London, 1st October 2021: On Sunday the 3rd October, global technology services provider Claranet will be kick starting its Leeds 2 Sao Paulo Challenge to raise money for 5 charities across the UK.
Celebrating 25 years of Claranet, the challenge will see participants contribute miles to travel a total of 12,000 miles across 5-days - from their Leeds office to the Sao Paulo office in Brazil.
Participants of the challenge can walk, run cycle, swim, skate, skip, hop or samba to help reach the goal with the total fundraised being donated to charities local to Claranet UK offices; Simon on the Streets, Warrington Wolves Foundation, Hollie Gazzard Trust, Holborn Community Association, and the Fredricks Foundation.
Bruce Simpson, Head of Marketing at Claranet says:
We wanted to not only celebrate 25 years of Claranet but also find new ways to connect our people, promote health and wellbeing and support the communities in which we work.
With an increase in home working over the last 18 months and a difficult time for everyone, the Leeds 2 Sao Paulo Challenge is giving our people the chance to work together for the benefit of local charities doing fantastic work around the UK.
Whether they’re walking the dog around the block or cycling the length of the UK, everyone’s contribution counts.”
Central to the challenge is a cycle ride that sees a team of Claranet riders travel from Leeds to London via the Claranet offices in Warrington and Gloucester, meeting the charities along the way. There is also a group of walkers travelling from Gloucester to Swindon along the same route and another seeing how many virtual laps of the London marathon route they can do.
Paul Crozier, Director of Holborn Community Association says:
We are so impressed with Claranet's efforts to reach out to us as near neighbours in Holborn and fundraise for our charity with their sporting challenge."
Following the challenge, Claranet will be working with the 5 local charities over the next year as part of an extended CSR partnership and has also launched a new volunteering programme to enable employees to support the causes they are close to.
Paul Barry-Walsh, Chairman of Fredericks Foundation says:
I think that Claranet’s Leeds 2 Sao Paulo Challenge is wonderful, fun for the staff, great for our charity and good for fitness. A win win all round.”
You can track the progress of the challenge here, and see the participants’ journey as they post daily updates: claranet.co.uk/l2sp