The first ever virtual edition of Prudential RideLondon – the world’s greatest festival of cycling – will take place on 15 and 16 August (what would have been the 2020 event weekend) to celebrate cycling and raise funds to help save the UK’s charities.
My Prudential RideLondon is an exciting, free event that will enable riders of all ages and abilities to cycle a range of distances, based on the events included in the traditional Prudential RideLondon weekend from wherever they are in the world, have fun and raise crucial funds for their chosen charity.
Organisers also confirmed that the My Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100 event, which is free to enter, will count towards the London Classics – the country’s greatest mass-participation challenge, which requires participants to complete the London Marathon, the two-mile swim at Swim Serpentine and the 100-mile event at RideLondon.
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of Prudential RideLondon, said: “After the disappointment of the cancellation of Prudential RideLondon, we were determined to create something special for our riders, partners and the hundreds of charities that rely on the event for vital income.
“My Prudential RideLondon is building on the success of The 2.6 Challenge – created following the postponement of the London Marathon – which became the biggest collective fundraising effort in the world involving nearly 4,000 charities.
“Charities desperately need help to continue to provide vital services to every sector of society and fund critical research. In this socially distanced world, it’s also vitally important to encourage people to get on two wheels rather than use public transport. The My Prudential RideLondon campaign has been created to achieve both these aims.
“My Prudential RideLondon is completely free and offers a fundraising challenge for everyone, whether that’s an amateur rider doing 100 miles or a family enjoying a 1km bike ride together. It can be done wherever you are and at any time on 15 or 16 August. Whatever you do, we urge you to raise funds for a charity of your choice – and have fun!”
London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner Will Norman said: “The Mayor’s new Streetspace programme is already fast-tracking the transformation of streets across our city to enable many more people to walk and cycle. We have seen a huge increase in cycling over the past three months and we hope that My Prudential RideLondon will further motivate people up and down the country to make cycling part of their every day routine.”
How it works
My Prudential RideLondon includes four challenges for all ages and abilities which participants can do on a route of their choice, wherever they are in the world, on either 15 or 16 August:
My Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 100: 100-mile ride
My Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 46: 46-mile ride
My Prudential RideLondon-Surrey 19: 19-mile ride
My Prudential RideLondon FreeCycle: An event that allows you to set your own challenge (starting from 1km) on the wheels of your choice: bikes, push scooters, skateboards, trikes, balance bikes, rollerskates, wheelchairs or anything that is self-propelled (e-bikes are fine too).
Participants need to register in advance and select their challenge at myridelondon.co.uk. They can then start fundraising for their chosen charity or charities.
The new My Prudential RideLondon app will be available to download in event week. This will give every participant and supporter a unique ride day experience, including:
- A GPS function that enables friends and family to follow a rider’s progress on the virtual Prudential RideLondon route
- Creation of a personalised Prudential RideLondon certificate that shows the rider’s completed route and ride time
- Selfie frames to give riders personalised Prudential RideLondon finisher photographs
- Direct donation button through to each rider’s Virgin Money Giving fundraising page
In addition, every rider aged over 18 who registers will have the option of being entered into a fantastic competition that has 25 top-quality prizes available including a brand new Brompton bicycle valued at more than £1,000, a High5 nutrition bundle worth £250 and top-of-the-range cycling equipment including a SRAM groupset and Zipp wheels.
Participants are asked to follow current Government guidelines on cycling. For more information, click here.
Prudential RideLondon first took place in 2013 as a legacy event from the London 2012 Olympics. In its first seven editions, it has become the world’s greatest festival of cycling, with 100,000 riders of all ages and abilities participating in seven different events on traffic-free roads in London and Surrey. It has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to take up cycling or cycle more often and a total of more than £77 million has been raised for thousands of charities.
