Blog 14.07.12

Vigilance Conquers Trailwalker Challenge!

On Saturday 14th July the awesome foursome of Vigilance Properties Limited completed the 103.5 km of the Trailwalker 2012 course in a time of 15 hours, placing 19th out of 550 teams and topping the fund raising leaderboard with nearly £8000 raised... and counting.

Whippet-like

Tradition was observed as top finisher, the Queens Gurkha Signals elite men's team, took only a mind-boggling 10 hours 50 minutes to run the course. They flew like whippets while others bogged down in heavy ground saturated by weeks of bad weather. Conditions were often atrocious on the day allowing competitors to thoroughly test their kit against driving rain and knee deep mud.

Unflinching Rhythm

The Vigilance runners (Will Fox, Ben Wright, Ed Mills and Seb MacKenzie-Wilson) trained well, earning the right to an elite start and the chance to test their mettle against the best Forces and civilian teams. By Checkpoint 1 at 10km a good rhythm was set, and the fantastic support crew of Laxman and Mamta Pun, John Lennon and Som Chochangi ensured it never faltered. The team were ever well fed and watered, with blisters held at bay by a miraculous foot care strategy!

Storming Finish

Stripping out serving military teams, and those for whom PT and fitness is part of the day job, Vigilance were the fifth civilian team across the line, shortly before midnight on Bastille Day, storming the finish shoulder to shoulder with a fifth man morale boost provided for the final checkpoints by John Lennon!

Vital Statistics

• 103.5 km run on course, in 15 hours 56 minutes.
• Fastest lap 4 minutes / km, average lap 9 minutes / km
• 7960 calories burned per man
• 2,500 metres of ascent
• 15 mm rain on the day and 88 mm for the week; almost double the monthly average!

Heartfelt thanks

Heartfelt thanks go to all those colleagues, friends and family members who supported this fantastic team effort so generously and enthusiastically, both on and off the course. Vigilance Properties is thrilled to have been the most successful fund raiser at this year's event, but most importantly to have been privileged to support two such worthy charities in Oxfam and The Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Author: Seb MacKenzie-Wilson