With one week to go, three automotive leaders are ready for the Epic Thames Waterbike Ride

With just one week to go until the Epic Thames Waterbike Ride, three automotive industry leaders are fully prepped and ready to water-cycle the River Thames from its source to London. This is a mammoth fundraiser in support of Ben.

Darren Guiver, Managing Director of Group 1 Automotive; Tim Tozer, CEO of Allianz Partners UK & Ireland and Jon Wakefield, who heads up Volvo’s Swedish national sales company, are raring to go. They are counting down the days until they get in the saddle and out on the water.

The challenge, starting at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, ending at the Thames Barrier in London, will be a huge test of physical and mental stamina from start to finish. The trio will water-cycle until they reach the tidal Thames at Teddington, where, for safety reasons, they continue the last leg of their journey cycling on the Thames Path. The three leaders will clock up a total of 171 miles in the saddle.

The trio will be tackling over 10 hours of cycling per day, including on self-propelled Schiller waterbikes, from 4th to 7th July.

Follow the journey!
Track the journey here: tracker.co.uk/benilc (spectators are invited to come along and support)

So far, over £170,000 has been raised through the challenge, for Ben to support automotive industry colleagues going through tough times. This amount is growing continually and Jon, Tim and Darren are on track to reach the fundraising target of £300,000.

Donate now!
Please donate to this epic challenge via: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/benilc2019

Jon Wakefield said: “We can’t wait to get going now! It’s going to be really tough but worth every minute in the saddle. As daunting as it is, we’re really looking forward to it! If you can, come along and cheer us on, you can track our progress. Any further donations are very welcome – your support is going to spur us on! It’s all for a very worthy cause.”

Darren Guiver, Managing Director, Group 1 Automotive, said: “We’re very nearly there now and I’m looking forward to getting in the saddle and on the water. We’ve been training hard and we feel ready now! Thanks to everyone who has donated – and for those who haven’t yet, there’s still time. Do feel free to come along and see us on our journey – would be great to see some friendly faces!”

Tim Tozer, CEO of Allianz Partners UK and Ireland, said: “We’re really excited about tackling this challenge in a week’s time! We’re prepped and ready to go. Your support has been a big motivator for us, so thank you. We hope you’ll be following our journey, indeed we’d love to see you wave us on from the riverbank!”

Matt Wigginton, Business Development Director at Ben, said: “We can’t wait to follow the guys on their journey. Each day starts at 8amand finish at 9pm or later, so they are going to be completely exhausted! This challenge is certainly not for the faint hearted! We will be watching on in awe and hope to see many other spectators there cheering them on. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far – we can’t thank you enough. Wishing Darren, Tim, and Jon all the best on their journey, you guys are awesome.”

-ENDS-

Sign up to hear more from Ben