Sunsuper chief executive Tony Lally can be forgiven for being a little saddle sore this week.

Lally, a cycling Olympian for Ireland at the 1980 Olympics, rode 200km on the weekend as Sunsuper sponsored a record-breaking charity ride to raise funds for the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse project at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

A total of 1623 riders raised an Australian record $5.7 million for the project, runner-up to another Sunsuper-sponsored ride that raised $5.2 million for the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

Lally was on that tour as well and will back up next weekend over in Western Australia, where Sunsuper is the sponsor of another ride to raise funds for the Perth Ride to Conquer Cancer. That will be 600km in the saddle riding for charity in three months.

“I feel really privileged to be doing something I love so much and doing it for charity,” Lally told IM Online.

“It’s a great way for Sunsuper to promote its brand into comparatively new markets in New South Wales and Western Australia, but also its consistent with our philosophy of not just throwing money at things. We want to get involved on a community level.”

Riders on the weekend event had to raise at least $2500 to participate. The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse project at RPA aims to combine clinical care and cancer research.

Chris O’Brien was a cancer specialist who died in 2009 after a three-year battle with a brain tumour.