BH STAFF SPORT GREAT TEAM SPIRIT (17/10/10)

It’s been a busy sporting summer, with the usual rollercoaster of emotions that follows the England football team, Andy Murray’s Wimbledon challenge and the Ryder Cup.

But staff at Burgess Hodgson have been enjoying – or enduring – their own sporting challenges recently, with a return to the legendary 3 Peaks challenge, as well as a strong showing in the Chilham Castle Duathlon, including taking first place in the team event.

Last year, a group of Burgess Hodgson staff and partners made their inaugural trip to the 3 Peaks, a 24-mile circular challenge that takes in the three highest peaks in Yorkshire - Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough.

Although walkers are never too far from civilisation, this long walk is still extremely demanding, the more so because of the 12-hour time limit. To put the Challenge into perspective, 24 miles is the distance, as the crow flies, between Canterbury and Rochester. And you would have to add 3 mountains en route. It’s a very long way.

In preparation, Burgess Hodgson staff had been doing a regular series of summer walks, every three weeks, finished with a pub meal, although there’s no doubt that the 3 Peaks was a step up in terms of difficulty.

The 12-strong BH team worked extremely well together, with a lot of mutual support and encouragement. Three members opted for two peaks – a tough task in itself – while the remainder pushed on completing the challenge in 11 hours 24 minutes – two minutes quicker than last year’s team! A few team members, however, pushed during the descent of Ingleborough to do just under 11 hours – an excellent effort.

For team member, Jim Leeves, it was something of a baptism of fire. “I expected it to be a challenge – and it was,” he says. “It was a very rewarding experience, made all the better by the huge pint of tea at the end and the knowledge that we’d beaten last year’s time. Still, personally, I couldn’t have gone much faster. But it was a great sense of achievement and I’d definitely do it again.”

With the bar now set on sporting challenges, it was great to see a strong Burgess Hodgson presence at the recent Chilham Castle Duathlon, a strength-sapping run/bike/run event in and around the spectacular grounds of the historic building.

Held over the standard 10k-40k-5k distance, but with the runs over the country instead of the road, Burgess Hodgson fielded five teams from the 67-strong field. Top honours on the day went to Rod Archibald and his housemate Chris who turned in an excellent performance to finish 6th overall and first team. They were ably supported by Richard Stewart and Kenton May in 13th; Ken Jones and son Adam in 18th; Kate Brown and Doug Archibald in 34th; and Jason Alderson and James Broadley in 48th.

The weather was fantastic for the time of year and the atmosphere excellent, as Kate Brown, who also completed the 3 Peaks, reflects: “There was a real sense of achievement for all of us.” A regular runner, Kate has recently joined Burgess Hodgson and, although she was aware of the firm’s sporting endeavours, she didn’t realise she’d get to experience something quite as challenging, quite so soon!

“With the 3 Peaks, I’d never done anything that long before and, for the duathlon, I found both the terrain and the hills pretty tough,” she says. “But I loved them both. In fact, my next goal is try for a marathon!”

Burgess Hodgson is looking at a variety of team event for later this year and into next. We’ll keep you posted on the various sporting endeavours, as and when they happen!


3 PEAKS 2010 team

Ken Jones
Colin + Sue Slater
Jim Leeves
Dan Message
Bryn Thomas + Elizabeth
Ben + Steph
Kate Brown + Liam
Guy Vine