Atos Origin Team Helps Raise £4400 Cycling from Paris to Eindhoven
A UK team of employees from leading international IT services company Atos Origin have successfully completed the 7th Atos Origin Tour 2010 (10-11 September 2010), raising funds for Cancer Research UK.
Barry Duncan, an application developer on the NHSScotland account and based in the Livingston office, was part of a team of four from the UK. The team joined 55 cyclists from around the globe who together completed the 460 km (286 miles) cycle from Paris, France to Eindhoven, Netherlands.
The cycle has played an important role in raising over £4000 for the charity, monies that will be used to purchase essential new equipment for the Beatson Institute in Glasgow including a Tecan Sunrise Microplate. As one of Cancer Research UK’s core-funded institutes, the Beatson carries out a programme of world-class science directed at understanding key aspects of cancer cell behaviour.
Barry has been cycling for over 15 years and has completed a number of races including the Marathon Des Sables, a 150-mile running stage race in the Sahara desert. He has just completed the Etape de Tour, a stage of the Tour de France for the public where 10,000 cyclists took part.
Barry Duncan commented: “This year’s Atos Origin Tour was a fantastic experience and a massively enjoyable challenge to be involved in. It was great to be able to take part in the cycle with colleagues from our overseas offices, and all of it with the aim of raising important funds for Cancer Research UK. The whole team is delighted to have exceeded our target and raised over £4000. We hope the funds go some way to helping the charity in their extremely valuable cause.”
Steve Langmead, Vice President - Scotland at Atos Origin, said: “Congratulations to Barry and the UK team. It’s fantastic that their efforts have raised money to help our selected corporate charity, Cancer Research UK. It is a great charity that helps to save millions of lives by discovering new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer and fits very well given our work on the part of NHSScotland through the Atos Origin Alliance.
“Our people provide support and development capability for the majority of NHSScotland’s national cancer screening systems which ultimately help to improve patient care for the people of Scotland.”
Sharon Sheridan, Volunteer Manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Congratulations to the Tour team at Atos Origin. We are always grateful for such efforts on the part of business to give something back. Raising over £4000 is a real achievement and it will make a huge difference to Cancer Research UK here in Scotland, enabling us to invest in important equipment at the Beatson Institute.”
Atos Origin has supported Cancer Research UK for two years. It is the world’s leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research.