City workers race the M25

City workers will be racing around a virtual M25 track to compete in a charity challenge held at Lloyd's of London on Friday 20th June.

Ten colleagues from Argenta Syndicate Management will be on their marks at 9.30am, taking it in turns to cycle a virtual tour of the M25 on a static bike, 33 junctions and 123.4 miles, with the aim of reaching a fundraising target of £5,000 for Samaritans, the emotional support charity.

To get involved with the challenge you can sponsor the Argenta Syndicate Management team and guess the length of time it will take them to cross the finish line. The person who guesses correctly or to the nearest minute will win a top of the range Pinnacle Borealis 1.0 Hybrid bike, worth in excess of £300.

Help Argenta achieve their fundraising target by sponsoring them at http://www.justgiving.com/argenta_m25_cycle_event or show your support in person by coming to the Canopy Entrance of Lloyd's this Friday.

The funds raised by the teams supporting Samaritans in the Lloyd's Charity Challenge will enable the charity to reach out to more people in need of emotional support 24 hours a day and raise awareness of the importance of emotional health.

Eleven teams from the Lloyd's market are taking part in the month long charity competition organised by Lloyd's Community Affairs team. Competing teams are raising awareness and funds for Lloyd's Charities Trust's partner charities: Coram, Farm-Africa and Samaritans. The team that raises the most money will be crowned 'Challenge Champions' at the final event on Tuesday 8th July. A 'Challenge Creatives' accolade will also be awarded to the team that the judges feel has taken the most innovative approach to their fundraising efforts.

For more information about how you can get involved in fundraising for Samaritans please visit www.samaritans.org

It is the aim of Samaritans to make emotional health a mainstream issue. Samaritans' vision is for a society where fewer people die by suicide because people are able to share feelings of emotional distress openly without fear of being judged. Samaritans believes that offering people the opportunity to be listened to in confidence, and accepted without prejudice, can alleviate despair and suicidal feelings.

Samaritans is a registered charity, founded in 1953, which offers 24-hour confidential emotional support to anyone in emotional distress. The service is offered by 16,800 trained volunteers and is entirely dependent on voluntary support. Across the UK, you can call Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 (1850 60 90 90 in the Republic of Ireland) email jo@samaritans.org, write to Samaritans at Chris, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA, or if you are deaf or hard of hearing use the single national minicom number 08457 90 91 92. Log on to www.samaritans.org for more information. Calls from BT will be charged at up to 4 pence per minute at all times. A call set-up fee of 3 pence per minute applies to calls from residential lines. Mobile and other providers' charges may vary.