Graduate takes on challenge of a lifetime for charity

Published on 17, April, 2024

A University of Sunderland graduate is taking on a Tour de France-size challenge to raise £30,000 for charity.

Tudor Tamas, who studied both BA Sports Journalism and MA Public Relations, has set himself the goal to cycle the entire length of one of the largest cycling competitions in the world a couple weeks before the main event.

The journey will take him from Florence, Italy, on a 3,400km route before finishing in Nice, France in just 21 days.

Tudor, who studied at the University between 2013-17, is raising money for Cure Leukemia.

He said: “It's fantastic cause. I think worldwide it’s something like there’s a person diagnosed with Leukemia every 27 seconds.

“I just feel like our purpose here is just try and make the world a slightly better place that we found it, you know, just give something back from everything that we've received.”

Tudor added: “I applied for this in December last year to get a spot on the tour. Originally, we were to just do one week of the event.

“But I said, if I'm going to do it, I'd rather go all in – the whole tour.”

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Donations currently stand at just over £17,000 with all proceeds going to Cure Leukemia as part of their Tour 21 initiative that sees a team of 25 amateur cyclists take on all 21 stages of the Tour de France route to raise £1million.

“It doesn't matter if you have some personal motive, like a friend or family member who might have suffered from an illness to get involved,” Tudor said.

“It's just about doing something well and something good and contributing to our communities. That’s what motivated me to go for it.”

Tudor, who is now Product Experience Director at adjarabet.com, has already cycled 2,000km for training in anticipation of the event and posts regular updates on social media to track his progress.

“It’s really exciting to do the tour – it’s phenomenal but at the same time I am dreading it,” he said.

“The professionals finish a stage in like five hours on average, we will likely be there for 10 hours minimum – probably more like 12 for some of the stages to complete it.

"It’s not just about doing one stage, because you can do 10 hours a day. It’s about going to bed and waking up the following day, going back on the bike and starting all over again for 21 days in a row.”

It has become a full circle moment for Tudor as his passion for cycling goes back to his time at the University of Sunderland.

He said: “I've developed some fantastic relationships with the people that I've made at university.

“I think the best year was definitely the third year of the Sport Journalism course. I did my dissertation on cycling, unsurprisingly, so that's how I really grew into the course because I was a huge cycling fan at the time.”

He added: “Throughout my time at the University I felt really well supported.”

Lee Hall, Head of Media and Communications at the University of Sunderland, said: "Tudor was a wonderful, personable and committed student always looking to make a difference in the world and it's amazing what he is doing to raise money for such a good cause.

"He is so passionate about sport - as he showed when he was with us through his outstanding journalism - so this is the perfect challenge. On behalf of all his former lecturers, we wish him the best of luck."

To find out more about Tudor’s fundraiser and how to support him, check out his website: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tudor-tamas

If you are interested in studying Journalism or Public Relations at the University of Sunderland, find out more here: https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/study/journalism-and-pr/