Staff from Portishead-based paper-based packaging manufacturer Smurfit Kappa UK have raised £25,000 by cycling 2,012 miles around all the firm’s 25 UK sites.
The feat, the biggest UK charity event of its kind for the company, involved more than 200 employees riding in relay, 12 hours a day over 25 days.
Funds raised are going to Cancer Research UK and Tommy’s, a charity which funds research into complex pregnancy issues.
Smurfit Kappa UK marketing manager Khalsa Hughes said: “We chose these charities as they are close to the hearts of many of our employees, friends and families.”
Cyclists on the first leg rode 26 miles from the firm’s Portishead head office to its machine systems site in Yate. From there, other teams of cyclists took up the challenge, riding between the firm’s bases across the UK in a huge clockwise loop finishing back at Portishead on Tuesday.
The teams averaged 80.5 miles a day with the longest leg 155 miles between Gosport and Barnstaple over two days.
Smurfit Kappa UK said the cyclists’ achievement had inspired all its 2,500 UK employees to take part in more activities that support the wider community.
