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Breakout for Ben raises £159k on the road to £1million

Automotive charity, Ben, announces that its 10-day virtual active challenge, Breakout for Ben, has raised just under £159,000 – an amazing total that will help address its £1million fundraising shortfall.

Ben invited the whole automotive industry to Breakout for Ben in February and a total of 986 people took part. They walked, ran, cycled and exercised their way to complete over 80,000 miles collectively to raise much-needed funds for the charity. Teams embarked on a virtual journey visiting motor circuits across the UK, starting at Pembrey Circuit in north Wales and taking in all four home nations, before ending at Silverstone.
With the Breakout total included, just under £737,000 has now been raised to help address Ben’s £1million fundraising shortfall following its rallying cry last year asking for urgent support.
All funds raised will help Ben support automotive industry people with their mental health, physical health and wellbeing. Fundraising like this is vital and means that Ben can be there to help those in crisis and provide support with stress, anxiety, depression, money worries, or anything else.
Congratulations to the Breakout for Ben competition winners:

3 min read
  • Furthest in the first 24 hours: Mann Island Finance, 2Fit2Quit – 802.2 miles
  • Furthest individual on bike: Chris Minter, Kent go any Further – 1,042 miles
  • Furthest individual running: Richard Brown, Life in the Quick Lane – 200.9 miles
  • Furthest individual walking: Alexandra Horne, Paco’s Pack – 232.5 miles
  • Best team name: Cirque Du Sore Legs, Aston Barclay
  • Best social media post: The Chequered Flaggers
  • Best fancy dress: Toby, Chris and Ben, Chandlers Hailsham BMW Mini @Group 1
  • Largest corporate participation: TrustFord – 277 participants
  • First team to complete the challenge: Mann Island Finance, 2Fit2Quit – completed in 4.5 days
  • Most raised by an individual (so far!): Richard Morgan, Legs Miserable – £4,825!
  • Most raised by a team (so far!): Bridgland too far @Group 1 – £11,600!

Breakout for Ben was the latest challenge to launch as part of Do It 4 Ben, to help ensure no-one in automotive faces life’s toughest challenges alone. Originally an annual fundraising challenge for Ben by TrustFord, Breakout for Ben was opened up so the whole automotive industry could show their support.
Stuart Foulds, chairman and CEO of TrustFord, said: “With all the support Ben has continued to provide and knowing that the charity needed more support, I was very happy to lend TrustFord’s ‘Breakout For Ben’ event to a broader audience of participants in 2021. I am thrilled that TrustFord colleagues raised £55k on top of the £20k donated by the business late last year and am hugely proud of the TrustFord team for all their support and engagement. This means that over the past 3 years our Group has contributed over £300k to this great charity.’’
Matt Wigginton, fundraising director at Ben, said: “Breakout for Ben has been incredible! We’ve been completely blown away by everyone’s determination, both individually and collectively in teams. Congratulations to all our competition winners and a massive thank you to everyone who took part and donated!
“Thanks to the incredible support of our industry, we’ve made a huge dent in the £1m fundraising shortfall we faced during the pandemic. This means we can always be there to help people in our industry when they need us the most. Automotive people continue to need us now more than ever and the issues they are facing now are more urgent and complex than ever. Together we can continue to ensure no-one in automotive has to face life’s toughest challenges alone. Thank you.”