Banbury man to take on cycling challenge across the French Alps for Vodafone Foundation's 'Save Our Planet' campaign

Richard Ivins is fundraising on behalf of the Vodafone Foundation's 'Save Our Planet' campaign by traversing the French Alps by road bike.

Richard said: "I am taking part in an epic challenge for the Vodafone Foundation's “Save our Planet" campaign.

"The epic challenge is to cycle from Grenoble France and traverse the Western Alps south across, France, culminating on the Cote d’Azur in Nice with a distance of 519km covering some of the most iconic climbs from the Tour De France including the famous Alp Du Heuz, with a total accent of 12,354 meters.

"To help reach my fundraising target, I am running a raffle with some incredible prizes."

To help reach his fundraising goal of £3,700, the charity raffle includes some very exciting prizes, including a seven-night stay in a rental CamperKing campervan.

As a Banbury local, Richard has always had a passion for cycling as well as owning a CamperKing campervan since he picked up the keys on his birthday in September 2020. Since the pandemic hit, the campervan has allowed him to have many UK staycations with his bikes.

Richard added: "When the opportunity came up to cycle across France and over the Alps just like the pros in the Tour de France and fundraise for the Vodafone Foundation's campaign, it was a dream come true. This is the very first time I have fundraised and I hope my raffle will raise enough for the chosen charities."

You can contribute to Richard's epic cycle challenge using the following JustGiving web link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rich-ivins

Some of the raffle prizes include: a seven-night campervan rental voucher courtesy of CamperKing as first prize, an afternoon tea at the Ritz for four people courtesy of CRM UK as second prize and a Fetcham Park House Hamper courtesy of Datashield as third prize.

Other raffles prizes include a weekend Mercedes driving experience, two tickets to The Shard, a TCL20 R 5G Phone, cycling clothing worth £170, tickets to the Cotswold Wildlife Park for two adults and two children, a Silver Bicycle service from Leisure Lake Bikes in Daventry worth £100, a month of personal training with Charlotte PT360 in person or online and a bottle of Cotswold Gin.

A £10 donation to the challenge will get you one entry into the raffle, a £20 donation will get you three tickets for the raffle and a £50 donation will get you £10 raffle tickets.

Each donor's name and email must be included with each donation so the winners can be contacted.

All donations will go to towards supporting the Vodafone Foundation's charitable partners including The Ocean Cleanup and Tusk Trust.

The drawing will take place on Friday March 4 through Richard's Instagram page here: Instagram page @epic_Alp_Challenge.