This year’s cancelled Prudential RideLondon cycling event has been resurrected as a free virtual event “to help save the UK’s charities”, event organisers have announced.
RideLondon, which has raised £77.5m for charity since it was launched in 2013, was cancelled in May due to coronavirus restrictions, but today organisers announced that a virtual event would take place over the weekend of 15 and 16 August, the planned date of the physical event.
The virtual event, dubbed My Prudential RideLondon, asks participants to complete a ride of 19, 46 or 100 miles along a route of their choice, and to raise money for their chosen charity at the same time.
There will also be a category allowing participants to set their own goal on a set of self-propelled wheels of their choice, such as push scooters, skateboards, trikes, balance bikes, rollerskates or wheelchairs.
Last year’s RideLondon event raised £11.5m for charity, with more than 10,000 cyclists taking part.
In a statement, Hugh Brasher, event director of RideLondon, said the virtual event had been inspired by the 2.6 Challenge, which was created after the London Marathon was postponed in April and which asked participants to complete fundraising activities involving the numbers two and six. It generated £11m for charities.
“After the disappointment of the cancellation of Prudential RideLondon, we were determined to create something special for our riders, partners and the hundreds of charities that rely on the event for vital income,” Brasher said.
“Charities desperately need help to continue to provide vital services to every sector of society and fund critical research. In this socially-distanced world, it’s also vitally important to encourage people to get on two wheels rather than use public transport.
“The My Prudential RideLondon campaign has been created to achieve both these aims.”
RideLondon has developed an app for the event, which will give participants a GPS function that will allow participants’ friends and family to follow their progress online, generate a finisher’s certificate with the participant’s time on, and selfie frames to create personal finisher’s photographs.
Will Norman, walking and cycling commissioner for London, said there had been a huge increase in cycling over the past three months and hoped the event would further motivate people to make cycling part of their every day routine.
All participants will need to register and set their challenge on the RideLondon website, and the app will be available to download from next week.