European cycle challenge to raise cash for Albion charity

Albion in the Community (AITC) is holding its fifth charity bike ride from Brussels to the German city of Cologne.

The trip departs the American Express Community Stadium on Thursday, June 7 , with cyclists returning to the UK on Sunday, June 10.

American Express is sponsoring the event and a number of Amex employees are already signed-up to take part. Others confirmed for the fundraiser include Albion legends Guy Butters and Danny Cullip, who both now work for AITC.

The charity is now asking others to sign-up for the 140-mile challenge.

Money raised by cycle challenge helps fund the charity’s football sessions for people with a disability. AITC now runs 30 of these sessions at venues across Sussex, regularly attended by more than 300 people.

But the charity said these sessions are expensive to deliver – costing between £1,800 and £5,000 a year to run.

Emma Brockhurst, fundraising events executive at AITC, said: “Our European cycle challenge is one of the highlights of our fundraising calendar and it raises a significant amount of money for the charity.

“Last year’s ride to Amsterdam was one of our most-successful to date but we are hoping this year’s will be even more popular.

“Cycling 140 miles is certainly a challenge but our event is not just for keen cyclists; previous years have seen people of varying fitness levels successfully take part.

“The money these rides generate not only enables us to keep running the sessions we do, but it also means we can expand our programme and launch new sessions – meaning even more local people with a disability are given the opportunity to play the sport they love.”

Registration for the Cologne trip is just £299 per person and that includes full ride support, meals, a return flight from Cologne to London, water stops, a limited edition AITC cycle jersey, three nights’ accommodation, and transfer between destinations.

The group will leave the Amex Stadium on the Thursday afternoon before catching the Eurostar to Brussels. The cycling then takes place over two days (Friday and Saturday) with an overnight stop in Aachen on Friday night. Riders will arrive in Cologne on the Saturday, meaning they have part of Sunday to explore the 2,000-year-old city before meeting for transfers back to the UK.

For more information, or to book a place, email: [email protected] or call 01273 878246.