On Sunday the 16^th Charity Red Square Bike Ride finished in Moscow. Every year this major Charity Sports event raises over 6 million rubles in aid of Downside Up early intervention programmes for children with Down syndrome.

 

The Bike Ride started on 26^th August in the Kaluga region and finished on 28^th August at the ancient wall of Moscow Kremlin. 173 bikers took part, and 55 more people joined the peloton on the final section of the route from Novodevichy Convent to Vasilievsky Spousk in Red Square. 6,455,000.000 rubles were raised thanks to donations made by companies and individual participants.

 

This year it was the seventh Red Square Bike Ride for Andrey Vostrikov, a youth with Down syndrome, an all-round world champion in gymnastics among disabled children, and a gold medal winner at 2011 Special Olympics Summer Games in Athens. Andrey and other bikers – business people from major commercial companies, journalists, community leaders, celebrities and parents of children with Down syndrome – cycled 183 km across the scenic areas of the Borovsk region to support children with Down syndrome.

 

Despite the heat wave, participates overcame all the hurdles of speedy sections and field orienteering competitions. Team presentations deserve a special mention – they were well thought over and creative, so they greatly impressed the audience. In the evenings bike ride participants came back to ETNOMIR cultural and educational tourist centre to party and rest.

On Sunday 28^th, at the final stage along the Moskva river embankments, they were joined by Denis Dmitriyev, an 11-fold champion of Russia, World Cups and European championships winner, and two young men with Down syndrome - Anton Khohlov, an actor from the Theatre of the Simple-Minded, and Stepan Bezroukov, who travelled all the way from Nizhigorodskaya Region to take part in the Bike Ride, and 50 or so other bikers.

 

Traditionally, the bike ride’s culmination was a ceremonial finish on Vasilievsky Spousk. Upon arrival in Red Square participants were cheered by Downside Up pupils and their families, fosterlings of Kaluga region orphan homes, Downside Up friends and partners, representatives of the Moscow government and major commercial companies, community leaders and journalists.

 

Masters of ceremony at the celebration in Red Square were Bari Alibasov-the junior and Andrey Malakhov. Three popular children song and dance groups also took part, and there was a concert of the legendary Nogu Svelo band.

 

An awards ceremony was preceded by reading of complimentary addresses from governments of Russia and Moscow and the Cycling Federation of Russia.

	Our congratulations to Bike Ride winners:   Mr. Bike Ride 2011 – ANDREY VOSTRIKOV The toughest participant – ARTHUR BELOV The greatest participant – OLGA LEOUHINA
	Amateur League teams: 3rd place – PEPSICO ZDRIVERS 2nd place – KRASNOARMEITSY 1st place – HSBC 1
	Corporate League: 3rd place - KPMG and HSBC 2nd place – PWC 1st place and the Cup – PEPSICO

JamilCo Group of Companies, PepsiCo Russia, Shell in Russia, Veles Capital Investment company, Veles Development, HSBC, Voerman, KPMG, Unicredit Bank, Shevron Neftegaz Inc., PwC, ZAO Raiffeisenbank, Western Union, TNT Express, Radisson Royal Hotel, Moscow, The Delloite Foundation, Boeing, hotels Renaissance, Ritz-Carlton and Courtyard by Marriott, Russia, Itera, Parad Catering

 

Many thanks to all our partners and sponsors: Moscow Public Relations Committee and the Kaluga region Ministry of social, family and demographic affairs, BMW MOTORRAD, RUSSIA, PepsiCo Russia, Amway, FrieslandCampina, Parad Сatering, ОАО АКБ «Росбанк», Elektra, ООО «Подарок», Domisolka children song and dance group, Efes Group in Russia, Voerman, Nike, Nestle, Unilever, Baker&McKenzie, Mandarin Beauty Salon, Courtyard by Marriott Moscow City Center, MacСoffee, TNT Express, Циклист, Теллур, Forward, Shimano-Normark, VeloRace.ru, «Дети Марии», Craft Russia, Chante Cler, Компания «Мистраль Трейдинг».

 

We are grateful to: Insiders, ЕВ, RBCC, The Moscow Times, Социальная биржа «Взаимопомощь», велосипедное движение «РусВелос», Velokat.ru, Велоклуб «32 спицы», Velo-forum.ru, Velozona.ru, сообщество подвижных людей «ЗаБег» for information support.