Conquering the Alpe d'Huez: giving up is not an option

On the 6^th of June, our Cakvi hero Vincent participated in a unique sports event called Alpe d’HuZes. The goal of this yearly event is to raise as much money as possible for cancer research and the improvement of the quality of life of people suffering from cancer. During this event 5,000 participants bike, hike or run up the Alpe d’Huez for a maximum of six climbs under the motto of ‘giving up is not an option’.

We are very proud of Vincent; his ambition was to climb the mountain six times and raise 10,000 euro with his team. To help him and his team, we made a generous donation on behalf of everyone at Calvi. In the end, Vincent was able to achieve his goals. Do you want to know how Vincent experienced this adventure? Continue reading and find out about Vincent’s story:

‘’I spent more than 10 hours on my bike last week climbing Alpe d’Huez six times. So, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to write in this story. But the thing is, there is not just one story to tell. There are so many stories that could be told such as:

• The hours spent on the bike with big smiles on our faces, because being able to train for so many hours in fresh air is a privilege
• The days leading up to the event where the whole region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes became flooded with Dutch cyclists
• The number of calories we burned and gained again at dinner with a huge piece of tartiflette

And I could go on and on for a long while. But all the stories aside, the main reason why we participated was to raise money for the cancer foundation KWF. As a team, we raised 12,000 euros, which is more than we expected, and we would like to thank everybody who contributed to this great achievement! The event raised around 12 million euros to fight the battle against cancer in total, which is an amazing result. Personally, I will not participate again, because I like to do different kinds of crazy athletic things so I can challenge myself continuously! However, I will come back to the event next year and support the riders going up six times and maybe I will even see one of you there! Are there any volunteers?’’

Next to that, we are proud to share that we did not only support Vincent and his team, but also the team of the Jeroen Bosch hospital named Jeroen Bosch Zorgt. Besides the financial donation, we also hosted a lunch during the charity cycling tour of the team in our castle. In the end, they even over-exceeded their target amount for the fundraising. Keep reading to learn how Joost, one of the team members, experienced this great adventure:

‘’A great adventure has come to an end and our Jeroen Bosch Zorgt team is still recovering from this experience. The idea to participate in this event started with the passing of the father of one of our team members. We then formed a team that consists of a diverse group of people. We had caregivers, people from the hospital, and family members of cancer patients in our team. We had one common goal despite our diverse backgrounds: to raise as much money as possible by climbing the mountain as often as possible.

And yes, we were able to realize our goal of this participation. However, we are aware that the higher goal of having a cancer-free world, is not realized yet. There is still a lot that can be achieved, but we are proud of how we took care of and supported each other as a team. Thanks to our partners, family, supporters, colleagues and donors we were able to realize our goal. Calvi helped us as well by supporting our charity cycling tour. We were spoiled and we have greatly appreciated their efforts, thank you Calvi!’’

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