Despite COVID, life carries on – Prosperity Day 2020

Charity cheque presentation, Prosperity 24/7

Prosperity Day raises £12,470 for two local charities hit hard by COVID

A dozen teams saddled up for the Prosperity Day Peloton this year in one of the first charity events to go ahead in Jersey, post lockdown.

The event held outside at Jersey Museum on Friday 4th September saw corporate teams racing ‘head to head to head’, tackling a simulated but gruelling stage of the Tour de France on state-of-the-art turbo trainers.

Islands Insurance took on Ports of Jersey and Prosperity 24/7; Sure faced PWC and Reto CC; Accuro Fiduciary battled it out against Bedell Cristin and Ogier whilst Oak Jersey took on LGL and Vistra.

As all the teams discovered, there is a twist in this race as success is not judged by cycling prowess alone… Fundraising is just as important as pedal power and this year, after a tense virtual velodrome final between Ogier, Sure and Ports of Jersey, it was a tie for the top spot with both Ogier and Sure crowned Prosperity Day 2020 champions.

This year a total of £12,470 has been shared equally between Philip’s Footprints and JSPCA, with a further £300 donation received this week from Oak Group increasing the total to £12,770 overall.

Jo Nash, Philip’s Footprints Founder said, “Despite COVID, life carries on – babies are still being born, and sometimes babies and children tragically die. Philip’s Footprints has done its best to continue to support parents through loss but also in pregnancy to improve outcomes. Funds raised from this will really help us continue our aims to support Jersey families.”

Commenting on how the funds will be used, Debra D’Orleans, CEO at JSPCA said, “These funds will be a great help towards the costs of care and rehabilitation of wildlife, in particular exhausted seabirds which increase at this time of year due to the stormy weather.”

Jo added, “We are immensely grateful to everyone involved especially Prosperity 24/7 for this amazing challenge, they did an amazing job despite the logistical challenges”.

Chris Clark, CEO of Prosperity 24/7, said, “We were delighted to be able to go ahead with Prosperity Day, with the health and wellbeing of participants being paramount. We were particularly heartened to learn that this was one of the first charity events to happen in Jersey post lock down, with enhanced distancing and sanitisation throughout the event to ensure that people could ‘vent their fury’ more safely than ever in the saddle. All charities, big and small have had their fundraising hit hard because of COVID so a big thanks must go to all the amazing teams who took part this year to help raise vital funds for these two brilliant local charities.”

Prosperity would like to thank Camerons, the Cog & Sprocket and Big Maggy’s Bike Shop for supporting the event as well as the Jersey Museum for a unique venue and catering by The Yard. Our thanks go to the businesses that entered teams, those that sponsored their colleagues and last, but not least, the riders who gave their all on the day.” The team at Prosperity 24/7 is now gearing up for the next Prosperity Day which is set for Friday 18th June 2021.