At Cloudfm Group we never shy away from a challenge, especially an athletic one. When we’re not sporting black eyes from weekly boxing training, we’re breaking arms at charity football events, or getting involved in the local half marathon races. So when the guys at ASK Italian suggested we take part in their annual summer triathlon, in association with Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, we jumped at the chance. Literally!
We decided to enter the Team Sprint Triathlon with two teams made up of people with varying levels of commitment to exercise. This could be interesting…
To keep in with the Cloud theme, we picked Altostratus and Cumulus as our team names. The competition was on! And before we knew it, the six weeks was up, training was over and race day had arrived.
The event was being held at the stunning Dorney Lake in Berkshire, where six gold medals were won by Team GB at the 2012 Olympic Games!
After an early start and sign in, we got ourselves ready with a round of bacon sandwiches and plenty of tea. The nerves were setting in!
Nearing the start time, we all made our way down to by the lake to have none other than celebrity dancer Louie Spence warm us all up. After a few hip thrusts and twerking on the spot, we were ready to go!
The race began with the swimmers: Ethan Frost and Nigel Jennings donned their wetsuits and made their way to the (surprisingly) warm water. The horn blasted and off they went, swimming for their lives through 750m of swan-infested water. After a tense 11 minutes, we were shocked, amazed and delighted when our very own Ethan Frost was first out of the water for Team Altostratus. Leading the way it was now down to Michael Dewing to maintain the pace on the cycling leg of the event.
Not long after Ethan, Nigel emerged from the water, a regular David Hasselhoff, (albeit in a wetsuit and swimming cap), to hand over the baton to seasoned cyclist, Sally Frost. A nerve-wracking 20 kilometres later, Philippa Rich and Eve Wagstaff stood waiting for their team members to come back. Who would be first? Michael had a head start of at least five or so minutes, but Sally rides a bike every day, the tension was palpable.
Then, whizzing round the corner Sally did Team Cumulus proud as she skidded to a stop and chucked the baton over to Eve for the last part of the race, a 5km run.
Hot on her heels was Philippa, and the two battled against gale-force winds and Sahara-level heat to finish the race!
Final results: Team Cumulus 12th and Team Altostratus 30th.
A quick shower, some tasty BBQ and plenty of beer later, and the triathletes had recovered from the gruelling race.
Although the teams didn’t win any prizes, they had a brilliant time at the event and loved hearing how GOSH would be using the money raised towards families and children in need. It was lovely to meet little Grace and her family and find out just how much a difference the charity has made to their lives.
ASK Italian wanted to raise £1 million for GOSH and they’re well on their way with over £700,000 at last count.
Thanks to everyone who donated to Team Cloudfm and supported the staff. We couldn’t have done it without you!