Film of Allied Forces’ record breaking RAAM win released

A film documenting Team Allied Forces’ journey to the Race Across America (RAAM) record back in July has been released. You can see Chasing the Ghost, directed by Craig Bingham, below.

British team Strategic Lions and the American Team 4mil came together after a cross-atlantic online logistical operation, which ended in a first meeting just ahead of the start of the RAAM.

The team’s primary goal was to break the 8-man race record, but Keith Murray, one of the British riders on Team Allied Forces spoke about the group's desire to do more than just win the race.

“We raced RAAM in 2012 and came 2nd. This year we joined forces with the US Team 4mil and created Team Allied Forces,” Murray said. “We raced with two aims, to raise awareness of our combat injured soldiers and to break the 5 days, 5 hours, 5 minutes team relay record.”

CHASING THE GHOST from Craig Bingham on Vimeo.

The team broke the record for an eight person team, finishing in 5 days, 3 hours and 45 minutes over the 2962 mile route, with an average speed of 24.19mph.

Craig Bingham, who had accompanied the British Strategic Lions team the year before, followed Allied Forces in 2013 with the aim of creating a film that would give the team a platform to raise awareness for the charities that they were supporting.

“From doing the race last year, There's no way you can possibly feel or experience RAAM without actually doing it," Bingham said.

"I really wanted to try and capture the atmosphere of the event. I wanted to capture the colour, the scenery, the sounds and folly, the rider’s personalities but mostly the human spirit- knitted all together tightly to give you a very detailed view through their window. And there are moments which just cannot be rehearsed or recreated."

To date, the Strategic Lions have raised £36,000 for Help for Heroes through their Bmycharity page.