Sponsored Rides in 2014

Hi

MacMillan wrote to me recently with a number of potential sponsored cycle rides next year and, being new to the club, I’m not sure whether anyone has done one of these before (or would be interested in joining me).

Any experiences, advice or even whether it’s appropriate to be posting stuff like this here would be appreciated.

Ian

P.S. Rides offered are:
• Alps Challenge
• London to Paris; and
• Himalaya Challenge

I quite fancy the London to Paris one

(www.macmillan.org.uk/get-involved/fundra...1VZ6N,9SNWHA,6RQPW,1)

I'm looking at doing L2P next year but with another charity that my mother once did a charity ride for back in the 70s. Call me sentimental.

I don’t have a preference when it comes to the charity and I know that MacMillan charges £150 for entry and expect a minimum £1600 in donations which seems steep to me.

Who are you thinking about riding for and what are their charges / expectations ?

I'm thinking of Action Medical Research and their admin fee and donation target are roughly similar to Macmillan. Three different routes including one via the northern battlefields next year. Longest route is via Normandy and has a 115-120 mile stage.

You have to bear in mind that a lot of charities utilise an organising company for the longer rides, I know that the AMR one is fully supported; i.e. your bags go in their vans/trailers, buffet lunch partway through each day, ferries/trains covered, etc

Also the AMR one finishes in Paris on the day before the Tour de France comes into the city, your bike is brought back to the UK while you watch the finish, Eurostar home and the vans/trailers are there with your bikes at Kings Cross/St Pancras station.

Jane and I did L2P with action medical reaserch in 2009 (discovery adventure organise it for them)
i think we paid £395 entry and it was £1200 minimum sponsorship.

We did the Newhaven to Dieppe route, and yes we finished in Paris the day before the tour came in but we had to get the Eurostar before they came in so we didn't see anything, it just made it a pain getting across the city, as half of it was shut off for the tour.
Other tha that though was well organised with bag transfers, drink stations and lunch etc etc

There offered a deal then where if you went as a team of 5 or more there was a slight reduction on the sponsorship needed

£140 and £1500 currently, possibly because people felt the admin fee was too high so have bumped it on to sponsorship requirement? They do one that is Ho Chi Minh(?) to Ankor Wat that is well over £400 to enter that looks interesting but a bit out of my league to register for at the moment.

Also when I last checked AMR they want half the sponsorship by April 2014 and the rest by the end of September of the same year.

I have looked at these as well and the reason they want half the sponsorship upfront is they say this covers the cost of the organising etc, and therein lies my problem.

What I would effectively be saying to people is please pay me £1 of which 50p goes to charity and 50p goes to fund my nice biking holiday, which I don't think is fair unless I was committing to paying the entrance fee and half the sponsorship.

When we did it the £395 covered the cost's so we paid that, as, as you say thats not what sponsorship is for