Two RNLI lifeguard supervisors from West Wales used their training and fitness to maximum effect this week by playing their part in a round-Britain charity relay challenge.
RNLI lifeguard supervisors Elin Jones, from Ceredigion, and Chris Rigby, from Pembrokeshire, did their bit for the QinetiQ Relay Challenge when it worked its way around the coastlines of Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire on Monday, 17 May.
Elin – who had completed a triathlon the previous day and came first in her section – joined Chris, QinetiQ employees and other participants at 8am on a glorious sunny morning for a photocall before embarking on a 10 kilometre run taking in the breathtaking views of Ceredigion’s coastline from Aberporth to Gwbert as they ran.
After completing the run in a very creditable 52 minutes they dashed down to the wharf outside Forest Adventure in Cardigan – ahead of walkers who were completing the next 3.5km of the relay – to hand over a baton and a piece of QinetiQ technology called an Ocellus, which allows people to track and map the relay’s progress.
At 10.15am, Chris and Elin then provided safety cover for 10 kayakers who began the next leg of the relay by paddling down to Poppit, just over the Pembrokeshire border. The RNLI pair accompanied the kayakers in an RNLI inshore rescue boat to the next staging post on the relay where other teams were due to continue running, walking, kayaking, sailing and cycling to the next site in Pendine, Carmarthenshire.
The West Wales leg of the relay followed on from the fantastic efforts of those who had completed the previous leg starting at Malvern, in the Midlands, on Friday 14 May, and arriving at the QinetiQ site in Aberporth on Monday 17 May. QinetiQ’s nominated charities this year are RNLI, Royal Legion, SSAFA, and Cancer Research.
The employees hope to raise £10,000 from their efforts, including some funding from QinetiQ – the defence and security technology and services company.
It is expected that each charity will benefit to the tune of £2,000 or more.
The relay saw participants depart from the island of St Kilda, in the Outer Hebrides, on 23 April, with teams of QinetiQ employees from all over the UK travelling from one site to the next, by a combination of cycling, kayaking, running, sailing and walking to finish the challenge in Shoeburyness, Essex, on 4 June.
Elin Jones said: ‘I was a bit tired, following on from doing a triathlon the previous day, but it was a glorious morning to get out and run along our beautiful coastline, where last year RNLI lifeguards responded to 1,198 incidents and aided 1,410 people.
‘I hope it allowed the relay teams to be able to see very directly where the money they are helping to raise can be put to good use by RNLI lifeguards.’
QinetiQ employees who completed the Malvern to Aberporth leg of the relay added their take on the importance of the relay challenge.
Iain Smith: ‘We’ve been quite lucky with the weather. We were going through the Black Mountains at 5-o-clock on Sunday morning and the weather then was pretty bleak to start, but it picked up as we went along and that brought out the people along the route, bringing us smiles and giving us confidence.’
Caroline Maynard: ‘We powered on, and there were lots of people from the local community coming out to support us.
‘We hope this has done a lot to promote the good work that QinetiQ does for charities and has given us a greater appreciation of the work of charities like the RNLI.’
