Two Julius Baer Guernsey employees are embarking on a charity bicycle ride from Monaco to the private bank’s office in Zurich in an effort to raise awareness and £250,000 for The Felix Project and the My Name’s Doddie Foundation.
The cycling is set to begin on 2 September from the picturesque landscape of Monaco, and will see Wayne Coutanche and Shaun Kelling, alongside 28 other Julius Baer employees from the UK, pedal their way across over 900km to reach Zurich over seven days.
Wayne and Shaun have both been training for the past five months, putting in the mileage and preparing for the big climbs they will encounter on their routes. They will set out from Monaco, stopping in Millesimo, Novara, Bellagio, Bormio, Livigno and Bad Ragaz along the way before finishing in Zurich. Their longest ride is on the second day from Millesimo to Novara, cycling across Po Valley – the flat river plain where risotto rice is grown. Julius Baer funded the Monaco and Zurich accommodation, and the kit for the riders.
Wayne, Team Head – Cross Unit Relationship Management, said: “We are much more confident since signing up in February, but still apprehensive about some of the climbs we need to do, the toughest day will be the Stelvio Pass on day 5 when we set out from Bormio in Italy. This is our shortest ride in length at 70km, but there’s 2,800m of climbing, there will be an altitude drop and we’ve been told it can get very cold at the top. It’s hard to compare to our training when all Guernsey has is L’Eree Hill!”
Shaun, Head of Intermediaries Julius Baer, UK, said: “Both of these charities are very important to us and Julius Baer. Motor neurone disease is a cruel disease that affects around 5,000 people in the UK every year, and there’s currently no cure. That’s why we self-funded this trip, so anything that’s been donated will go directly to My Name’s Doddie and The Felix Foundation.”
The primary goal of this initiative is to raise funds for the My Name’s Doddie Foundation, a charity committed to funding research to find effective treatments for motor neurone disease, and the Felix Project, who collects fresh, nutritious food that cannot be sold, delivering the surplus food to charities and schools to fight food poverty and hunger.
Pictured: Left to right – Shaun Kelling and Wayne Coutanche
