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Tour de l’Oc raises £30k for charity
Last month’s Tour de l’Oc bicycle challenge across France has raised over £30,000 for The Benevolent – the drinks trade charity.
Tour de L’Oc cheque presentation, with riders handing £32,704 to The Benevolent’s David Cox
An exact figure of £32,704 was raised by members of the UK wine trade who took part in the ride, which included ascending Mont Ventoux, widely regarded as the hardest climb of the Tour de France.
The sum, which was presented to The Benevolent’s David Cox last night, represented the charity’s “largest single fundraising of the year” according to Cox, who expressed his gratitude to the riders yesterday evening.
As previously reported by the drinks business, the Tour de l’Oc saw db editor Patrick Schmitt and 10 other members of the wine trade cycle almost 500km in four days across France for The Benevolent.
The ride began on Monday 1 June when the cyclists headed south from a start point at the M. Chapoutier winery in Tain l’Hermitage, finishing at Collioure near the Spanish border on Thursday the same week.
The challenge was dubbed the Tour de L’Oc, after the ancient name for the region, Occitania.
Organised by Mentzendorff managing director Andrew Hawes, this is the ninth charity cycle ride led by the head of the UK wine importer for Bollinger Champagne, and probably the hardest
You can see a pictorial report of the challenge here, and read Patrick’s daily blog of the ride here:
Patrick would also like to thank in particular Mentzordorff’s Andrew Hawes for once again organizing a memorable challenge, as well as those colleagues, wine trade figures and friends who so kindly sponsored his efforts.
So, firstly, a massive thank you to the following work colleagues and wine trade figures for their sponsorship of the Tour de l’Oc:
Amy Federman at Bacardi
Chloé Beral at the drinks business
David Cox at The Benevolent
David Hennelly at the drinks business
Ella Lister at Octavian Wine Services
Ivy Ng at the drinks business Hong Kong
Jim Budd at Invest Drinks
Milly Wiggin at Luxx PR
Daisy Jones at the drinks business
Paul Symington at Symington Family Estates
Rosamund Barton at R&R Teamwork
Marinel FitzSimons at MMD UK
Andrew Hawes at Mentzendorff
Anthony Hawser at the drinks business
James McKenna at Mentzendorff
David Rose at the drinks business
David Mawer at JF Hillebrand
Team db – particularly the drinks business editorial team: Gabriel, Lucy, Neal, Rupert and Lauren
Sheila Crisp at the drinks business
And a massive thank you to the following friends and family for their generous financial support too:
Aisling and David Neil-Gallacher
Peter Nagle
Edward O’Malley
James and Neasch
Lydia Schmitt
Catherine Carey Bassford
Michelle and Peter Hogg
Octavia Knox-Cartwright
Jon Hall
Samuel Schmitt
John Schmitt