KBC Autolease puts its weight behind 1 000 km cancer charity cycle ride
The 1 000 km cycle ride in aid of the ‘Kom op tegen Kanker’ cancer charity wended its way around Flanders during the Ascension weekend. A group of cycling enthusiasts from KBC Autolease lined up at the start of one of the biggest charity events in the country.
KBC has partnered the ‘Kom op tegen Kanker’ cancer charity for more than 30 years, supporting it financially and operationally right from the start back in 1989. The 1 000 km cycling event was held for the 13th time during the Ascension weekend.
Sweets and cream puffs
As always, a team from KBC Autolease was among the riders, with eight employees on the starting line for a ride of 125 km each. To take part in this sporting challenge, each cycling team had to raise a minimum of 5 500 euros. ‘We reached that amount easily through a variety of fundraising activities, such as a tombola and the sale of bags of sweets and cream puffs,’ says sales assistant
Sarah Voncken, who participated for the seventh time.
‘We all support the event and each other,’ adds bicycle leasing sales support worker Neal Van Petegem. ‘People didn’t need much persuading to sell the bags of sweets, for example. We receive support across all departments, and that's a good feeling.’ Everyone knows someone in their family or circle of friends who has been diagnosed with cancer. And that’s no different in the KBC Autolease family.
Thorough preparation
‘At home, we’ve already been hit by cancer twice: my mother-in-law died from it and my mother has survived breast cancer twice,’ says account manager Benoit Vermeir. ‘Apart from this personal experience, the 1 000 km cycle ride is a great event anyway, and one that enjoys wide support in the community.’ KBC Autolease employee Neal lost his grandmother to cancer. Sarah experienced the disease up close when a work colleague was diagnosed with breast cancer. ‘The reason I do it is to offer support to people who have got the ‘Big C’. They deserve all the support they can get,’ she says.
The team prepared thoroughly for the challenge. Benoit completed his 125 km ride at an average speed of 30 km per hour. A week after the event, he left on a cycling holiday through the Benelux countries, Germany and France. Neal and Sarah took things a little ‘easier’, recording an average speed of 27 km per hour.