A team of avid cyclists has taken on a raft of challenges to raise money for Chester Zoo’s conservation campaign Act for Wildlife.
Giraffe keeper Paul Round was joined by Pippa Hague from the Hillyer McKeown Group and Jon Walker and Matt Townsend from Ultimate Creative Communications to take on the 100-mile Prudential RideLondon on Sunday, August 2.
While Dave Edwards has completed 13 gruelling events – including the Castle Howard Half Ironman – in aid of the charity over the past three years, raising more than £4,000 and travelling more than 300 miles in competition.
Dave, of Browns CTP Ltd, said he feels like part of the ‘zoo family’ now.
“My ultimate challenge for 2015 was the Castle Howard Half Ironman, which consisted of a 1,900m swim, 90k bike & 20k run and was one the hardest events that I’ve ever taken part in,” he said
“I feel privileged to represent Chester Zoo in these events and I just love the challenge of it all and what I’ve managed to achieve.”
Act for Wildlife - which is the team’s main beneficiary - works to raise awareness of the desperate conservation efforts needed to save endangered species around the world from extinction.
The charity raised enough funds to plant 2,000 trees in Borneo for an orangutan programme last year.
To support the cyclists in their challenges, Chester Zoo has provided each team member with a training jersey, tips on fundraising and even organised a few practice sessions.
Lynsey Whitley, from the zoo’s fundraising team, said: “It’s absolutely amazing to know that we have supporters from a range of different
industries coming together to raise money for wildlife and we wanted to do something special to say thank you, so we organised a few practice
sessions and provided all of our amazing fundraisers with their very own Act for Wildlife cycling gear!
“It was great to share training tips whilst on the road and to have the opportunity to show the team members the real difference they will be
making both here at the zoo and out in the wild, hopefully it will inspire them for each of their challenges.
“All have very different motivations for choosing Act for Wildlife but it’s great to see people raise money and awareness for animals in desperate need of conservation efforts.”
For more information about the campaign, click here.
