Charity Challenge

[Marathon Man]

Cycle to Cannes 2008 - 5 days, 140 riders, 1500km, £500,000

It's a bit long but bear with me!

As some of you may already know, I’ve done the odd marathon and cycle event in aid of charity in my time, and of late have been looking at a new event to challenge me physically as well as providing the obvious benefit of raising money for charity. So combining my enjoyment of cycling and masochistic streak in pushing myself endurance wise I’ve decided to enrol myself in the Cycle to Cannes next March.

At the bottom of the précis is a link to the main event website; providing in depth details of the event, of what I’m letting myself in for, as well as details of the superb charities that I’m aiming personally to raise at least £3,500 for (although C2C itself aims to raise over £500,000).

But in summary, the event is a unique 5-day, 1500km, cycling endurance event from London to Cannes principally run as a relay made up of three pelotons; each of which will ride around 60 miles a day over two sessions. More ambitious riders (such as myself) can join more than one peleton and ‘Go the Whole Distance’; in theory riding up to 200 miles in the day, 940 miles over the 5 days, and up to fourteen hours a day in the saddle (something which only a handful of riders from the 140 strong peleton are psyching themselves up to do). Bear in mind that the ‘pros’ on 2008’s Tour de France will ride, at most, 140 miles in a day and 2200 miles over the 23 days of Le Tour (generally during warmer and drier months of the year as well – France in March can be wet and cold!), it puts into perspective the challenge being faced by the ‘amateur’ riders.

C2C will involve 6 cycling stages;

March 6th - Stage 1: London - Folkestone 119km
March 7th - Stage 2: Calais - Reims 320.9km
March 8th - Stage 3: Reims - Dijon 316.5km
March 9th - Stage 4: Dijon - Chanas 275.4km
March 10th - Stage 5: Chanas - Aix en Provence 301.0km
March 11th - Stage 6: Aix en Provence - Cannes 176.4km

A baton will be carried continuously by the relay the entire distance and presented to Ken Livingstone on the C2C podium in Cannes along with a cheque for the money raised for charity.

Which leads onto the principle objective of the ride – the raising of serious money for charity.

C2C’s fundraising target is £500,000 (each rider having a personal target to raise at least £3,500) for four important charities:

LandAid - LandAid is the charity of the UK property sector from which its support is drawn. As a Charitable Trust, LandAid makes grants to other charities to support a variety of projects usually connected with homelessness.

The Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust - Tom was killed as he walked home on 12 January 2006. Tom’s family and fiancée, supported by Tom’s firm Linklaters, decided that a lasting memorial would be a charitable trust to assist disadvantaged children to achieve their potential by gaining access to appropriate educational facilities and opportunities.

Sarah Matheson Trust - The Sarah Matheson Trust is a vital support charity helping people live with, and caring for, the progressive neurological disorder Multiple System Atrophy. The trust actively sponsors and promotes research into the diagnosis and management of MSA.

Architects for Aid (A4A) - A4A is a charity committed to working with partner NGOs worldwide to build homes and shelter after disaster, or wherever there is poverty and need. Since registration in January 2006 A4A, has already put 5 years of professional man-hours into the field, creating added value of £1,000,000 benefit in the field with for its partners.

There are two methods of providing sponsorship;

Personal Sponsorship

This is the very important bit!

C2C has set up a web based sponsorship page. All you need to do is to direct yourself to the page (www.justgiving.com/cycletocannes) and you can make a donation online. You can see your donation entered on the page and can remain anonymous if you wish. Each donator receives an email confirmation and thanks for their contribution. If you decide to use the site to make a donation, then please ensure you mention my name (Ian Cardy) so that my personal sponsorship target can be assessed. Alternatively, individual sponsorship forms can be sought from me direct via PM.

Corporate Sponsorship

This is very much a long shot, but on the off chance that any of you ladies and gentleman out there are involved with construction firms which have an interest in MIPIM, then maybe you could persuade them (or pass their details onto me and I’ll try and persuade them!) to enter into some corporate sponsorship.

C2C are inviting companies who are going to (or have an interest in) MIPIM 2008 to contribute at three levels of sponsorship; Titanium (Event Sponsor), Carbon Fibre (Team Sponsor), Alloy (Key Sponsor).

In recognition of the various levels of sponsorship, C2C will raise your company’s Cannes’ profile by displaying your logo on the C2C executive coaches that will lap The Croisette daily and remain at MIPIM during the week. We will also screen a list of supporting companies on the Pipers, London Stand. We will be announcing your generosity throughout our PR campaign and C2C advertisements with our media sponsor Estates Gazette and the property press. Building online will be running a daily blog for the duration of C2C ride. Our forthcoming web banner on the MIPIM 2008 home page will also have a link to our website listing our 2008 sponsors. This is a fantastic opportunity for making a significant contribution to charity and to raise your company profile at MIPIM 2008. Details of what each level of sponsorship provides in addition to the obvious effect of publicity are detailed on the C2C website.

I would like to add that all of the monies raised go to C2C. C2C is unlike some events I have come across whereby people wishing to participate in aid of a charity are asked by that charity to raise a minimum target, and that some of that money goes on the entry to the event, travel and accommodation relating to the event and other ‘expenses’. With C2C, my travelling expenses, accommodation expenses, food expenses, everything down to the cost of my bananas en route and any replacement parts needed for my cycle are all met personally by myself (likewise for the other riders of course).

Some of you may think of better ways to get to the south of France (using my Blackbird did come to mind but I think the other riders might notice), but it is for charity. All that is left for me to say is please consider donating to the event in support of both the charities and in recognition of the personal effort that I’m going to be making in undertaking the event; not to mention the hours, no, days, of hard long training on the road in England during its traditional wet, cold, icy, windy, snowy winters (and Dorset is hardly flat!). Hyperlinks for more information (and to enable you to donate!) are as follows;

www.cycle2cannes.org
www.justgiving.com/cycletocannes
www.mipim.com

Thank-you in advance for your support.

[speedfreak]

Hi MM

If you have any posters i can get them up in our shopfront and post details on our own Site.

Sponsership form please
SF

[Hugh Janus]

MM you must be some kind of fookin fruit cake having said that fair play to you if you manage it.

Send me a form aswell.

[speedfreak]

got my form await posters please

[Marathon Man]

:thumbsup) got my form await posters please

I haven't forgot - honest!

I've recently discovered that the organisers haven't got an official poster and I've been too busy cycling to get something neat done (60 miles of Dorset hills today - why won't the thighs stop burning?! ).

Hopefully get something across this week.

And Hugh, many thanks