Charity walkers lap it up on Val des Terres
Some 40 staff from Deloitte dragged themselves up the Val de Terres as many times as they could in 24 hours over the weekend as part of a charitable initiative benefitting Grow Ltd and Les Bourgs Hospice.
The team’s aim was to complete as many laps as they could around the circuit being used for the Val des Terres Everest Challenge, comprising the Val de Terres, George Road and Havelet, measuring out at just over a mile long.
Team members set off at 9am on Saturday morning in fairly pleasant conditions and were able to choose the time periods in which they walked, with some even choosing to walk through the night.
But the weather took a turn for the worse yesterday morning, and walkers arrived at their final destination – the bathing pools cafe at La Vallette – in strong winds and driving rain.
Representatives from both Grow and Les Bourgs, including Grow general manager Mandy Mackelworth and Les Bourgs CEO Rob Jones, were there to greet the walkers.
The event has so far raised more than £2,500 for the charities, with the firm set to match whatever final donation total is achieved.
Deloitte partner and event organiser Dave Becker set an example for the team, walking for more than 20 hours of the allotted 24 and completing 56 miles over 53 laps.
Speaking at the end of the challenge, he said he felt ‘pretty tired’ but was delighted at the ‘fantastic’ effort put in by those participating.
‘There was a sense of friendly competition, people heard how many laps others had done and set out to beat that number, and that led to little teams forming within the main team.’
He was glad the weather had remained mostly favourable, but said the last two hours in the rain and wind had been challenging.
‘What kept me going was speaking to new people as I went round, you got to know so many different people, it was very social in that sense.’
Colleague Zach Buttle had chosen an unconventional time to get his laps in, beginning his walk at 1am and continuing throughout the night until the 9am finish.
He did 21 laps in total, stopping only for 10 minutes.
‘It was difficult in the sense that I couldn’t get my body temperature quite right, I’d sweat loads walking up, and then cool off coming down to the point where I couldn’t feel my arms, so I kept on having to put layers on and then remove them,’ he said.
‘I had The Clash blaring in my headphones though – that helped get me through.’
Tom Chapman had broken his walk up into three timeslots, walking between 11am and 2pm, 4pm and 7pm, and 7am and 9am.
His aim was to do a marathon’s-worth of miles, and he achieved his goal, covering 28 miles in 26 laps.
‘Right now I’m wet and feeling quite painful, it was tough, especially towards the end, but overall I really enjoyed the experience,’ he said.
You can donate to the challenge here.
