The dust has settled and the muscle pains have eased for the brave 46 riders who donned their NEXTDC lycra and rode 200KMs in The Smith Family’s annual Around the Bay charity cycle ride on Sunday October 6.
It was a great day for all who participated with the sun shining and temperatures for riders sitting perfectly in the moderate range all day although a stiff headwind on the run home did add to the effort required by the NEXTDC peloton to complete the arduous journey.
There have been a broad range of riding experience on display but there was also a common denominator with every single one of the participants on the day giving everything they had to get the job done. There were also many efforts on the day that could be categorised as clear manifestations of living our ‘One Team’ corporate value as the stronger riders supported the less experienced competitors to get through the difficult sections and complete the journey.
At the end of the day, this event was all about joining forces with our partners, customers and suppliers to advance our sense of community and to raise money for The Smith Family who do amazing work creating life changing opportunities for underprivileged children.
We started this endeavour with a goal to raise $25K to support education programs that are allowing disadvantaged kids break out of the generational poverty cycle and we smashed that barrier weeks before the event.
There is still a huge buzz around the place as our fundraising efforts continue to climb with the tally today sitting at over $57K with the opportunity for that to continue rising. This number could not have been achieved without the help of our valued sponsors as well as the individual efforts of riders representing partners and customers within our community who got on board the fundraising bandwagon and leveraged their networks to raise as much as we could.
Special thanks to sponsors Multiplex, Kapitol Group, Over the Wire, Deloitte, Penske, Greenbox, SRA Solutions, RXP Group, Stow Australia, Data#3, ABB, Turner & Townsend, Vertiv, Herbert Smith Freehills, CRS and Securitas who have all generously chipped in this year. We couldn’t have done this without you.
It’s not too late to help us push through the $60K barrier for funds we have raised from this year’s event. You can still add to the tally via our Around The Bay fund-raising page.
Meanwhile, for those who participated or who know someone who rode with us there is a terrific gallery of Team NEXTDC pictures from the event available online which illustrates the fun and effort that goes into spending a whole day riding around Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay.
We are proud to have The Smith Family as one of the preferred charity partners under our broad corporate social responsibility program. They really do undertake amazing and important work that changes lives, so we are thrilled to be able to contribute in this way at the same time as bolstering our community and giving them the opportunity to go on this journey with us.
For those who couldn’t make it this year or have been inspired by the efforts of those who could, now is the time to start preparing for next year when we will do it all again.