News: It Started With A £20 Bet…

Some of our engineers were working away from home one week. After a long day on site, they all sat down over a curry and several Guinness’ later, plus lots of laughter, a bet was placed.

The Challenge

Huw Watkins challenged Flash, previous local football hero, that he couldn’t beat ex-navy boxing legend Dean, at a 100-metre sprint. With that, £20.00 was slapped down on the table. The banter increased.

Everyone was up for it so the meal was quickly wrapped up. When walking back to their hotel the 100 metre distance was set.

Attempt 1

Off they went full-steam ahead until suddenly, Flash took a tumble. Dean crossed the finish line into glory and bundles of laughter from the happy team.

Word got back to base that Flash’s grazed shoulder and wounded pride. And so, the question was raised: “Would they do it all again just for giggles and in fancy dress?” Of course, they said yes.

The whole NERAK team was on board and excitement was in the air. Posters went up two days later. Flash and Dean would re live the challenge set by Huw Watkins on a lawned area on the Ffrwdgrech Industrial Estate.

Attempt 2

The Plan

• Welder Stewart, who DJ’s on the side, would provide theme tunes and sound systems.
• Pete, our financial controller would be commissionaire at the start and finish lines.
• Ollie one of our engineering apprentices would set up the course they would run.
• Martin our service manager would give out some prizes.
• Simon Musgrave our Sales Director would be looking after the video.
• Colin Hagan our Operations Manager would be looking after the collecting of any bets colleagues wanted to place.

Two days later the sun was shining and everything was ready. Those that could be free, stopped for 10 minutes to join in the fun. And so it began…

The Warm-Up

The Main Event: The Run

We’ll never know who was really going to win that challenge as they both gallantly joined together a metre before the end to run through the finish line at the same moment.

This was fantastic in so many ways: the team spirit, the comradery. Everyone volunteered their support to make it a success and everyone who could stopped what they were doing to enjoy these few minutes of fun.

Not only did we have a lot of fun but we also raised £300 for charity by placing our own bets on who we thought would win. One morning of collections saw our colleagues donate so generously for great causes.

The Charities We Supported

The team decided that the donations would be split equally between the Macular Society  and Tŷ Hafan a local children’s charity.

It was quite simply a great 10 minutes of true NERAK Teamship!