I recently completed the Three Peaks challenge with fifteen of my fellow colleagues from work. We had to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon within 24 hours including the travel between the mountains. We kicked off at 5 pm on Saturday evening and managed to finish at 16:35 the following Sunday – so only 25 minutes to spare!
With all the challenges we had, from the coach breaking down, to major roads being closed, we still managed to pull together and complete the challenge. I think for a few of my fellow colleagues, who hadn’t done much mountain walking, the realisation of the task ahead dawned as we stood at the start of ‘heart attack’ hill at the foot of Ben Nevis. That set the tone for the rest of the climbs as we were always behind time on the travel and had to make it up on the mountains. Trust me running along a mountain path after no sleep in a bus and having already climbed two mountains wasn’t fun.
But the benefits for the team was not just in the completion of the challenge but also accumulation of training that went into it six months previously. For me it is a great opportunity to get people to work together and help each other along to ensure everyone had the best opportunity to complete the event. And even now, a few weeks after the event the office is still buzzing as those people build on their friendships and experiences with the rest of the business.
So if anyone is considering organising such a challenge for your own business, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. The cost of running it (which can be many thousands of pounds) can be immediately felt within the business in terms of productivity, so it is even a good investment. Couple that with raising money for charity and you have a real win win opportunity.
My only problem now is to think of what we could do next…
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