Papa John’s And David Weir Launch Paralympics GB Fundraising Campaign

Papa John’s has launched a new campaign to raise funds for ParalympicsGB in the build-up to the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games. 

The brand is an Official Partner to the team, and will launch a new ‘Weirwolf Challenge’ fronted by wheelchair athlete and Paralympic legend David Weir (pictured above). 

The ‘fully immersive’ virtual race event will aim to raise funds throughout the month of July, and will see Papa John’s employees, customers, and Weir himself take part in a collective effort to see how many times they can ‘travel’ from London to Tokyo and back again. 

Using the Just Move app, Papa John’s will ask people to register their runs, walks, bicycle, hand bicycle or wheelchair journeys as part of their daily exercise, and see how many times they can collectively travel the 8,100 or so miles to the Japanese capital.

As well as raising funds, the challenge also aims to give participants an insight into Weir’s training schedule, highlighting the amount of work that goes into preparing for a Paralympic games. 

Weir – a six times Paralympic gold medalist and eight time London Marathon champion – will head to a sixth Games this summer, and has been an Athlete Ambassador for Papa John’s since the brand partnered with ParalympicsGB in 2020.

Since then, Weir has been part of the brands We are Limitless campaign, encouraging people to ‘break their own limits’, at the same time as raising funds for ParalympicsGB.

“As Paralympians we are always looking to smash records and overcome adversity,” said Weir. 

“The ‘Weirwolf Challenge’ is not only a great opportunity for me to share an insight into the preparation that goes into a Paralympic games, but to take you all along with me on the journey! 

“However you wish to clock up your one mile a day, come and get involved and we can smash records together, at the same time raising vital funds for ParalympicsGB.”

Giles Codd, Marketing Director, Papa John’s UK added: “Our partnership with ParalympicsGB has been an incredible opportunity for us to join with our customers to raise money for a fantastic cause. The Weirwolf Challenge will give us all the chance to get active and break limits throughout July, I’m excited to see how many miles we can clock up together along with David.”

In celebration of the campaign, Papa John’s has also launched a ‘Weirwolf’ pizza, inspired by Weir’d favourite toppings, and including pepperoni, onions, green peppers, chopped tomatoes, sweetcorn and chestnut mushrooms.

The We are Limitless campaign, launched by the pizza chain last year, aims to shine a light on how each athlete ambassador has overcome challenges they’ve faced and acts as a rallying cry, encouraging both Papa John’s staff and customers to break limits and raise money to support ParalympicsGB. 

To date, the brand says it has raised almost £170,000 for ParalympicsGB thanks to the support of its customers.

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