"Cycling around the World", the international cycling competition organized by Gebrüder Weiss, ended with an impressive result: together, 650 cyclists the world over covered a distance of 612,246 kilometers – more than 15 times around the globe, far surpassing their original goal to circle the earth seven times. This was the second time the logistics company have invited their employees to take part in the sports competition between April and September, after last year’s inaugural competition delivered a surprising six circumnavigations of the globe.
Frank Haas, Head of Communications at Gebrüder Weiss, is thrilled by the positive response:
"This year’s large number of participants from all over the world has clearly exceeded our expectations. We thank all entrants for their outstanding commitment."
For Gebrüder Weiss, this competition is not only a sports challenge, it also stands for sustainable mobility and active climate protection. This is further underlined by the company’s reforestation project in Nicaragua: for the kilometers covered, Gebrüder Weiss has planted a total of 7,000 trees. "Many participants were additionally motivated by the idea of helping to increase the size of our corporate forest. Meanwhile, a cycling community has evolved, demonstrating that we can achieve a lot together," adds Mr. Haas.
The participants used a cycling app to record the distances they covered. The close finish between Janusz Mucha from Poland and Markus Knabl from Austria remained thrilling until the very end, when they shared first place in this year’s competition, each of them covering more than 17,000 kilometers.
Primaklima, a non-profit organization active for 30 years, is the company’s cooperation partner for the reforestation project. With the trees planted in the company’s forest, Gebrüder Weiss helps reduce the burden on our atmosphere by some 154 tons of CO2each year.