Cameron Fraser Completes 262km Indoor Ride for Charity

On Sunday 26 April, Nuun-Sigma Sports-London RT owner/manager Cameron Fraser was due to be working at the London Marathon but instead set himself the epic challenge of riding 262km on Zwift for charity

Cameron Fraser Completes 262km Indoor Ride for Charity

On Sunday 26 April, the day the 40th Virgin Money London Marathon was due to take place, thousands of people across the UK came together as part of the #TwoPointSixChallenge to raise essential funds to help Save The UK Charities. Nuun-Sigma Sports-London RT owner/manager Cameron Fraser was due to be working at the London Marathon but instead set himself the epic challenge of riding 262km on Zwift, a virtual cycling platform, indoors to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK – a charity that he and his family are passionate about.

Cameron lost his papa Jack to prostate cancer in 2000 and was one of his inspirations for taking up cycling over 20 years ago. At 9am Cameron set off (virtually) from The Mall outside Buckingham Palace with a group of around 15 teammates and friends from across the globe who were also simultaneously cycling in their own homes.

“It was really great to have friends and teammates to ride with. Since the lock-down I have been training indoors and riding outdoors alone, so with the help of technology I was able to chat to the group using an app-based chatting service. It really was like being on a ‘Club Run’, where you just chat about what everyone has been up to, races we had been to in the past and other stories. I have missed this since the social distancing restrictions have come in and all racing cancelled.

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“During the challenge I wanted to livestream to Facebook every hour for about 10 minutes with each broadcast having a different theme. I thought that would be the best way people could follow my progress and hear about why I was doing it and what I did to prepare for the challenge. I used the broadcasts to give people updates on my fundraising and to share some of the stark facts about prostate cancer I had learned having decided to do this challenge, which I didn’t appreciate before”.

At half distance (131km) Cameron had clocked a time of 3 hours 15 minutes having covered over 11 laps of the London route. “When I set off I felt really good so I just kept the same pace for the first couple of hours but as the kilometers ticked down I felt even better so I went a little faster and by the halfway point I was on track to finish in under 6 and a half hours – something I hadn’t really thought was possible. When I did some rough calculations in the days leading up to the challengeI thought maybe 7-8 hours was likely.”

“Doing the live broadcasts and posting regularly on social media definitely helped keep a steady stream of donations coming in. It was a lot of fun reading people’s comments on my posts and all were very positive which was a boost to keep me motivated to ride”.

On the final lap Cameron swung onto The Mall as tens of thousands of runners would have done, to complete 262km under the finish gantry. He eventually completed 22.5 laps in a time of 6 hours 27 minutes at an average speed of 41kph (26mph). At the end of the day, Cameron was very close to reaching his fundraising target of £2,620 for Prostate Cancer UK and is hopeful he will hit it in the next day or two.

“There was a flood of donations after I finished. Clearly some people were waiting to see if I actually could do it! But I am very grateful to those who were able to give something at a very challenging time. The charity had shared some very real case studies of what funds are used for so I am proud to have contributed, knowing the money raised will make a meaningful difference.”

The challenge fundraising page is still live – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CameronFraser7