2 October 2010
Past the orchards and oast houses of rural Kent, through the villages and medieval market towns of northern France, 44 riders took up the Prologis Challenge to cycle 300 gruelling miles from London to Paris. Setting off from south east London on 22 September, the riders reached the Eiffel Tower in Paris three days later. On the way, they not only learned to mend punctures in double quick time, they also built a great team spirit and – perhaps most importantly - raised over £60,000 ($95,000) for charity.
The cyclists from Prologis in the UK, Alan Sarjant, Paul Weston, Robin Woodbridge, Simon Jenkins and Nick Smith along with Southern European colleagues Nigel Rowe, Manel Vericat and Christophe Hamon raised around £20,000 ($31,700) for their three selected charities: Wellchild, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Renal Unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Their friends and colleagues from the industrial property sector raised equally impressive sums for other charities, such as the Alzheimer’s Society and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Starting out in bright September sunshine, the riders cycled 80 miles from London over the steep North Downs to Dover, where they caught a ferry to Calais. After spending the night in Calais, they set off across rolling countryside and 43 punctures later, reached Arras. The following day, the team was in a contemplative mood as they cycled past British and Allied Forces First World War cemeteries on the way to Compiegne. Then, on the final day, they rode the final 60 miles to Paris, cycling – appropriately enough - around the Arc de Triomphe and down wide boulevards to the reach the Eiffel Tower. To mark their achievement, the entire team celebrated with dinner on a Bateau Mouche sailing along the River Seine.
As Paul Weston said:
"Most of us fall into the MAMIL (Middle Aged Man in Lycra) category, but whether this is the start of a collective mid-life crisis or not, we raised a great deal of money and we had a truly brilliant time."
