April 26th would have been the 40th London Marathon. Each year it dominates the Sunday morning TV coverage for its elite Men’s, Women’s and wheelchair races, but by far the more iconic image of the event is the thousands of runners who to raise money for charity, many in fancy dress, hoping to stand out as a Rhino, Womble, London Bus or Giant Parrot.

COVID-19 is posing the biggest health challenge of the 21st century. Apart from the human cost and disruption to our lives, events such as the London Marathon have had to be cancelled. At first glance its just another race that will not take place, but look deeper and you realise that this one event generates over £65M in charitable donations, so quite simply it is not just another race, it’s the life blood of many charities. During this time we have seen many fundraising events for the invaluable services provided by NHS charities and long may they continue. Unfortunately however,  smaller charities rely on local and national events, like the London Marathon, to drive their fund raising efforts.
Many of these charities are being hit with double the trouble; As funds reduce the requirement for their services, driven by COVID-19, increases.

We want to drive support of a local charity – PRIMROSE HOSPICE - who, as well as hospice care, provides bereavement support services to anyone who needs them. You loved one does not need to be in the care of PRIMROSE HOSPICE to access this support service. They are there for the whole community, for anyone who has suffered bereavement in these very difficult times. The work of Primrose Hospice has been directly impacted by COVID-19, increases in deaths will, and is, driving an increased requirement for bereavement support.

V-Sprint are joining the London Marathon 2.6 initiative in support of PRIMROSE HOSPICE -  Starting at 5:00pm on Saturday 25th riders from V-Sprint Cycling will embark on their own 2.6 Challenge: A 26 hour indoor cycling Marathon using The Zwift internet training platform, aiming to cover in excess of 2600 virtual miles. At 9:30 am on Sunday 26th, the traditional time for the 'Mass' start of the London Marathon, we are inviting  Zwift users to 'Ride With' us to show your support for PRIMROSE HOSPICE.

Primrose Hospice are having to change the way they work, group setting are no longer possible, all support has to be one to one .....

• How do you show compassion and care to a bereaved family whilst maintaining physical distancing?
• How do you safely hold someone’s hand, at a time when they need it most?
• How do you expand resources of suitably trained staff for telephone support?
• How do you expand experienced counsellor staff resource to provide expert support  to bereaved clients and support for their own staff?
• How do you fund and develop opportunities for hosting groups online through technology.
  

Primrose Hospice are putting all their efforts in to solving these problems, but there is a
financial cost to change the way they work and  provide these extra services A financial cost of  £478.65 per week. If we reach our target of £2600 it will pay for an extra 5 weeks of support.

Faced with an increased requirement to support care home and NHS staff, particularly those not used to the trauma of multiple bereavements, Primrose Hospice have become the support teams to those who support us, …… the least we can do is support them in their 2.6 Challenge.