Announced at last week’s rider briefing, organisers have set the astounding target on the back of a fast start to this year’s fundraising effort, which has seen £162,000 already banked for the charities by the 29 riders, with nearly 100 days still to go until they depart on the two-wheeled adventure, across Sri Lanka.

 

Led by ride founder Katy Moses, of leading research consultancy KAM, the riders will wend their way across Sri Lanka from the west to east of the Asian island, covering nearly 500km of mountainous trails and roads in five days.

 

Commenting on the progress made, Moses said: “We are completely blown away by the extraordinary level of support we’ve received from our incredible industry, for this effort and for these two charities that do such amazing work to change lives.”

 

“When we launched this year’s effort, we didn’t think we could get past 2022’s amazing total. But thanks to the huge generosity of so many people that have already got behind this year’s campaign, we are now daring to dream we can go even further. It’s really exciting and making all the training in the cold and wet that little bit more bearable, so we would just like to say an enormous thank you to everyone.”

 

Fundraising for Pedalling for Pubs 2023 set off with a remarkable £50k+ raised at the UKHospitality Christmas lunch, serving as a brilliant spring board for this year’s effort. Climbing from there, the remarkable sum currently reached is thanks to great support from sponsors and the ingenuity of the fundraisers delivering an array of events that riders are hosting including pub quizzes, sports-themed dinners, charity football tournaments and an array of other unique sponsored activities.

 

Pedalling for Pubs tasks leaders from the brewing, pub and hospitality sectors to undertake a mammoth charity cycle expedition, created as a collaborative effort by leading industry organisations, as well as The Licensed Trade Charity and Only A Pavement Away themselves, with the purpose of raising vital funds for these two great charities. Alongside KAM, supporting partners and sponsors include Airship/ Toggle, Barclaycard, BII, Fleet Street, Greene King, Lucky Saint, Punch Taverns and Wireless Social.

 

This year will also see the launch of the inaugural Pedalling 2 Pubs UK Edition, taking place between 9th and 11th June 2023, with around 50 people from across the hospitality sector riding 240km across the Yorkshire Wolds.

 

To find out more about the challenge or to donate, please follow this link: https://pedallingforpubs.org.uk/donate/