With the inaugural event in 2015, 28th June 2018 marked just the 4th annual BAFSA Challenge Day, and just the second attended by our MD Rob Bell (who missed the wet-and-wild 2017 Challenge, his life being rather taken over by the final throes of LPCB approval for the new ZONE GUARDIAN, so time definitely well-spent!).
In the midst of this year’s crazy heatwave, and the abnormally scorched grounds of the otherwise picturesque Mottram Hall in Cheshire, the key numbers were:
- 80 competitors
- 9 teams
- 7 disciplines
- 5 hours
Tournaments spanning human table football (or ‘survival of the sweatiest’), archery, water-bottle rocket-building, segway slalom (or ‘who can keep their skin’), corn hole toss (simple but annoyingly addictive), human sheep corralling (just bizarre tbh), labyrinth and of course the almost impossible general knowledge quiz (more accurately renamed ‘how fast can you Google’) were fought, won and lost – any breaks were most definitely spent cooling down in the air-conditioned Challenge HQ as tempers temperatures soared.
Rob’s team was the snappily-titled ‘Clarke Fire Protection Products’ and we finished joint 2nd, a mere 2 points behind the leaders…after winning the rocket-building distance ‘by a country mile’, coming 2nd in the archery (despite a 29 out of possible 30 by the MD, becoming dubbed Rob-in Hood) and 3rd in several other trials demonstrating a keen consistency.
Thanks go to the rest of the team (including Tim and Allan from FPC, Roy from Reliable, Steve from Potter) especially those who battled on after several members had to leave early, including Rob who was attending his daughter’s A-level graduation (priorities!).
Also big thanks to Wendy at BAFSA for organising again, and the sponsors (who make it free for all) including Hall & Kay, Vipond, A&F and Johnson Controls.
Here’s to next year!