Gut gemacht Team Dransfield – Yorkshire charity cyclists complete their tough Alpine challenge

Gut gemacht Team Dransfield – Yorkshire charity cyclists complete their tough Alpine challenge

19 September 2014

Charity cyclists from a South Yorkshire firm have completed a tough alpine challenge, after riding 380 miles through three countries to arrive in the Bavarian city of Munich.

And the members of the 19-strong team are hoping their gruelling ride over five long, tough days will have raised an impressive £50,000 for charity.

The annual Tour of Europe ride is organised by Barnsley based Dransfield Properties and was started in 2007.

This year’s riders set off on September 15th from Trieste in Italy. The cyclists took a challenging route through the Austrian Alps arriving in Munich in southern Germany on the afternoon of Friday September 19th after a final day’s ride covering more than 70 leg aching miles.

The toughest day was day three of the five day ride when the cycle team climbed a total of 8,860ft in the Austrian Alps from Villach to Radstadt – making it the longest and most challenging climb in the Tour of Europe’s eight year history.

The Tour of Europe was first started in 2007 when a team cycled from London to Paris, since then they’ve covered a leg of their journey every year with the aim of getting back to London by 2020.

In the last seven years the riders have covered more than 2,600 miles through five different countries – they’ve stopped off at Lyon, Marseilles, Portofino, Rome, Dubrovnik, Trieste and this year’s finishing point Munich – where next year’s challenge will start.

The cyclists range in age from late 20's to mid 60's - all with a shared passion for cycling.

Most of the riders are from South Yorkshire with team members also hailing from Lincolnshire, Hull, Merseyside and London. This year the pro-cyclist and World Silver Medallist Tony Gibb also joined the peloton to support the team.

Mark Dransfield, Managing Director of Dransfield Properties and founding team member said: “In 2010 we took on Mont Ventoux in Southern France and that was tough but the route of this year’s challenge was even harder. The third day was just a relentless climb and everyone did really well.

"We’ve had some great support from our sponsors this year and we’re really grateful to everyone who has supported us – we’re hopeful that when we have all the money in we will reach our target of raising £50,000 for the charities we are supporting this year.”

The funds raised in this year’s ride will go towards Action Against Cancer and Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research as well as local good causes and groups through the Dransfield Foundation.  This year’s fundraising will take the team’s total since starting out in 2007 to around £330,000.

To see pictures from the charity cycle ride, visit www.dransfield.co.uk or the Team Dransfield Facebook page. And to support the riders in their fundraising go to http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/DransfieldTourofEurope2014
  
Meet the riders:
From South Yorkshire: Mark Dransfield, Thomas Meagher, Philip Prince, Alex Prince, Andrew Malley,  Christopher Morrison, Matthew Rigby, David Simpson, David Haigh, Nick Rees, Mark Yardley.
From Hull: Paul Dransfield, Lee Newsham, Alec Cammish.
From London: Tony Gibb, Christian Cox.
From Lincolnshire: Will Downing, Tim Downing, Dean Draper.

For further information, contact:

Public Relations Department, Dransfield Properties Ltd
Tel: 01226 360644
Email: pr@dransfield.co.uk