Subsea Company Awarded for Raising Major Funds for the Scottish Community Foundation
Local Aberdeen subsea company, Canyon Offshore, last night (25th Sept 08) received the award for Top Fundraiser. Raising over £16,000, the team of 6 - known as ‘Grand Canyon’ - were among 345 named teams with around 1,500 walkers in total, who had endured Scotland’s foremost endurance fundraising event: the RBS Caledonian Challenge.
The ceremony, held at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh, welcomed over 100 delegates and saw Grand Canyon celebrate their success as they were presented with a trophy in recognition of their large donation towards charity organisation, The Scottish Community Foundation.
On June the 14th, beginning at the banks of the River Nevis on a Saturday morning, each team set off for a gruelling 54 mile trek through the national tracks between Fort William and Loch Lomond.
Armed with water, bananas and energy bars the team, made up of four men and two women, headed up the West Highland Way and finished their journey in under 24 hours.
Team leader and Canyon’s Global Trenching Manager, Gary Aylmer, said: “The whole team is proud of our achievements and having over 600 support assistants, dry weather and a great sense of humour certainly helped, but ultimately it was the enormous support from all our sponsors that pushed us on.
“Grand Canyon raised over £9,000 from businesses and individuals and were overwhelmed when Helix Energy Solutions Group of companies agreed to match this to generate over £16,000. All the kind donations kept us motivated and we’re extremely honoured to have won this award.”
The challenge was not without risk or injuries with the team experiencing falls, damaged hamstrings, knee pains, blisters and QHSE Manager, Shane Jakeman, was wounded 18 miles before the finishing line. He tore a muscle in his leg but was determined to cross the finishing line.
Commenting, Shane said: “I really had to push myself and at the end of the day it’s an opportunity to prove yourself to your family, friends and peers that no matter how tough it gets you can still pull through.”
Gary and Shane are ex-Navy and are used to grueling and rigorous training sessions yet even they agreed that this challenge was on par with some of the toughest training they have encountered.
Vice President for Europe and West Africa at Canyon, Angus Kerr, said: “We’re delighted with what our colleagues have achieved not only for The Scottish Community Foundation but also for themselves. Their award demonstrates the huge generosity of the North- East community and the total fund raised by them but also the hard work put in by our colleagues.
“Canyon were fully behind the Grand Canyon team and were proud to support such a worthy cause that helps local charities to really make a difference in the communities in Scotland. Congratulations goes to the team for their strong will to complete the challenge so successfully.”
2009 is set to be another successful year for the Caledonian Challenge as over 500 people have already shown interest in taking part in 2009 and the Scottish Community Foundation are hoping to recruit a record number of teams onto the event next year. Early bird discounts are available in October for those interested in taking part.
