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Bike4clubs

In Denmark, sponsored cycling events are a popular way to raise funds to keep smaller sports clubs alive. Bike4clubs takes it up another gear, say founders Jesper Sørensen and Hans Klarsø
Published 15. January 2025

Why did you create Bike4clubs?

In Denmark, it’s always a fight for sports clubs – especially grassroots and minor leagues, but even top league handball clubs – to make enough money just to break even each year. They’re looking for every penny they can get. Across the country, the survival of hundreds of football, handball, basketball and ice hockey clubs relies on volunteers and corporate sponsorship.

For years, a popular way to raise funds has been through sponsored indoor cycling events; we ran our first around 10 years ago and there are other companies doing it too. Sometimes sports clubs even run their own.

Bike4clubs turns sponsored events into an engaging spectator sport  |  PHOTO: PEGASUS ODENSE

We decided it was time to take these events to a new level. Since lockdown, we had been purchasing BODY BIKES one at a time, but 18 months ago we also invested in developing our own software and app. It means we can now run competitive race events that are hugely motivating and great fun for participants and spectators alike.

“Our eight-bike event raised almost DKK 1m. It can get pretty competitive, with every sponsor pushing to raise the most money.”

How does Bike4clubs work?

Say a sports club has 10 gold sponsors. These companies already support the club financially, so they might not want to put in more money themselves. However, it’s different if the club invites them to each take a bike for a sponsored 10-bike race, because they have their own networks of partners, customers, suppliers and so on who they can approach to help with fundraising.

Klarsø is the tech expert at Bike4clubs, overseeing the proprietary software

When a sports club decides to run a Bike4clubs event, it chooses how many bikes it wants us to bring; our smallest event to date had eight bikes and the largest 25 – so far! We can also use the clubs’ own BODY BIKES if they have them.

Each sponsor commits to raising a minimum amount of money through their bike. That might typically be around DKK 25,000 (£2,800 / €3,350 / US$3,700), but it’s often much more in the end. For example, our eight-bike event raised almost DKK 1m. It can get pretty competitive, with every sponsor pushing to raise the most money.

Sørensen live commentates at the Tour de Odense 2024  |  PHOTO: PEGASUS ODENSE

In the run-up to the event, the sponsors go out to their networks to ask for donations. Some people might sponsor them a fixed amount for the race. Others might sponsor DKK 100 per kilometre cycled.

When event day arrives, we turn up with our BODY BIKES and our software and each sponsor brings their rider – or riders, as you can swap people in and out of the saddle. The race typically lasts 30 minutes or an hour and often takes place in the hospitality suite on match day, meaning everyone who’s supported or sponsored can come along, enjoy a meal and feel part of it. We usually get between 200 and 700 people watching, supporting and mingling, with a showreel running to thank every single sponsor and sub-sponsor.

“The overall winner is the bike that cycles the most kilometres. However, the most important thing is who raised the most money for the club.”

We don’t expect spectators to actively watch the whole hour, but we kick off the race with everyone cheering the riders on. We then throw in a few sprints – attention-grabbing mini-competitions within the race – and have sprint winners as well as an overall winner.

Spectators cheer on the riders during mini-sprints  |  PHOTO: PEGASUS ODENSE

The overall winner is the bike that cycles the most kilometres; we settled on kilometres as the simplest metric to understand. However, the most important thing is actually who raised the most money for the club.

What does your software do?

Our Bike4clubs app is compatible with all BODY BIKE Smart+ bikes, including the new BODY BIKE Phantom. It tracks wattage and accurately calculates kilometres cycled.

Through our app, participants can see how many kilometres they’ve cycled so far and their position in the peloton; each bike is competing against the others in the room to be top of the leaderboard. Green and red arrows show them if they’re on their way up or down in the peloton.

A leaderboard shows distance cycled and amount raised in real time | PHOTO: PEGASUS ODENSE

There’s also a dynamic leaderboard on a big screen, which is mostly for the benefit of the spectators. Traditionally, a lot of these events have been run like a group cycling class, with an instructor at the front and no data. That’s really boring for people to watch!

“Sponsors are responsible for finding their own riders. We even had the e-biking world champion in one of our events. Sponsors want to win!”

Ours are proper races with great music and a party vibe. We, or someone from the club, provides a live commentary. The riders face out into the room so you can see how hard they’re working. And on the big screen – which is customised with the sports club’s colours and logo – the sponsor companies’ names move up and down in real time, so you can see which bike is in the lead in terms of kilometres cycled.

You can also see how much sponsorship each bike has raised so far, in real time.

Although several hundred of these events take place across the country each year, Bike4clubs has taken it up a level in terms of professionalism, interaction and fun.

The Bike4clubs app shows cyclists where they are in the peloton, in real time

What sort of people take part?

Sponsors are responsible for finding their own riders and we’ve seen them bring everyone from sports club physios to company owners, local politicians to professional riders. We even had the e-biking world champion taking part in one of our events. Sponsors want to win!

They sometimes bring teams of riders, too, so they always have fresh legs to really push the wattage and kilometre count.

However, one of the nicest stories came from an event where the sports team offered a bike to a local group of disadvantaged youths. They didn’t come in having raised much, but we offered spectators the chance to make on-the-spot donations and the kids ended up raising the most money of all the teams. Each sponsor was thanked with a flash on the big screen and the kids felt so appreciated. It was fantastic.

Sponsors often enter teams so there are always fresh legs ready to go  |  PHOTO: PEGASUS ODENSE

What plans for the future?

We’ve run about 15 events over the past year. At the moment it’s a hobby alongside full-time jobs. However, clubs are seeing our new polished, professional, highly engaging way of running these events and they want to be part of it. We hope to run 30 or 40 races in 2025 and then continue to grow from there.

Our fee to run a race, including the bikes and software, is DKK 20,000–30,000 (£2,250–£3,400 / €2,700–€4,000 / US$3,000–US$4,450). The club keeps the rest of what’s raised, so it really can make a big financial difference for them.

Each race has an overall winner, as well as individual sprint winners
Published 15. January 2025

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