DENMARK: While athletes from around the world travelled to Paris for the Olympics, over 2,000 yellow-clad exercise bike riders from the European charity cycling team Team Rynkeby drove at a more human pace towards the French capital to raise money for children with critical illnesses.
The trip to Paris is an annual event that marks the end of a year of training and fundraising activities for the participants, who this year came from 64 different cities in eight European countries.
The Team Rynkeby Foundation, which is behind the project, has now settled the accounts and the charity cycling team can send no less than 8.7 million euros to organisations that help children with critical illnesses in various ways.
With this year's collection, Team Rynkeby has raised 104 million euros since the beginning in 2002.
"This is an impressive milestone for our project. It's a result created by thousands of volunteers over many years and a great example of how it's possible to make a real difference when you decide to do something good for others as part of a community. I'm really proud of the participants and that the project has come to where we are today," says Solvejg Lauridsen, General Manager of the Team Rynkeby Foundation.
Money for research
The majority of the money that Team Rynkeby has raised over the years has gone to support the fight against childhood cancer. Team Rynkeby is one of the largest private donors to childhood cancer research in the Nordic region.
"There is no doubt that over the years, Team Rynkeby volunteers have had a huge impact on European childhood cancer research. Many research projects have only materialised because of the efforts of Team Rynkeby participants. But even though great progress has been made, we are still far from the goal of ensuring that all children not only survive, but also have a life without sequelae. That's why we will continue our work next year," says Solvejg Lauridsen.
Team Rynkeby was founded in 2002 when 11 employees of the juice company Rynkeby Foods decided to cycle to Paris to witness the end of the Tour de France in Paris. Since then, the project has spread to eight countries and this year had 2,600 participants.