Last year a team of intrepid walkers from Quiss took on the challenge of the Macmillan Mighty Hike, which saw all 11 complete the 27-mile trek and raise around £3500 for the charity.
Given the enjoyment, the camaraderie and the money raised, talk afterwards soon turned to what challenge of similar proportions the team would accept in 2018; perhaps something a little longer, something tougher?
Thinking maybe the 27 miles had been pretty easy, the Quiss team chose the Cotswold Way Challenge – a mere 100km (62 miles) walk over a weekend in June.
Up at first sun
As the team, this year 12-strong, was expecting to be walking for most, if not all of the day, it was an early start; a very early start with alarms set for 4.30am. The team had to be on the start line at Victoria Park in Bath at 7.30am on Saturday morning.
On the previous challenge, 27 miles had proved tough, but the thought of 31 miles on one day, with a similar distance on the second and no real rest between meant the first steps were taken with a certain amount of trepidation.
Leaving Bath, close to the world-famous Royal Crescent it wasn’t long before the team faced the first of the hills. With more than 2,500 metres of climb over the 100km course the hills were expected to make this a far tougher challenge than the Mighty Hike – and so it proved.
Maintaining a steady pace, the team made the final destination for the end of day one, around ten hours after setting off, ready for food, drink and good lie down. The wear and tear evident on the team’s feet was understandable, given the more than 70,000 steps taken on day one.
Same again please
Day two began even earlier for our intrepid team, which was by now a little smaller than the previous day, stepping onto the start line just after 6.00am – ahead lay another 70,000 steps to the finish in Cheltenham.
With a lot of effort and determination the remaining team members crossed the finish line close to 6.00pm Sunday evening, almost 35 hours after they started – a remarkable effort by: Michael Owen, Luke Purchase, Tracy Armstrong, Rohen Farmer, Matt Rhodes, Wendy Wragg, Jeff Hale, Claire Buckle, Dean Evans, Oli Charles, Emily Phelps and Nicola Rhodes.
Although the team lost a few members along the way, it remains a fantastic achievement by everyone, which saw them raise an impressive £6500 for the Alzheimer’s Society, our chosen charity for the year.
Many clients understand we are a business that likes to go the ‘extra-mile’ but I’m sure they’ll understand if a few of our team took it easy for a while and rested their feet in the weeks after June’s adventure – something easier next time perhaps, like parachuting or a sponsored silence!
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