Earlier this year, Aspire was chosen as one of Santander Consumer Finance’s charities of the year.  The charity had been nominated by one of their managers, whose husband has a spinal cord injury, as they had been received support from the charity whilst he was undergoing rehab at the London Spinal Injury Centre and they wanted to give something back by raising money and awareness.

The first big fundraising event was a cycle ride across five countries in three days - The RedBach 500 – which saw 22 cyclists set off from their headquarters in Redhill, covering a distance of 500 kilometres to the Santander Consumer offices in Mönchengladbach, Germany.  The team was backed by two motorcycle support people, including Santander Consumer Finance Managing Director Vik Hill, and seven crew members including medics and a physio in support vehicles.

Lisa McClinton, one of the organisers, said, “The final day of the RedBach500 challenge saw a very early start for the Group 2 riders, with breakfast at 6am and a 6.30am start for their ride.  Five colleagues from Santander Consumer Germany joined them for breakfast, then rode with the Group 1 riders who left Antwerp at 7.30am.

Although the sun was shining, there was a strong head wind which made the cycling tough for all riders, by the time they had cycled the first 90km to the lunch stop in Hamont, they were all pretty exhausted.  After a quick refuel of toasties and apple pie, they were ready for the final leg of their amazing cycle, the last 71km to Monchengladbach in Germany!

Through sheer determination and working together as a team to encourage and motivate each other through the gruelling last day, they maintained good spirits and had a few laughs along the way.

After a quick shower, the riders and support crew enjoyed a well-deserved, celebratory meal at a traditional German Restaurant and accompanied by a glass or two of local beer.

So now the challenge is complete, 22 riders set off from Redhill on Wednesday morning, supported by a seven strong crew and two motorcyclists, picking up five German riders on the last day, to arrive in Monchengladbach at 4pm on Friday. Covering a combined total of 9744 kilometres.

The journey home was not so smooth, with traffic delays and high winds, there were inevitable journey disruptions including cancelled ferry crossing, the team finally arrived at Redhill at 9pm Saturday evening, nearly 12 hours after they departed Germany.

Well done guys, hugely proud of your performance and a big thank you to our Dealer/Retail Partners and German comrades for taking part in the RedBach500 challenge.”

Thank you to everyone involved who made this first event such a success, what a way to start the partnership! 

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