Tour of Sufferlandria Raises $231K For Davis Phinney Foundation

March 4, 2020

Thousands of participants worldwide cycled and “suffered” to help people with Parkinson’s live well today

Louisville, CO — The Davis Phinney Foundation is the appreciative recipient of $231,000 raised by the the almost 2,025 cyclists participating in The Sufferfest’s annual Tour of Sufferflandria (ToS), an international virtual cycling ride.

The Tour takes place on The Sufferfest’s training app that provides fierce (and fun) cycling, yoga, and strength training workouts for people all over the world. This was the eighth annual tour, and the money raised is donated to the Davis Phinney Foundation, which is dedicated to help people with Parkinson’s and their care partners live their very best lives today.

Participants, known as Sufferlandrians, sweat it out and join in a convivial online environment, win prizes, and raise money. The popular event has grown from 129 participants in 2014 to 2,025 in 2020.

Features of this fun fundraiser:

• Sufferlandrians participate in lively tour banter in the official race village on Facebook and post selfies of themselves working out or post-workout in their “pain caves.”
• One of the fundraising challenges included having riders donate to have other riders take shots of Sriracha during their workout.
• Cyclists who made a $35 donation could provide a topic to another rider to talk about for 5 minutes during their ride.
• Almost 10,000 past and present riders are part of a very active and friendly Facebook group, Sufferlandria, to talk about their competition, their training, their ambition and more.

This was the first official 2020 event for the Davis Phinney Foundation. For a full list of sporting events benefiting the foundation and its services, the full 2020 calendar is here.

“The Sufferfest is tough by design, and giving in its heart and soul,” says Richard Cook, the director of development for the Davis Phinney Foundation. “Every year, thousands of athletes take on the Tour of Suf to sweat it out and enjoy the friendships they make. The fact that so many give so much of their time and raise money for those with Parkinson’s is so meaningful to us.”

Sponsors for the 2020 ToS: The Col Collective, Wahoo Fitness, IKOR Labs, CyclingTips and AltRed – Betalains Unleashed.

The Davis Phinney Foundation was founded by Olympic cyclist Davis Phinney in 2004 to help people with Parkinson’s live well today. The organization’s focus is to provide programs and resources that offer inspiration, information and tools that enable people living with Parkinson’s to take action that can immediately improve their quality of life. Parkinson’s is the No. 2 neurodegenerative disease – second to Alzheimer’s – and affects over 1 million people in the United States. The Foundation’s work impacts hundreds of thousands of individuals and families each year.

Team DPF  is the grassroots fundraising community that supports the Davis Phinney Foundation through participation in a wide range of athletic and community-based events. With a focus on fun, personal empowerment and fundraising for Parkinson’s, Team DPF welcomes all ages and abilities. With roots in cycling, Team DPF also extends to runners, climbers, swimmers, hikers, community events and more. Team DPF is sponsored by: Primal, AltRed, SCRATCH Labs, BOCO Gear, The Sufferfest, Baker Insurance and Boulder Neurological and Spine Associates. Visit dpf.org to learn more.