A group of thirty amateur sportsmen and Rafał Wilk – this year’s double gold medallist from the Paralympic Games in London – this is the line-up for the second edition of the Ericpol Classic rally. On September 21, they will face the 240-kilometre distance from Kraków to Łódź. The goal: to reach the finish line in 10 hours.

The Ericpol Classic is a bicycle rally aiming at promoting teamwork, physical exercise and the spirit of camaraderie. It’s not a race – we don’t measure individual times. A special guest is participating in the second edition of the rally, along with the employees of Ericpol. Rafał Wilk is a former speedway rider who lost the use of his legs following an accident. Despite this paralysis, he started doing hand-cycling and skiing for the disabled, being successful in both disciplines. This year Rafał won two gold medals in the Paralympic Games in London – in the time trial and individual road race on handbikes.

- Last year 6 of us rode this distance and in fact, we were testing the route and our own capabilities. This year there are already over 30 people in the group although there were many more applicants. We hope that next year there will be an even bigger number. By riding with Rafał, we want to prove that disability doesn’t exclude people from a team, a social group or society. It is enough to have the strength and determination to overcome the barriers to which we are not accustomed. Then, everything becomes easier: both at work and in life in general. At Ericpol, we believe that sport and professional work have a common denominator – achieving goals. Then the realization of even the boldest plans is possible – says Maciej Smagacz from the Ericpol Cyclists’ Society.

The group will leave Kraków at 7 a.m. and the first stop will take place in Lelów. The second planned rest break will be in Bełchatów and at 8 p.m. The group will arrive at 17 Ogrodowa street in Łódź where the cyclists will be welcomed by the 500 employees of the Łódź branch of the company.

Ericpol Sp. z o.o. is an engineering company which has been operating for more than 20 years in the international ICT market. It provides outsourcing and consultancy services, provides dedicated solutions in the fields of telecommunication, M2M communication (machine to machine), UX (user experience), applications for the medical sector, finances and banking as well as solutions for business. Ericpol has 3 offices in Poland and 3 production centres in Belarus, Ukraine and Sweden which together form the Ericpol Group employing 1700 people.