For most people the very thought of Sport Relief and all it stands for is nothing short of humbling. This year we Engineers didn’t want to just sit on our laurels and watch the heroic efforts of funny men John Bishop and  David Walliams to raise money and awareness for Sport Relief.  That’s why our in-house CSR team ‘Our Little Bit’ took matters into their own hands and launched Engine ‘Off the Road’ for Sport Relief, a chance for Engine’s agencies to join forces and show the power, energy and commitment that lives under one roof at 60 Great Portland Street.

The challenge? To cycle from Engine’s London HQ to our offices in Edinburgh - all 405 tortuous miles of it! The whizz kids at WCRS rigged up an exercise bike to Google Street View so we could virtually track the route and count down the miles over three days of hardcore cycling.

In the spirit of charity and of course light-hearted competition, Synergy led the way on the numbers of volunteers who put themselves forward to demonstrate their athletic prowess (or lack of it). Our very own Dominic Curran, Caroline Ayling, Philip Sanford, Jon Izzard and Ash O’Rourke took to the peddles for the great cause and didn’t do too badly at all.

So, how did the Synergists do?
Results…
- 62.55 miles cycled
- Averaging 12.51 miles per person
- Average speed of 20.98mph per person
- A staggering £3,500 raised within the whole of Engine

Chapeau to Rick Hirst of WCRS who gave Sir Chris Hoy a run for his money and registered an impressive individual average speed of 26.53mph. But Rick’s effort couldn’t prevent Calling Brands from taking the acclaim of ‘fastest overall company’ with a combined average speed of 22.2mph. And although we were only supposed to cycle to Edinburgh we ended up 152 miles further north just past the Loch of Harray.

So, looking back with sore legs and a slightly battered ego - despite our combined sporting credentials we didn’t take the fastest company spot - we’ll definitely be back next year, although a summer of intensive training awaits!

Jon Izzard

To see how we fared in detail check out http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/enginepeddlers.

By Synergy on April 17th, 2012

Tags: Charity, Cycling, Engine, Our Little Bit, Synergy Loves

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