Thursday, 21 March 2013

The Chain Reaction Challenge is a charity bike event that raises money for sick children by challenging business executives who have a passion for cycling and an awareness of their corporate social responsibilities to ride a 1000km course in seven days.

This year, riders of the Victorian event not only had to conquer the immense challenge of riding 1000km in seven days, but also scale Mt Buffalo, Mt Hotham, Falls Creek, Falls Creek East, Mt Buller, Lake Mountain and Mt Donna Buang in successive days.  For your average weekend warrior aged between 35 and 60, it was clearly no average bike ride.

But seven days of gruelling work, and not to mention the four months of training prior, was all in the name of raising money for two very worthy children’s charities, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Royal Children’s Hospital’s PIPER ambulance service.  By event completion, Chain Reaction’s 42 riders had raised over $920,000 to fund the Starlight Express Room and Captain's Ward Visitation Program at the Monash Children's Hospital, and also the purchase of a brand new, purpose built ambulance for critically ill babies and children.

The Victorian Challenge was the first event of the Chain Reaction calendar, with the New South Wales ride commencing on 27 April 2013 and the Queensland ride on 11 May 2013.  KordaMentha is a major team sponsor in Queensland and a minor sponsor in New South Wales.

More information can be found at www.chain-reaction.org.au.