The Velo Vosqes Challenge is for seventy teams of four to cycle nearly 500 miles in three days riding in relay from Arras near the English Channel over the formidable Vosges mountains to the fairytale village of Riquewihr, raising a minimum of £1000 for charity.
Since 1990, Challenge Adventure Charities has raised over £2.2 million for worthy causes. With the Velo Vosges, the target is to make it £2.5 million. Challenge Adventure Charities has no paid executives and has donated 100% of all the sponsorship raised to charity.
The Challenge starts in Arras just off the motorway from Calais and the Channel Tunnel on Friday 3rd October and will finish in Riquewihr, via Epernay and Nancy, on Sunday 5th October. Channel Tunnel crossings and accommodation in Arras have been organised for teams on the Thursday to enable an early start the next day and teams are expected to travel back to the UK via the Channel Tunnel on Monday 6th October.
The Route sets off south from Arras following part of what was the Western Front in the Great War, passing moving memorials to the fallen youth amid the poppy fields, cycling along the Somme where trees and verdant countryside has grown up out of the trenches and carnage of 1914 -18. The Montagne de Rheims marks the finale of the days ride as the legendary vines steeped in tradition march down to the River Marne and Epernay. Teams will be finishing on the Avenue de Champagne amidst the marques of the most famous “maisons”. That night, a feast befittting its host town has been arranged to celebrate the coming together of so many faces, old and new to celebrate this year’s quest.
Teams will need to be up early the next day for the steep climb to Hautvillers and the resting place of Dom Perignon, before continuing around the Montagne de Rheims on the Route Touristique de Champagne, and crossing the Chalons plain arriving in Lorraine and the beautiful countryside skirting Verdun, the “City of Peace”. In February 1916, it was the eastern bulwark of the French lines with fortresses high on a ridge above the River Meuse where the forests now disguise the trenches where so many fell. That night, teams will stay in the centre of Nancy a stones throw away from the splendid Place Stanislas.
Dawn on the final day will see teams leaving Nancy heading south towards the pine forests, ski stations and steep climbs of the Vosges Mountains. Fantastic views and stunning scenery will again give way to a thought-provoking memorial, this time at Struthof, the location of the only Nazi Concentration Camp on French soil. On through the mountains to the final climb and the classic germanic chateau of Haut Koenigsbourg, before the welcome descent takes riders through vineyards and Hansel and Gretel villages, homes to Storks as well fine Alasatian Reisling and Gewurztraminer wines, to the finish line at Riquewihr, a welcoming toast, and a celebratory buffet feast in the Town Hall. Teams will be staying in the town and so will have plenty of time to explore the cobboldstone alleyways and brightly painted streets that could have inspired Disney cartoons and where Christmas lasts all year round in the form of a must-see magasin de noel.
Teams will be made up of “extra” ordinary people rising to a tough physical challenge raising money through sponsorship. All that is required is the determination to succeed, sufficient fitness and stamina to cycle a share of the distance on a road bike with a suitable back up vehicle and the commitment to raise a minimum of £1000 for charity. The team entry cost of £1140 covers the cost of Tunnel crossings, accommodation and some meals. Sponsorship has generously been donated by HSBC, Harmoni, Amicus ITS and The Prince Foundation to “pump prime” the event and keep entry costs down.
Cancer Research UK and Wessex Heartbeat will benefit equally from half of the sponsorship raised and teams can donate the other half to charities of their own choice.
Fund Raising - How to start
Decide on what you want do, where you want to do it and when. Think about your team’s skills, contacts with celebrities, corporate contacts, interests you may have and any resources you will need.
Your team may decide to:
Email or post out requests for sponsorship to family, friends, work colleagues. Ensure that you enclose Sponsorship forms - download from www.challengeadventurecharities.org.uk and ask individuals to Gift Aid their donations. Enclose the brochure which can also be found on the web site (due Late July 2008). Give everyone the Justgiving link, below, if they prefer to donate on-line.
Why are you cycling?
Do you have a personal story that you would be happy to include in your promotional material, you may find that it makes your fundraising more productive.
Use the Justgiving Site (see note below) to create a team page and email the link to all your contacts. Ask contacts to forward on to others. Customise your team page to describe why you are fundraising. Add any personal stories which might add weight to your request for sponsorship. Use this link : www.justgiving.com/cac/raisemoney which will lead you directly to the Velo Vosges Cycle Challenge page on the Justgiving site.
Ask your Company to help - Is your team supported by your company ? Can the company help with mailings, for example, and mail out to suppliers and clients ? If so, enclose the brochure which can be found on the web site. Will the company designate a member of admin staff to help you ? Why not ask ?
Hold an event such as:
A sale or auction of donated goods, a wine-tasting – do you have contacts with a local wine merchant, or perhaps a promises auction in a local hall, school hall or scout hut in your village.
A race night………an Autumn ball……….A village fair….. are other examples, but they will need careful planning and publicity, well in advance.
Afterwards
Thank everyone involved, account for the money that has been raised, list all the donations on a sponsorship form and send them to:
Challenge Adventure Charities, c/o Elliott Brothers Ltd, MillbankWharf, Northam, Southampton, SO14 5AG
Just Giving is an online site that participants in Challenge Adventure Charities' events have used to facilitate online donations. Please note that they do charge an administration fee for handling the donation and please read their terms and conditions before setting up a page and asking contacts to donate by this route. However CAC has received substantial donations via Just Giving.
Please find below a suggested sponsorship form, noting that in the case of UK tax payers, gift aid can be reclaimed from the government.
Sponsorship Form