Blog. Industry supports Le Tour de Cuisine!

On Monday last week over 200 cyclists set off on our Le Tour de Cuisine Cotswold Cycle Challenge. The event, sponsored by Calcot, Sky and Technogym, has raised a phenomenal £37,000 and counting!

Sixty cyclists joined us for a delicious pasta supper at The Gumstool Inn in the grounds of the Calcot Manor hotel on Sunday evening. As well as loading up on carbs, it was also an opportunity to swap top cycling tips ahead of the big day. It was Calcot’s equivalent of the HA Social Sunday event and they kindly donated all proceeds from the three-course meal.

Fifty cyclists were up and ready for the start at 8am, some having made the three hour journey up from London that morning (not on the bike!). Everyone was in high spirits despite what lay ahead!

A further 100 cyclists joined us for the 60 and 40 mile routes while another 50 cyclists took on the 20 mile challenge.

The ride was certainly tough but the hospitality along the way was, as you would expect, excellent! There was a feeding station at The Village Hall in Barnsley, catered for by the team at Barnsley House, as well as another at The Painswick. Riders also enjoyed refreshments laid on by The Protein Ball Company, Nestlé and Creed Foodservice.

Meanwhile, some cyclists stopped for what was described as ‘the best mac n cheese ever’ at Whatley Manor. Some even ended up doing 40 extra miles just so that they could double back to Whatley for an extra helping!

At 2pm the tired-looking cyclists began to cross the finishing line but we were ready for them with a medal and a glass of Taittinger Champagne, courtesy of Hatch Mansfield. Calcot also laid on a great BBQ with the kind help of Creed Foodservice team and the cyclists sat in the hotel garden enjoying the sunshine as they waited for their team mates to return.

This was truly a day to celebrate the industry we work in and it was humbling to welcome back our cyclists after an extremely tough challenge.

Above images:

The Vacherin Team setting off on the 100 mile route.

Creed Foodservice at the BBQ after their ride.

Mark Godfrey from Deer Park Hotel in his dinner jacket.

Well done to everyone who participated, you guys really are all amazing and such an inspiration!

Teams who took part included Sky, the Calcot Collection, Bespoke Hotels, CH&Co Group, Chewton Glen, Creed Foodservice, Exclusive Hotels, Gold Key Media, Greenclose Hotels, Lucknam Park, Red Carnation Hotels, The Arch, The Pig Hotels, Vacherin, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, Farncombe Estate, The Vineyard, Firmdale Hotels, Total Produce, Whatley Manor and The Goring.

Here’s to Le Tour de Cuisine Cotswold Cycle Challenge 2019 – if you would like to join in the fun next year and raise some funds for the charity, please contact the Get Involved team here.