Athletes around the world came together during a critical global crisis to ride, run, and train in support of one of the world’s largest medical relief organizations.
Zwift, the global online training platform, has today announced their donations from their biggest charity support month to date, the ‘Tour for All’. The four-week-long series of events raised $305,000 for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its COVID-19 Crisis Fund.
From May 4th to May 30th, cyclists, triathletes, and runners were all invited to complete at least one event in Zwift’s Tour for All, a series of rides and runs that encouraged mass participation by athletes of all abilities. Each event completed by a Zwifter contributed to the overall goal of 250,000 rides or runs in Zwift’s online world. Once this milestone was reached, Zwift would match their initial $125,000 donation to bring the total to $250,000.
At the end of the four-week event, Tour for All saw 383,161 event completions, smashing the 250,000 goal and meeting the requirements for unlocking the additional $125,000 donation. Coupled with personal donations from Tour for All participants to MSF, over $305,000 was donated to MSF’s COVID-19 Crisis Fund – $250,000 from Zwift and over $55,000 from the Zwift community.
“Doctors Without Borders is extremely grateful for the generous support of Zwift and the Zwift community through the Tour for All,” said Avril Benoît, MSF’s Executive Director in the United States. “As we face an unprecedented global health crisis, we rely on this generosity to respond to this emergency and continue providing medical care in over 70 countries.”
“With a Zwift community stretching around the world, we knew we were uniquely positioned to do something big during a critical time. From the best professional athletes to the newest beginner, I am so proud of everyone who made Tour for All such a success,” says Eric Min, Zwift CEO and Co-Founder. “Our community came together in a big way for a cause that’s affecting the entire planet and I can’t thank our fellow Zwifters enough for making this happen.”
In addition to the mass-participation ‘Tour for All’ ride and run events, the month-long charity push was started off with a professional exhibition race series featuring 19 of the World’s top Men’s and Women’s World Tour teams including; Mitchelton-SCOTT, Canyon//SRAM, Boels-Dolmans, EF Education and Groupama FDJ. The team-based series classifications were won by Team NTT Pro Cycling Team and Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank.
Both men’s and women’s races were broadcast daily across Europe in a special two-hour broadcast, reaching 1,990,100 people throughout Europe. Global viewers were also able to stream the action live, and on playback, via the GCN App*.
Chris Snook, +44 (0)7833 087 739, chris.snook@zwift.com
Greg Fisher, +17074953756, zwift@truecommunications.com
Zwift is the fitness company born from gaming. We’re dedicated fitness enthusiasts that also happen to be experienced software and video game developers. Combining that passion and deep understanding of the fitness world, Zwift is the first company to use massive multiplayer gaming technology to bring the outdoor experience indoors. Athletes from around the globe can train and compete with each other in rich, 3D-generated worlds simply by connecting their existing devices & hardware (e.g. cycle trainers, power meters, treadmills heart rate monitors, etc) wirelessly via open industry standard ANT+ and BLE. From friendly competition, to racing & structured training programs, Zwift is building a community of like-minded athletes united in the pursuit of a better social fitness experience.
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international medical humanitarian organization delivering care to those most in need. Its team of over 43,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, epidemiologists, mental health professionals, administrators, and others assist people caught in crises around the world.
In more than 70 countries, MSF saves lives threatened by violence, disease, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, and catastrophic events.
MSF’s decision to launch projects in any crisis is based solely on its expert assessment of people’s medical needs, regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation.
MSF’s independent, neutral and impartial funding allows the organization access to patients in conflicts where others cannot go. It serves no agenda other than delivering quality medical care.
An introduction video to MSF can be found here
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are responding to COVID-19 on multiple fronts – caring for patients, offering health education and mental health support, and providing training for vital infection control measures in health facilities around the world.
MSF is working with local authorities in many of the countries where they have medical projects to help prepare for the impact of COVID-19. A key priority is to keep their regular medical programs running for the tens of thousands of patients and extremely vulnerable communities they help support. This pandemic threatens the lives of people around the world, and presents even greater risks in countries with weak or fragile health systems.
Learn more at www.msf.org
About Zwift
Zwift is the fitness company born from gaming. We’re dedicated fitness enthusiasts, experienced video game developers, and disruptive thinkers. Play is in our DNA and we know fun fuels results.
Zwift utilizes massively multiplayer online gaming technology to create rich, 3D worlds ripe for exploration. Join thousands of cyclists and runners in immersive playgrounds like London, New York, and Paris as well as our very own Watopia.
Our app connects wirelessly to exercise equipment: bike trainers, treadmills, and more, so your real world effort powers your avatar in the game.
From friendly races to social rides and structured training programs, Zwift unites a diverse community in pursuit of a more fun, immersive and social fitness experience.
Contact details
Related news
IT’S TIME TO GET FIT ON ZWIFT!
These new features and content coming to Zwift December-March will help you get fit this winter
ZWIFT’S ‘TOUR FOR ALL’ SEEKS TO UNITE COMMUNITY IN CHARITABLE INITIATIVE
Multi-stage mass-participation event to support Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in COVID-19 response
Tour de Zwift Returns for 2020 with Pro-AM Racing
Zwift, the fitness platform born from gaming, has today announced the schedule for the 2020 Tour de Zwift. The popular stage event returns for a second year with the addition of pro-am racing and n...