Interview with a past participant
1) What made you decide to take part in the challenge?
We heard about the CARE Challenge Event from our friends at (event media partner) Womenswear Buyer whilst we were showing at Moda, and were instantly drawn in by not only the wonderful work that CARE International do, but also the tremendous personal challenge the event represented. We also feel that we are very privileged to be living in an environment where we do not have to worry about where our next meal is coming from or from where we can get clean drinking water and we all have the opportunity to improve our lives simply by working hard; others are not so fortunate and the least we can do is make that extra effort to push ourselves physically and raise money to help others to help themselves.
2) What were the highlights of the event for you and your team?
The absolute best moment for us was crossing the finish line because at various times throughout the day we doubted that it would be possible to reach the end..! I also loved the start of the very first event as we raced towards the first buoy in the kayak race and were actually up amongst the leaders - it was the last time during the whole event that we had this experience!
Both the event itself and the training towards the event were of tremendous benefit to our company, particularly in terms of team building. Each member of the team encouraged each other all the way down the line and at the end of the event we felt as though we had achieved the impossible together.
4) And was it useful in terms of networking?
It was fantastic meeting the other teams and networking, we even enjoyed comparing horror stories and aches at the end of the day whilst sharing a well deserved drink or two.
5) Why have you decided to take part again this year?
Having taken part in the event last year and unfortunately taken a wrong turn on the mountain biking, which certainly didn't help our overall time, we felt that we had to prove to ourselves we could do better and, to be honest, despite the demanding nature of the event the buzz that we felt at the end was beyond compare and we all wanted to feel that again. Of course, we also wanted to be able to raise more money for this worthwhile cause and meet up with the brilliant CARE Challenge Team again!
6) How did your training go and how helpful was the advice you received before the event?
The Challenge Team were amazing and really guided us every step of the way with masses of useful and constructive advice. We had to push ourselves a little bit with the training but it was made all the easier by an awareness that we needed to really step up our game to be ready for the event. All that said we realised very quickly that we needed to have put in more training than we did and we certainly hope to be better prepared this year.
7) How about your fundraising - were the Challenge Team helpful here?
The Challenge Team could not have been more supportive when it came to fundraising advice and for us, as a small organisation with really no direct link to the general public, the fundraising was quite challenging- so this advice was invaluable. We have come up with a few other ideas this time around and hope to improve upon the amount we raised last year.
This event has to have been the most challenging but inspiring thing any of us have ever done, so much so that we are really looking forward to putting ourselves through it again. You never know - we may even beat our time from last year - here's hoping!If you work in the fashion industry, why not join Karen and her team on the Prima Solutions Adventure Challenge this year? And for those in other sectors, you can get the same feeling of accomplishment from any and all of the events in the CARE Challenge Series. So pick an event and get signed up!
