Boats to bikes for charity

INEOS TEAM UK joined employees from across the INEOS network of offices and manufacturing sites to saddle up for charity. The team were challenged to match kilometre for kilometre the gruelling stages Team INEOS were taking on during the 2019 Tour de France race.

26 team members from across the sailing, design, shore and support departments combined their daily commutes along with increased training sessions to reach the daily target. They joined 1325 other INEOS employees to cover a combined distance of 625,387 km and raise €104,000 for local good causes in the process. 

In recognising their tremendous effort, INEOS has donated €2,000 to a local charity of choice for each of the 52 INEOS teams that competed. INEOS TEAM UK chose The Andrew Simpson Foundation who’s overarching objective is to transform lives through sailing. This is achieved through the delivery of key charitable projects and Community Sailing Programmes at the Andrew Simpson Centres, including Portsmouth.

Matt Robinson, INEOS TEAM UK CFO, "We are very pleased to be able to support the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation in Portsmouth. It has been a brilliant effort by the team to complete the Tour De France challenge. Not only have we fundraised for charity and good causes, but for some participants the Tour de France Challenge has encouraged them to take up cycling for the first time in many years.” 

Richard Percy, Andrew Simpson Foundation CEO, thanked the team for their tremendous effort,  ‘We are delighted to receive this cheque;  what a supreme result from the challenge to ride the Tour de France distance!  We transform lives through sailing every day, for those who are facing the many challenges that life can throw at them and this support will help us to provide new programmes for future generations.   We look forward to welcoming the team to join us for the second year running on 27th June 2020 to face a further cycling challenge – Bike4Bart- at our Portsmouth Andrew Watersports Centre’