Exhibition industry members get in gear for charity bike ride
Twenty-three members of the exhibition industry in the U.K. will take part in a three-day charity bike ride June 20-22, covering more than 200 miles from London to Paris, which will raise funds for Events for Namuwongo – a slum community on the edge of Kampala in Uganda.
Half of the charity bike ride participants will be employees of Hammersmith-based Tarsus Group, along with other industry professionals from other companies.
“Myself and the team are really excited to be taking part in the London to Paris cycle – there have been a few scrapes and falls during training, but the whole team are in great spirits and training hard for the big weekend,” said Douglas Emslie, Tarsus Group managing director.
He added: “All money raised is going towards a fantastic cause – having been to Uganda myself in January this year, it is inspiring to see all the hard work that has taken place within the slum community of Kampala and we hope to continue to see improvements with the £20k that we hope to raise from the cycle.”
The entire team hopes to raise money not only through the London to Paris Cycle, but also with bake sales and other fundraising events.
Here is the link to donate: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/londontoparis14.
April Whitehead, Secretariat for Events for Namuwongo, said, “Events for Namuwongo is extremely grateful to Tarsus staff of all funds raised to date. This new cycling challenge is the most ambitious yet and so is the fundraising target of £20k! The enthusiasm and commitment from the Tarsus Team and others from the Events Industry taking part in the London to Paris bike ride are incredibly inspiring, and we are right behind them every peddle push of the way!”
To prepare for the intense ride, some people have hired personal trainers, some ride their bikes to work and others have taken part in long, weekend bike rides to build stamina.
Day 1 of the charity bike ride will be 75 miles starting at noon June 20 at Trafalgar Square in Central London, the team will then head along the coast through Brighton, ending up in Newhaven where the team will take the night ferry to Dieppe, France.
Day 2 will start in Dieppe and will be another 75 miles, taking them to their overnight stop in Beauvais.
Day 3 will start in Beauvais and the team will ride 55 miles, ending up at La Tour Eiffel.
Last year, the team took on the 3 Peaks Challenge - climbing the three highest peaks in England (Snowdon), Wales (Scafell Pike) and Scotland (Ben Nevis) within 24 hours, raising £11,220 for Events for Namuwongo.
The money raised in the past and for this year’s challenge is needed for continued improvements of living conditions in Namuwongo.
“The money raised so far has made an incredible difference to an impoverished community in Uganda, but there's still so much to do. Firstly, we must complete the remaining work on 1km of drains (we've transformed 6km so far, stopping 5,000 family homes flooding with sewage on a daily basis), we also need to complete the construction of a major recycling centre that employs a team of locals (they clear 12 tonnes of rubbish daily), plus we need to build at least 2 more toilet/shower blocks (the 2 we opened earlier this year are already providing dignity to thousands in the community),” Whitehead said.