Finance and Planning do the Tour de Yorkshire

So Thursday 3rd May was the day Finance and Planning decided to take on the Tour de Yorkshire in a DAY and 9 intrepid teams of 4 put their bodies on the line to help raise as much money for Amy’s House as possible. I have to say I was very impressed by the various array of Lycra (you guys definitely meant business, and are also secretly sporty) and the effort that you all put in.

The daunting target of 704 kilometres is completed by the professionals over the course of 4 days whereas us crazy kids managed a whopping 661.70 kilometres in 6 hours (with a very generous 79.5 km donated by the Hallam Active Spinning class).

The whole day was an amazing success and we smashed last year’s total of £424 and raised a tremendous £628.20 through the hard work of our volunteer bucket shakers and the Just Giving text number.

Team 1 appeared fresh and ready to go, complete with team colours! The DAS management accountants setting the task off to a very good start with Ross setting the early pace of 18km, also the bucket shakers appeared to be on form generating support and getting people’s hands in their pockets.

It was then the turn of Team 2 (Sales Ledger) with Jill taking it incredibly seriously and leaving Debbie slightly gobsmacked that anyone’s legs could move that quickly. Jayne from Amy’s House turned up to cheer on and shake a bucket in support of what we were doing.

It was then the turn of Team 3 who comprised of Kathryn from Service Improvement and Maia, Brian and Patrick from ACES Management Accounting. These guys put in an incredible team effort of 61.4km and had little Thomas Anderson cheering them on from the side-lines (whilst keeping me busy with a digger, poms bears and a Thomas the tank engine book).

By the time team 4 arrived we had collectively travelled 188kms.

Next up Team 4 who were an eclectic mix of Rachel Devaney, Tom Russell, Sally Hook and me. I’m not going to lie, after 5 minutes the prospect of 2 shifts was not in any way appealing. As a group we travelled from Penistone to Harlington.

Team 5 was again a mixture of Fiona Jones, the secretly (but very impressively) sporty Louise Walsh and again me! The 3 musketeers set off for their 30 minute stint with me just praying I didn’t do a Bridget Jones and collapse at the end. Louise and Fiona did themselves proud with a very respectable 16.7km and 17.7km respectively.

Then came Team Alpha (you know the ones that actually do spinning for pleasure and are members of Hallam Active). Simon, Emma, Debbie and Louise were all competing with each other from the get go, with Louise again hoping to beat Debbie like last year although the results were the other way round this year with Debbie pipping Louise by 0.01km.

By the time they had finished Team 6 had taken us from Stage 2 into Stage 3 of the Tour with a mightily impressive 73.2 kilometres.

Team 7 were next with a quartet of Planning’s finest Jenny, Paul, Iain and James (aka flip flop). These guys really meant business and set off with gusto with Paul eventually being crowned best individual rider with 20.3 kilometres to his name.

By now we were starting to get to the business end of the Tour and the event as a whole and the buckets were beginning to get heavy.

Team 8 came strolling up the walkway with Sohil, Liz, Bea and Andy ready and raring to go with everyone completing over 15 kilometres each and taking the journey from Wilton to Scarborough the final destination of Stage 3.

Last up were Team 9 from the SBS Management Accountants and our eventual overall winners of Best Team. Kay, Louise, Erica and Danny were cheered on by bucket shaker and team mum Sandra and set off with an aim to complete 3 kilometres every 5 minutes to beat Team Alpha. There was some serious competitive spirit on show with Kay geeing up her team and Sandra providing a great drink and wafting service to the riders.

Team 9 all completed over 17 kilometres each and had an overall total of 75.4 kilometres between them and took the Finance and Planning Team to our final destination of Kettlewell.

It was a great day, with lots of money raised for a great cause, although there were a lot of sore bottoms on Friday especially mine!

Thanks again to everyone who rode, shook, cheered on or donated.

Team 1