Pan Island Pedal-off for Channel Islands First ‘Prosperity Day’

Thursday 23 July 2015

Tech firm Prosperity 24.7 is launching Prosperity Day tomorrow with a two-part cycling event in Jersey and Guernsey that will pit business competitors against each other in the name of charity.

In aid of Autism Guernsey, Autism Jersey and Mind Jersey, the event aims to raise a whopping £24,700 to be split equally between the three pan-island charities.

Keen cyclists from Guernsey and Jersey will launch ‘Prosperity Day’ with a sponsored ‘Figure of Gr8’ bike ride, spanning the 160km circumference of both islands. The cycle will start in Guernsey at the Liberation Monument in St Peter Port at 5.30am, before participants hop on the ferry at 8am to head across to complete Jersey in the same day.

At 9.30am in Jersey the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, will open the proceedings in Broad Street. Fifteen of the Channel Island’s top corporate firms will be going ‘Head to Head to Head’ in a virtual race on state of the art, 3D technology ‘turbo trainers’. The 30-minute, three-way races will be running from 10am until 3.00pm, transporting Jersey’s very own Broad Street to the route of the Tour de France.

The races are comprised of timed heats, whereby participants will not only be competing against their neighbours, but for a position on the overall leaderboard. At 4pm, the top three teams will enter a final, 10-minute sprint to determine the overall winner.

Competing firms include Sure v’s JT v’s Airtel-Vodafone, and KPMG v’s PWC v’s EY, who will be going head to head to settle their corporate scores in public and make it to the top of the podium. The winners will be announced during an evening awards ceremony at the Jersey Museum Brasserie. Points from the race will only contribute to half of the score collected by the teams. The remaining points are determined by fundraising done by the companies on behalf of ‘Prosperity Day’. 

Chris Clark, event organiser and CEO of Prosperity 24.7, said: "Prosperity Day is mainly about raising money for brilliant and important causes, enabling corporates to ‘vent their fury’ in a really fun, safe and innovative way. It’s a project very close to our values as a company, using new, exciting developments in technology to have a positive impact. We want the real winners to ultimately be the charities.

"We’ve got Jersey’s most successful firms taking part in the ‘Head to Head to Head’ and, as a result, it’s shaping up to be a very interesting contest. They only have half an hour to finish the route, which is a very long and consistent climb. Given the average completion time is about 43m 24s, the winner may have to be the person at the furthest distance by the 30 minute mark. The current record is 27m32s, so it is definitely possible to complete. I’m just really excited to see what happens."

Rob Vaudin, Senior Consultant, Prosperity 24.7, will lead over 20 riders from The Guernsey Rouleurs Cycling Club in the figure of Gr8. He said: "We are really grateful for the reception Prosperity Day has had and the enthusiasm with which people are taking part. We hope that people will show the same eagerness on the day, even if not cycling themselves, as there are so many ways to engage and support the event. ‘Figure of Gr8’ will be passing through almost every parish in both Guernsey and Jersey, and people will be able to log in from all over the world to track the ‘Prosperity Day’ progress or donate.

"We would like to thank Big Maggy’s and BKool for all their help in delivering such an incredibly innovative and worthwhile event.  A huge thanks also goes to Sure who are providing the 4G on the day in Jersey, Barannes, and Race Nation for their backing and encouragement."

You can keep up to date with Prosperity Day on the Prosperity 24.7 website, Facebook and Twitter, or by using: #ProsperityDay Please support by donating through Race Nation: https://race-nation.com/donate/88