Hospitality Action launches The 20,000 Mile Hospitality Challenge

The sponsorship funds raised will support UK hospitality employees who are facing ongoing financial and emotional uncertainty due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Called The 20,000 Mile Hospitality Challenge, people are being encouraged to clock up the miles either by cycling local lanes, jogging in the garden or roller-skating around the park, collecting sponsorship money as they go. The miles will be collectively clocked and logged online.

The challenge will start at 9am on Thursday 4 June at the virtual starting point, Domaine Evremond – Champagne Taittinger’s vineyard in Kent. Participants have until 6pm on Monday 8 June to return to the vineyard’s virtual finish line having clocked up nearly 20,000 miles between them. The funds raised will help to support the employees of our much-loved hotels, coffee shops, pubs and cafes who have been some of the worst hit by the outbreak of Covid-19.

As an incentive for taking part each participant who raises over £150 in sponsorship will automatically be entered into a Thank You Prize Draw to win one of 25 bottles of Taittinger Brut Réserve. The top fundraiser will be invited to Champagne Taittinger in Reims when we are all able to travel safely, as a personal thank you from the Taittinger family. The trip includes travel, a two night fully catered stay and a tour and tasting at the Taittinger UNESCO cellars in Reims (worth £1,250), plus a magnum of Taittinger Brut Réserve.

Like all good sporting events there will be a pasta supper the night before taking place on Instagram Live. Participants are also encouraged to post snaps of their route and share them across social media tagging friends using the tags #Clockupthemiles and @hospaction.

The 20,000 Mile Hospitality Challenge will replace Hospitality Action’s annual Tour de Cuisine Cotswold Cycle Challenge, which was due to take place on 8 June and which has raised in excess of £230,000 over the past five years.

“By logging your exercise, donating to Hospitality Action and cajoling others to sponsor you and join in, you can help make a huge difference to Hospitality Action’s work,” says the charity.

"Even if you don’t work in hospitality you’re bound to know someone who does. By helping us to clock up the miles and the pounds you’ll be supporting UK hospitality employees who are facing ongoing financial and emotional uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“From Land’s End to John O’Groats, Belfast to the Isle of Wight and beyond, Hospitality Action supports the length and breadth of UK hospitality. The challenge has been set and every mile will count.”

So far almost 150 people have signed up to the initiative. To get involved, follow the instructions and sign up here​​.