Cyclists conquer gruelling Spanish mountain challenge
A group of adventurous employees from 5 UK based companies are celebrating this week, having just completed an extremely tough 3-day mountain challenge, raising ?30,000 in support of leading overseas development agency, CARE International - the 2007 CARE 3 Peaks Spain Challenge.
The Challenge, run by CARE International?s in-house Challenge Event team in collaboration with European charity event specialists Tall Stories for the third year running, took place over 3 days, from 6-8th September 2007, in Andalucia?s Sierra Nevada region. Participants were challenged with hiking and biking up mainland Spain?s 3 highest mountains ? Mulhac?n (3,483m), Alcazaba (3,371m) Veleta (339m) - with a cycling finale descent into Granada, the longest in Europe. Spurred on by clear blue skies and sunny conditions throughout, they ascended a total of 3,747 metres and covered a distance of 85km.
The group of 15 comprised 6 employees from London-based World Design and Trade, 4 employees from Northampton-based BarclayCard, 3 from Dorchester-based Acheson Construction, one from Durham-based Waterstons, and one from Heathrow-based Penauille Servisair.
Participant Chris Davies from BarclayCard said of the experience: ?We were looking for a new challenge this year and decided that the CARE International Spain 3 Peaks Challenge fitted the bill perfectly. We are all pretty fit and active but the majority of us have not ridden a bicycle for about 15 years and so the Challenge certainly lived up to its name for us! Despite our thorough training, looking back at what we did now, it seems hard to think that we actually achieved it. Every element of the Challenge seemed to be tough ? even the downhill section on the bikes had its demands. Nevertheless, the sponsorship money we raised (over ?6k) for CARE ensured that we couldn?t even contemplate quitting! CARE is a large, professionally run charity that makes a real difference to people?s lives."
He praised his colleagues? participation: ?It was a great performance by the team, and everyone should be proud of what they achieved.?
Neil Munro, CARE Challenge Event Manager, who ran the event, added; ?We?re delighted with the success of this year?s CARE 3 Peaks Spain Challenge, the toughest in our portfolio, which just keeps on going from strength to strength. All participants did extremely well and the teambuilding spirit was terrific. This year?s fundraising total takes the total amount raised by this event to over ?75,000 in just three years. Congratulations and thank you to everyone for taking part?.
The charity benefiting from the fundraising, CARE International, tackles the deep-seated causes of poverty in order to create lasting changes ? from safe drinking water systems in Tanzania to girl?s education projects in India ? as well as responding in times of emergency. This includes the Eastern Africa region affected by the ongoing food and water crisis, where CARE has decades of experience running development programmes.
For more information please contact:
Helen Stoddart, CARE Challenge PR & Communications Executive, at +44(0)20 7934 9414,
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or visit www.carechallenge.org.uk
Notes to editors
1. CARE is one of the world?s largest aid agencies, working in 70 countries to fight poverty and helping more than 48 million people every year. Our long-term programmes tackle the deep-seated causes of poverty and we are always among the first to respond when disaster strikes. We remain with communities to help them rebuild their lives long after the cameras have gone. CARE is working to put an end to the causes of hunger and poverty that keep 120 million people in sub-Saharan Africa permanently living on the edge of emergency. CARE is part of the Sahel Working Group (SWG), an inter-agency network focusing on Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. It was formed to identify and implement solutions to the chronic vulnerability and hunger of communities, as highlighted by the 2005 food crisis. The SWG shares information, commissions research and coordinates programming and advocacy messages. Participating agencies that have jointly commissioned the report, Beyond Any Drought, are: Action Against Hunger, British Red Cross, CARE International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Oxfam, Relief International, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision. Visit www.careinternational.org.uk for more information.
2. The Challenge Team at CARE has been running mountain-based corporate fundraising events for thirteen years. In 2006, our CARE Challenge portfolio collectively raised an unprecedented ?1.2m for CARE. The 2008 CARE 3 Peaks Spain Challenge is scheduled to take place from 11-14th September 2008. For details of all other 2008 events please visit www.carechallenge.org.uk.
3. Tall Stories are specialists in European charity and corporate event challenges. Visit www.tallstories.co.uk
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