Who will prosper in pan Island pedal-off?

Saturday 18 July 2015

The Tour de France will virtually be in Jersey next week when local cyclists go head-to-head on Broad Street.

The pressure will be on 15 of the Channel Island’s top corporate firms as they sprint the Tour's route to the finish line clocking up miles without actually going anywhere in a bid to win the first ever Prosperity Day.

Sure will be going head-to head with JT and Airtel-Vodafone, while KPMG will be going head-to-head with PWC and EY and they'll all be aiming for top of the podium.

They'll be using state of the art, 3D technology ‘turbo trainers’ and will not only be competing against their neighbours, but for a position on the overall leaderboard with the top three teams racing in a 10-minute sprint at the end of the day to determine the overall winner.

Prosperity Day is the brainchild of technology business Prosperity 24.7 who've got teams signed up to clock up some miles and raise a whopping £24,700 to help three pan-Island charities - Autism Jersey, Autism Guernsey and Mind Jersey.

Prosperity 24.7’s CEO Chris Clark 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.”

And there's more pedalling going on all over Jersey and Guernsey with a 'figure of Gr8' bike ride when cyclists will be looping the 160km circumference of both Islands. They will start at the Liberation monument in St Peter Port in Guernsey before hopping on to the ferry to ride around Jersey.

Prosperity 24's Senior Consultant Rob Vaudin 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 find out more about Prosperity Day on the Prosperity 24.7 website, on Facebook and on Twitter or by using: #ProsperityDay and you can support the event here.