A huge success, Panacea takes part in Microsoft UK Challenger and helps to raise £605,000 for the NSPCC
Over four days in June, 116 teams from some of the UK’s best known companies and public sector organisations came together to compete in the Microsoft UK Challenger in Stirling, Scotland. The Microsoft UK Challenger competition aims to develop a unique combination of teamwork, strategy, physical strength, construction skills and intelligence whilst raising substantial funds for the NSPCC.
As a leading Microsoft Gold Partner, Barry Wakelin and Ady Spencer of Panacea received an invitation to join two separate teams of six athletes made up of a combination of Microsoft employees and partners. Having driven their team vans up to Scotland from Berkshire, they arrived at Stirling and registered their teams. Barry and Ady were immediately into the thick of things with a night stage immediately after dinner. The pattern was set for the coming days – up at 6:00am, competing all day and late into the night with bed time arriving as late as 3:00am.
The teams navigated, ran, canoed, mountain biked, built and raced a chariot created from a minimalist selection of wood and screws and solved numerous fiendish puzzles en route. Every stage required careful allocation of duties to deliver a successful strategy, clear communication and perfect execution. After eight long stages, the event culminated with a physically challenging finale that combined mountain biking, puzzle solving and fell running to the top of a local mountain and back. The stage was filmed by Channel 4 and will be shown on television later this summer, so keep your eyes peeled if you’d like to see what Challenger is all about.
The event was a great success with our chaps’ teams finishing 16th and 106th. In all, the 116 teams raised £605,000 for the NSPCC which will enable the charity to increase the number of lines and staff available to run their Child Line facility that provides children with someone to turn to when they feel that no one else is there for them.
Barry Wakelin, Panacea’s Solution Director, commented, ‘The Microsoft UK Challenger was demanding and fulfilling in equal measure. Ady and myself will forever remember the days spent in and around Stirling and we are proud to have taken part in an event that has raised so much money for such an important charity. Panacea already had an exceptional relationship with Microsoft but Challenger has created some very strong relationships between our two companies that I’m sure will strengthen our working partnership for years to come. This can only be a good thing for our joint customers.’