Around 1,000 cyclists are currently making their way to the Irish arts and music festival Electric Picnic to raise money for Temple Street Children’s Hospital in a charity challenge that’s being dubbed the 2Wheels Tour De Picnic. It’s also the largest-ever charity cycle to a music festival in the world.
The cyclists will probably reach the festival and set up camp before many motorists, with AA Roadwatch earlier reporting delays for cars heading to the Stradbally, Co Laois three-day music festival that kicks off this evening.
The Vodafone Ireland Foundation, 2Wheels and Temple Street Children’s University Hospital today launched the cycle when an entourage of nearly 1,000 cyclists of all ages departed from Tallaght Stadium, Dublin for the Electric Picnic Tour de Picnic challenge, all to raise vital funds for Temple Street Children’s Hospital.
Vodafone Ireland is one of the official partners of Electric Picnic 2011.
As part of Vodafone’s involvement at the festival, the Vodafone Ireland Foundation contributed €30,000 towards the running cost of 2Wheels Tour De Picnic for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital, the unique charity challenge that combines an 80km cycle with Electric Picnic.
2Wheels Tour De Picnic is one of the biggest leisure charity cycles in Ireland and is the biggest cycle to any music festival in the world. It is also the most environmentally friendly transport effort to any event in Ireland.
The event is managed and co-ordinated every year by a unique partnership between 2Wheels, POD and Temple Street Children’s University Hospital.
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Throughout the Electric Picnic Festival weekend, all Vodafone activity will reflect Electric Picnic’s environmental ethos via its Vodafone Recharge Room where people can recharge their phone for free, no matter what network they’re on.
And if you need some time-out from the acts such as Arcade Fire, Pulp and Chemical Brothers, the Vodafone Recharge Room will also offer top-up facilities, internet stations, chilled out tunes and other creature comforts to help Tour de Picnic cyclists and other festival goers recharge before heading back out into the picnic madness.
Paul Ryan, Vodafone Ireland strategy director, added: “The Electric Picnic festival’s ethos is in tune with Vodafone’s own environmental strategy, the Green Agenda, which focuses on reducing Vodafone’s impact on the environment and offering sustainable, environmentally friendly initiatives.
Speaking about the Tour De Picnic partnership with Vodafone, Angela McNulty, special events manager at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital said: “Without organizations such as the Vodafone Ireland Foundation, our supporters and a committed team we would not be able to make events like 2Wheels Tour De Picnic happen so we are extremely grateful to all our amazing sponsors and cyclists for their time and effort and to everyone who supported the campaign.”
Speaking on behalf of 2Wheels, Brian McDermott said: “Since 2009 this unique event has grown from 45 to 1000 cyclists involved. It is another great example of Irish companies and people making a special effort for a more sustainable future whilst vastly improving health care facilities for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. With continued support 2Wheels Tour de Picnic can only grow and we see no limits to participation in future years. We are delighted to be part of this unique fundraising challenge.”
Speaking on behalf of POD, Lindsey Holmes said: “We are very proud to be part of this exciting and innovative initiative to raise funds for Temple Street Children’s University Hospital. We thank all the cyclists that are taking part and wish them a safe journey. And of course … enjoy the Picnic!”