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An Oarsome Effort for AHOY!

Wednesday August 15th 2018


“No experience needed – just your sense of adventure!” is the motto upon which The AHOY Centre’s rowing challenge is reassuringly cushioned. The premise seemed straightforward enough: Six rowers. One boat. An eight-and-a-half mile race.

Never ones to shy away from a challenge, the London office swiftly rallied together a team, including five complete novices, who were keen to take on the Thames. MDA Consulting’s fundraising target of £2000 would provide vital funding for the charity, which works to improve the lives of disadvantaged young people and disabled people in London. 

Our charity quiz was a hugely successful evening, raising a total of £562 through entry and raffle tickets, with a wide range of prizes up for grabs.  Some guests – and one host, who shall not be named! – celebrated with a 4am finish, which the rower seriously regretted during training the following morning.

With less than a week to go, Dan, from The AHOY Centre, put the team through their paces and helped to mentally and physically prepare them for what lay ahead. 

On your marks, get set, row!

D-Day, and the team made their way to Imperial wharf to meet their cox, Becky. With all twelve teams prepped and ready to dip their oars into the water, the whistle was blown at 7pm.

The River Thames was particularly choppy and Lettice Swan, Associate, was hit with a wave in the first five minutes and completed the rest of the race soaked to the bone! 

The 1hr 12min row took the team past key London landmarks, such as Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf; along with some of MDA’s flagship projects, including County Hall and HSBC.

Take a bow

Despite taking 12th place, the team enjoyed celebrating their valiant effort with bucks fizz and pizza from The AHOY Centre; and last was certainly not least, as we raised the grand total of £2134.50 for the charity.

Ursula Nowak, Senior Quantity Surveyor, said: “Frankly, I loved it. We did fantastically well for such a great cause and it was a good team building exercise at the same time.”

The team agreed that they enjoyed the challenge and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Rebecca Nutt, Bank Monitoring Associate, added: “It was great to try a new sport and do something for such a good cause.  Fingers crossed MDA will start having an annual fundraising sports event!”

Watch this space, Rebecca…

Photo (L-R): Rebecca Nutt, Lettice Swan, Patrick Briffa, Richard Webster, Ursula Nowak, Steve Hurworth

Keen to take on a rowing challenge to fundraise for The AHOY Centre? Find out more here.