Have you been looking forward to the 2023 Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, and just waiting for the day when you can stick that date in your calendar? If that’s you, then wonder no more. This year’s DGR will take place on Sunday, May 21, 2023. As always, it will be happening worldwide—so anyone who wants to participate has the chance.
For those unfamiliar, the DGR is a worldwide riding event staged to both bring awareness to the issues of prostate and mental health, and also raise funds for charities that support those causes. Since its founding in 2012 by Mark Hawwa, the organization has raised approximately $37.5 million (USD) for this important cause.
One key component of the DGR is, of course, the ‘dressing dapper’ portion of the brief. Hawwa, inspired by the glamour and fashion of Mad Men character Don Draper in a photo that depicted him sitting on a classic motorbike, decided that would be an integral part of this event from the start. It’s attention-getting, for sure, even from people outside the motorcycle community and who might not know the first thing about DGR. If you’re trying to raise awareness about a cause, the first thing you need to do is get someone’s attention, right?
While the global pandemic put a damper on this event, as it did so many others, the DGR officially came roaring back to full strength in 2022. (To be clear, the DGR still ran and raised awareness and funds in 2020 and 2021, but riders were encouraged to either ride solo or in small bubble groups to keep the risk of infection transmissibility low.) Last year’s event took place on May 22, 2022, and a total of 93,456 riders in 802 different global cities and 104 countries participated, when all was said and done. Will 2023 be even bigger?
Triumph Motorcycles has long been an official supporter of the DGR, and the brand math makes total sense. While any rider can dress dapper and ride any classically-styled motorbike (it doesn’t have to be vintage machinery, although it certainly can be) Triumph is also assembling its own official Triumph DGR Riding Group. If you’re a Triumph rider who is participating, that means you have the additional opportunity to enter to win ‘a high-value clothing prize’ from Triumph if you’re among the top fundraisers who registers with the Triumph team.
As of March 17, 2023, DGR pre-registration is currently open via the link in our Sources. By simply entering your first name, email address, country, and ride city in the provided website form, you can sign up to be notified when official registration opens. You’ll also be on the official DGR mailing list, so you can stay in the loop on all the updates leading up to this year’s event.
