DHL’s corporate mission is to connect people and improve lives. As the Official Logistics Partner of Rugby World Cup 2019, DHL wanted to use the sponsorship to give back to the sport and connect employees globally.
Race to RWC was born.
The philanthropic initiative was created to raise awareness and €50k for World Rugby’s official charity ChildFund Pass It Back. Adventurers Ron Rutland and James Owens accepted the mission: to deliver the match whistle from London to Tokyo in time for the opening RWC game in what was a truly epic undertaking that only DHL could deliver.
With DHL providing Ron & James with essential support crew and services, as well as tracking and documenting the journey via film crews and Go Pros across @DHRugby channels to raise awareness, the Race to RWC was on.
This was a special activation which had a real-world impact both internally and externally raising rugby’s profile in countries with low previous engagement in the sport. Ron & James embraced the diverse cultures along the route, uniting people and DHL employees at every stop with welcome parties and celebrations.
Highlights include:
– 20,093km cycled over 231 days through 27 countries.
– DHL employees worldwide coming together at 22 separate events to fundraise; instilling huge amounts of pride in DHL’s rugby partnerships and the values both the company and sport share – inclusivity, altruism and community.
– Employees cycling alongside the duo during certain legs to spur them on.
The results speak for themselves:
– Over €120k raised for ChildFund
– 200+ news articles
– 309k video views on social.
Their epic journey has now been turned into a documentary, released November 2020.



