Charity: Chris Hoy, Sara Cox, Dermot Murnaghan

[BarryBannan]

The bike ride organised by Chris Hoy and participated in by Dermot Murnaghan raised £3,142,647 for research. The Children in need marathon every day for five days was more than triple that. AIBU to be puzzled?

Puzzled by what?! What is your AIBU?

Why are you puzzled? What are you getting at?

Eh? I'm puzzled by your aibu!

Why? The CIN marathon was very well promoted and lots of people give to this charity in general. I wasn't even aware of the bike ride. I assume it was for prostate cancer?

What are you thinking? The bike ride money was diverted to the BBC Christmas party?

Whats the question?

The CIN one was all over radio two for a week all over socials and had a full tv programme made about it broadcast on BBC1 in a prime slot.

Thats how it raised so much. Plus the fact Sara Cox found it so hard!

CIN is heavily promoted by the BBC for weeks.

Chris Hoy and Dermot are not! I tap into lots of cycling media, but was unaware of this.

CIN is a BBC thing so they plug it relentlessly on radio and TV, hench the incredible Sara raising such an amount. I read the other day that whilst she was doing the marathons her best friend was terminally unwell in hospital, and has just died. So she was also carrying the psychological strain of that along with her.

Chris and Dermot have also raised a phenomenal amount of money for prostate cancer charity, which is also incredibly considering both of them are currently suffering with such a dreadful illness. True, they didn't get anywhere near the same publicity as SC which actually makes their total all the more remarkable.

I honestly don't think there is anything to be gained from trying to play one off against the other.

I guess do charity cash givers prioritize kids over middle aged blokes.

I had no idea about the bike ride, but I don't even listen to radio 2 and knew all about Sara Cox's Children In Need effort. It's not just about what people do to raise money but how people go about promoting it and how wide their reach is in terms of family, friends, professional contacts and social media.

Although I have to say raising over £3m is still a fantastic achievement.

I also had no idea about the bike ride.

I donated to Sara Cox’s CIN challenge as I think she is great, I also run and it was everywhere that week- it was impossible to miss!

Puzzled that one charity event raised more money than another completely separate charity event?

Yeah, you’re easily puzzled.

Er, yeah - kids and cute animals are a far easier charity “sell” aren’t they?

@BarryBannan Don't worry about it, just concentrate on staying fit for Derby on Monday.

Of course they do.

Anything else you would like to know about life?

Dunno, but CIN is a big and long running thing, so it would be weird if it didn't do a lot better, wouldn't it?

Well yes.

There are all sorts of factors around charity fundraising. Profile, publicity, type of cause, patrons, methods, supporter base, timing, relatability, strength of case for support, demographic of likely donors, urgency and so much more.