Yodel team cycles to victory in Mark Cavendish's sportive and raises thousands for charity
Yodel, the UK's leading independent parcel carrier and official logistics partner and sprints sponsor of the Friends Life Tour of Britain, demonstrated further support for British cycling by entering the largest team into Mark Cavendish's sportive, the Friends Life Tour Ride 100, in Staffordshire last Sunday (5 October).
The 67-strong Yodel team, included drivers, sort centre workers, head office staff, clients and suppliers. They took to their bikes en masse in eye catching green and red YodelDirect sprints jerseys and shorts to cycle the 50-mile and 100-mile routes, which departed from Staffordshire University. The Ride aims to allow everyone to experience the thrill of cycling along part of the Tour of Britain route and both courses include the phenomenally challenging climb of Gun Hill.
The team succeeded in raising thousands for the company's newly launched charitable foundation. The Yodel Foundation has been established to raise money for three causes - the company's staff nominated charity, which for 2104/15 it is Macmillan Cancer Support; colleagues and their families suffering financial hardship due to illness; and the retailTRUST , which supports retail and retail logistics staff.
The fastest Yodel rider finished with a time of just 3 hours and 23 minutes. Yodel also won the prize for submitting the biggest team at the event for the second year running with several lucky participants receiving their medal from Mark Cavendish himself.
Neil Lloyd, CEO of Yodel, who took part in the ride, said: "Interest in cycling has really taken off since we started supporting the Tour and the Ride was a great inaugural challenge to kick-start the Yodel Foundation.
"It was certainly a test of endurance but Yodel staff from across all departments of the company really gave it their all. The fact we had the biggest team at the event for a second year is a testament to our teamwork and dedication, and I'm very proud of our achievement."
In September, 20 members of Yodel's South Eastern division cycled 85 miles from Bath to Reading in memory of their colleague Stephen Knowles, who passed away from cancer in May. The money raised was donated to Macmillan Cancer Support.
This month, Yodel is recruiting 5,000 part- and full-time people throughout the UK in preparation for the anticipated Christmas peak in online sales and deliveries. Learn more about Yodel Careers or to support Yodel's charitable efforts, go to https://www.justgiving.com/yodelfoundation/ .
