complimentary drinks reception prior to the lecture.