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Leasedrive Velo team raises £10,983 for Marie Curie Cancer Care and RNLI ahead of 261-mile bike ride from Wokingham HQ to Le Mans
21 June 2010

With less than a week to go before its team’s 261-mile charity bike ride between its headquarters at the TRL proving ground in Wokingham and Le Mans, the Leasedrive Velo Group, one of the UK’s largest independent privately-owned vehicle management groups, has already more than doubled its original target of raising a minimum of £5,000 for two charities, Marie Curie Cancer Care and the RNLI.

Roddy Graham, commercial director, said: “In the current economic climate to have raised £10,983 before the ride even takes place is a terrific performance. Two years ago, we raised £16,472 for Marie Curie Cancer Care by riding from London to Paris. Never did we anticipate getting anywhere near that figure this time around so credit to all 15 riders taking part.”

Marie Curie Cancer Care, one of the UK’s oldest charities, has been the company’s nominated charity since 2005. The charity undertakes cancer research and nurses terminally-ill patients as they draw to the close of their lives. Meanwhile, the RNLI saves lives at sea.

The Leasedrive Velo team starts its 261-mile ride from the group’s headquarters in Wokingham this coming Saturday June 26 and will ride 54 miles to Portsmouth before catching a late afternoon ferry to Cherbourg. Day two will cover 72 miles between Cherbourg and Granville and day three 71 miles from Granville to Laval. The fourth and final day will see the team complete the final 64 miles to Le Mans, home of the world’s most famous motor race, the Le Mans 24 hours. There it will complete a lap of honour of the eight-mile public road circuit.

Current sponsors include Leasedrive Velo, which is covering the ferry return fares, fuel, support van and cycle shirt top costs, as well as underwriting its participating employees’ time-off; and Thrifty Car & Van Rental which is kindly providing a 17-seater minibus. Financial sponsors include CHP Consulting, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the Hughes Group, IDS, KeeResources, Lloyds Register, Peugeot and the Sytner Group.

Online donations to the Leasedrive Velo Wokingham to Le Mans Charity Bike Ride can still be made by visiting the Marie Curie Cancer Care fundraising website http://www.justgiving.com/mccc-BikeRide or the RNLI fundraising website http://www.justgiving.com/rnli-BikeRide

Alternatively, please send a cheque made payable to ‘Marie Curie Cancer Care’ or ‘RNLI’ to organiser Paul Newman at Leasedrive Velo, Crowthorne House, Nine Mile Ride, Wokingham, Berkshire RG40 3GA.

- Ends-

Notes to Editors:

Marie Curie Cancer Care
Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. It was established in 1948 – the same year as the NHS. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, Marie Curie Cancer Care expects to provide care to around 29,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its hospices in 2010 along with support for their families.

Marie Curie Cancer Care has nine hospices across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and two centres for palliative care research. While Marie Curie Cancer Care mainly cares for people with cancer it also cares for people with other life limiting illnesses. The charity also runs the world-renowned Marie Curie Research Institute, which investigates the causes and treatments of cancer. It funds seven scientific teams investigating the causes of and treatments for cancer.

Financially, around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of funds coming from the NHS.

RNLI
The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 235 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and has more than 140 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824 its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 137,000 lives.

For more information on the RNLI please visit www.rnli.org.uk.