Over 1,400 M&S employees cycled more than 150,000 miles in BIKE 24 charity event - Ian Corlett, Andrew Horne, Wendy Ross and Kane Dooley from M&S Douglas saddled up at the start of BIKE 24 charity challenge
Over 1,400 Marks & Spencer employees from across the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland really went the extra mile by completing M&S’s BIKE 24 charity cycle challenge event. Covering over 150,000 miles during the challenge, M&S has already raised ?850,000 and is now firmly on track to reach its ?1.5million fundraising target this summer.
The ‘Le Mans’-inspired event, which took place at Rockingham Motor Racing Circuit in Corby, was the UK’s largest 24 hour endurance event. Each lap of the circuit, helped to raise vital funds for M&S’s charity partners Action Cancer, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Action Medical Research, the Marie Keating Foundation and Prostate Cancer UK.
In teams of four, each cyclist individually covered an average of over 100 miles each. In addition to the 350 teams taking part, 23 experienced solo riders – who staggeringly stayed in the saddle for the duration of the challenge.
Taking part in BIKE 24 were colleagues Ian Corlett, Andrew Horne, Wendy Ross and Kane Dooley from M&S Douglas store, who covered a total of 340 miles of cycling between them. Kenny Marshall, store manager at M&S Douglas, said: “It was great to see the Douglas team take part in the challenge and we’re really proud of the efforts they put in to raise so much money for five very worthy charities. It was a great boost for the team knowing that the whole of M&S were behind them.”
Over the gruelling 24 hour challenge, 6,800 litres of water were drunk, 3,460 ready meals eaten and nearly 8,000 Percy Pigs packs were provided the much-needed sugar hits for participants and spectators.
With all teams taking part in BIKE 24 successfully crossing the finishing line, M&S’s target to raise ?1.5 million for the five charities is firmly on track, with ?850,000 having been raised to date, and one month of fundraising still to go. In addition to taking part in BIKE 24, and to further boost its fundraising efforts; M&S Douglas hosted a range of in-store fundraising activities, including bag packs, cake sales and a dress down day for all staff.
Sacha Berendji, Director of Retail at M&S, said: “The BIKE 24 event was a fantastic achievement by our employees and we’ve already raised an incredible ?850,000 for these five truly worthwhile charities. But there’s still time to get involved, with one month of in-store fundraising to go, we want to make this our most successful charity challenge to date by reaching our ?1.5million target.”
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 M&S employees during ‘Bike 24 will make a huge difference; helping to save lives and support families through a cancer journey.”
BIKE 24 is part of the Your M&S Charity Challenge, which has seen a host of fundraising activities taking place at all M&S’s UK and Irish stores since the beginning of June. Customers can donate online via the Virgin Money Giving page, www.virginmoneygiving.com/mandscharitychallenge, which remains open until 31 August 2013 and contains further information on fundraising taking place across the UK as well as links to sponsor cyclists than took part in BIKE 24.
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