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Little Britain Challenge Cup 2019

Tuesday September 17th 2019

Our Business Development Associate, Lettice Swan, gives the low down on this year's Little Britain Challenge Cup...

"32 years ago, MDA Consulting were part of the first ever Little Britain Challenge Cup. The Little Britain development in the City of London was just about to commence and the contractor and consultant teams wanted to find a suitable annual event and so the LBCC was born!"

"Since 1988 the regatta has been constantly evolving; pre-recession there would be several hundred boats taking part and taking over the island whereas this year there was (what I consider to be) an optimal 35 entries over 5 different categories. 350 Property & Construction crew, with additional guests, skippers & first mates, makes for fantastic pontoon parties and networking opportunities. As the committee says, “It is a fantastic event for project teams celebrating success, for team building and relationship building, and for client entertaining.  It’s also a great time to learn to sail with other industry professionals.”" 

"During the 2017 regatta, when I was there as his guest, Nick Covell from Alltask (and the chairman of Little Britain) and I noticed a gap in the market. It had been 15 years since the last all-female crew and myself and the two founders of JAW Sustainability sought to change this. Together, we spoke to our female contacts from within our property and construction networks and unsurprisingly many were clamouring to get on board! It did not take long to assemble a (fairly incompetent!) crew of 10 women from every corner of the industry; contractors, architects, project managers & surveyors all got involved!"

"We met our (female) skipper and first mate on Thursday 12th September and get stuck straight in learning to sail across some very choppy waters from Portsmouth to Cowes. Wanting to be fresh for the first day of sailing the next day, we spent the evening in our fantastic Airbnb getting to know one another over a couple of glasses of wine and some uncooked pizza before having an early night."

"Friday came round and we were up bright and early for our first day of racing and although we knew we would be able to hold our own against the male crews, we were less sure if we would be able to hold our own against the experienced crews but that we did! Two races were scheduled and with some hard work, and paying close attention to our skipper’s instructions we came 3rd out of 8. Sadly after this great start the wind dropped and the second race was abandoned. No matter as a brilliant pontoon party had been organised followed by dinner so we all had the opportunity to celebrate our successes and meet the other crews."

"Saturday was a similar story; amazing team work and dedication from all the crew, but we were unlucky with the wind (but very lucky with the sunshine!) so as we slowly crossed the finish line we cheered and popped bottles of fizz to celebrate which seemed to entertain the judges no end! Another brilliant evening of networking ensued – there really is nothing like swapping business cards while contorting oneself under a limbo stick – and prizes were awarded. Sadly none came the way of The Cool AF (All-Female) Crew but hopefully next year we’ll have improved and will take home some of the silver wear!"

Lettice Swan
Business Development Associate
MDA Consulting Ltd