This weekend, 660 Marks & Spencer employees from across the UK and Ireland went the extra mile by cycling 60,000 miles in 24 hours, as part of M&S’ biggest charity endurance challenge to date.
Colleague Owen Jones from the Douglas store participated in the 'Bike 400 Cycle Challenge' which has set M&S firmly on track to raise more than £1 million for Action Cancer (NI), Breakthrough Breast Cancer (GB) and the Marie Keating Foundation (ROI).
In support of the challenge, a host of fundraising activities are taking place at all of M&S’ UK and Irish stores up until 31 August 2012. Employees at the Douglas store got their fundraising efforts off to a fantastic start and to date have collected £3,400 in donations, helping to take M&S’ overall fundraising total to more than £544,000 so far.
Customers can continue to make donations in-store or online via the Just Giving page www.justgiving.com/teams/BIKE400EnduranceChallenge which continues to take donations until 31st August.
Saturday’s unique fundraising challenge at the Prodrive Race Track in Kenilworth, Warwickshire saw M&S employees take part in a ‘Le Mans’ inspired 24 hour endurance event. Over 550 employees competed in teams of four, with each cyclist individually peddling for six hours to cover approximately 100 miles around the track.
In addition to the teams, four dedicated M&S cycling enthusiasts competed for the whole 24 hour challenge as solo cyclists, covering a staggering 900 miles.
Over the gruelling 24 hour challenge more than 5 million calories were burnt, 7,000 litres of water were drunk, and over 100 punctures were fixed, with one rider picking up six punctures alone.
Speaking from the event, Dougie King, Head of Fundraising and Communications at Action Cancer said: “M&S is a key supporter of Action Cancer and I am thrilled that this ambitious event was such a success. The money raised by the overwhelming efforts of the 600 M&S employees over the weekend will make a huge difference; helping to save lives and support families through a cancer journey.”
Laura Wade-Gery, M&S’ Executive Director of Multi-channel, E-commerce, who led one of the 138 teams that took part in the challenge, said: “It was great experience to be part of this challenge and see all the teams really push themselves for such a worthwhile cause. Knowing that the whole of M&S were behind us helped everyone get across that finish line.”
Kenny Marshall, Store Manager at M&S Douglas said: “We are proud of our colleagues from across the country who took part in the gruelling Bike 400 Cycle Challenge in Warwickshire and we want to say a big thank you to our customers on the Isle of Man who have helped us make a great start towards the £1 million target for three worthwhile charities.”
With two months of fundraising still to go, M&S Douglas will be hoping to boost its fundraising total with a dress down day and cake sale this month.
