Subscribe to L2P News London, UK. 3 December 2009
London-Paris 2009 has raised more than £100,000 for its partners and other charities. We’re now proud to announce the names of our fundraising champions for 2009.
This year’s prestigious purple fundraising jersey goes to Alistair Mytton, who raised £3,750 and who is rewarded with two VIP box tickets to a Premiership football match, donated by adidas, and free entry to L2P 2010.
The runners up are Marcel Neeleman, who raised £2,968 and Garth Silva, whose total was £1,500. Marcel receives three tickets to watch England play at Wembley and Garth wins an L2P jersey signed by Stephen Roche, Scott Sunderland, Brian Smith, Geoff Thomas and James Cracknell.
Will Halley, whose name came out of the lucky dip of riders who raised over £250, receives a goodie bag with an annual subscription to Cycling Plus, a Sigma Sport voucher, a GTF hoodie and a signed copy of Geoff’s book, ‘Riding Through The Storm’
Mytton, from Australia, is chief financial officer of the diamonds and specialty products customer group for BHP Billiton and is now based in Vancouver, Canada. He said: “The experience of the ride was outstanding. It started with training rides in the depths of winter and concluded with the finish in brilliant sunshine in June, riding as a peloton through the streets of Paris with a police escort.
Alistair Mytton in Paris
“The camaraderie was outstanding. The memories of riding into Paris are still vivid and make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I completed the ride with two buddies from work. We did most of our training in Richmond Park in London, on the Surrey Downs or riding to Windsor Castle.
“The generosity of family and friends in sponsoring me on the ride was very much appreciated, with the proceeds going to worthy causes. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat, but living in Vancouver means it’ll be a challenge. Although I must say if I do it again, the rolling hills on Day 1 and Day 2 will be nothing compared to the training rides in Vancouver.”
Garth Silva at the L2P finish
London-based lawyer Garth Silva said: “I took part in L2P for the challenge. In 2007 I did my first triathlon, in 2008 my first marathon and in 2009 my first ridiculously long bike ride! It was a fantastic event and the sense of achievement as I bumped over the final cobblestones at the foot of the Eiffel Tower will stay with me for some time.”
L2P riders raised a total of £18, 519 for L2P’s official partners and the cash will be shared between the Geoff Thomas Foundation, which campaigns for improved treatment for leukaemia patients, youth education charity, Christel House, Schools for Children of Cambodia and South Africa’s Morning Star, which works with children with HIV.
Footballer and Sky Sports commentator John Salako riding for Team GTF
In addition, Geoff Thomas’s own L2P Team GTF raised £25,000 for the Geoff Thomas Foundation. Geoff said: “We are extremely grateful for the support of Sven, the L2P team and all the riders. This is a unique, inspiring and challenging event which makes a significant contribution to helping us achieve our goal of improved treatment for leukaemia patients.”
The ICAP DebRA team, which included ITN newsreader, Chris Rogers, Wimbledon footballer, Stewart Castledine, Hell’s Kitchen contestant, Grant Bovey, showbiz agent, Russ Lindsay and Richard Hennah from ICAP, raised£45,000 to help fight the skin disease Epidermolysis Bullosa.
The ICAP DebRA Team
Lindsay, who received donations from Sir Cliff Richard, Phillip Schofield and Fearne Cotton, said: “Cycling to Paris in three days was one of the hardest but most rewarding highlights of my life. Looking back, I think our biggest mistake was getting our bikes only six weeks before the event. We really should have trained for it! And if anyone ever tells you that Northern France is flat, don’t believe them! Raising over £45,000 for DebRA made us all in the ICAP team immensely proud”
L2P ride director, Sven Thiele, said: “We have always tried to make the L2P more than just a cycle ride and putting something back has always been important to us and our riders. It is remarkable that, despite the global recession, the L2P riders have been able to raise a significant amount of money. Their fundraising will help to make a real difference to people’s lives.”
London-Paris 2010 will start on Thursday, June 24th 2010. The ride sold out in 20 hours when registration went live on the L2P website on November 30th but riders can sign up for the reserve list for places. Olympian Rebecca Romero and ex-pro rider Magnus Backstedt have signed up to ride next year.
You can read about Fundraising Jersey holder, Alistair Mutton's experiences in the L2P by clicking here >