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VolkerRail staff cycle from London to Paris for Charity

Eight members of staff from VolkerRail have recently completed the London to Paris Cycle Challenge for the Railway Children Charity. The challenge was to cycle a total of 178 miles (286 kilometres) over three days and two countries.

On the 8th July 2011 the eight VolkerRail employees joined another 26 fundraisers to start the first day of the challenge, which saw them cycle 59 miles (95 kilometres ) from Crystal Palace in London to Newhaven before boarding a ferry to France.

On the second day everyone cycled from Dieppe to Gournay, a 51 mile (82 kilometres) ride through small towns and villages, before the third and hardest day of the challenge; cycling 68 miles (110kilometres) to reach their final destination, the Eiffel Towel, Paris.

All cyclists had to face tough challanges with weather, hill climbs and challenging routes through city streets along with negotiating harsh french traffic around the Arc de Triumph, which required a lead car to direct cyclists through safely. Everyone that took part completed the race without anyone having to use the emergency convoy, which was a first in all the years this challenge has taken place.

Through their combined hard work and effort John Looker, engineer; Deborah Faulkner, project manager; Andrew Wilkins, finance director; Neal Fussey, operations manager OTM(On-Track Machine); Sean Nixon, project planner; Hollie Woodard, quantity surveyor; Michael Dunderdale, senior engineer and Barry Kennedy, plant director, managed to raise over £13,500 for the Railway Children Charity.

VolkerRail's corporate charity of choice for 2011 is the Railway Children; the charity exists to help vulnerable children in grave circumstances by providing relief to children and young people around the world who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress and in particular to those living on the streets.

One of VolkerRail's major suppliers, Matisa, was the teams biggest individual sponsor; the team would like to thank the company for its generous donation.