Porsche Wolverhampton starts 746-mile virtual bike ride in aid of dog rescue charity
Staff members at a Wolverhampton Porsche car sales centre have launched the first day of a 746-mile bike ride in aid of a dog rescue.
Staff members at the Porsche Centre, Wolverhampton, on Stafford Road, have launched the first day of their three-day virtual bike ride to raise money for a Penkridge-based dog rescue home.
Over three days, sales, cleaning and management staff will jump on a virtual bike and ride 746 continuous miles to raise £10,000 for Brighter Days dog rescue home in Penkridge.
The team of amateur cyclists came up with the idea after hearing about a border collie named Ivy, who was rescued by Brighter Days, but needed surgery costing £5,000.
However, after reaching their initial £5k goal only days after launching the initial fundraiser, the Porsche sales group decided to put the pedal to the metal to fundraise even more.
Mark Dyer, sales manager at Porsche Centre Wolverhampton, said: "We started the event initially to raise money for a border collie called Ivy, who was rescued by Brighter Days.
"She needed surgery, and it was going to cost around £5,000 to do. Brighter Days is only a small group, so £5,000 would really go a long way for them.
"But when we hit the £5,000 mark, we thought we may as well carry on and see if we can raise even more to help them."
The Porsche group said that they chose the 746-mile route because it's around the same distance from Wolverhampton to Stuttgart, Germany, home of the main headquarters of Porsche.
Mark said: "The whole ride will take around 70 hours if we carry it on continuously and keep a good speed, so we should be looking at finishing on Friday.
"We have already had so many fantastic supporters come forward to donate, including a number of businesses like DAC Industries, BNR Jewellery, Broadley Print and Signs, Wolverhampton Fireplaces and Stoves, Eight Former Studios and Initial Fire and Electrical.
"We can't thank them enough."
Cycling past their initial goal of only £5,000, the group decided to continue on and see how much they could raise for the small charity.
Mark added: "It's really important to us. All of us here are dog lovers. It's one of the reasons we chose to work with them on this.
"But it's also a small charity, and we thought we would rather work with a smaller group so that they will really make the most out of the money we can raise.
"It's been heartwarming. Porsche has been here for around 10 years now. It's great to see the community coming in and getting involved. It's heartwarming."
Anyone wishing to donate to the group's fundraiser can find more information on the fundraising website Justgiving.
