Two RNLI lifeguard supervisors from West Wales will be using their training and fitness to full effect next week in a round-Britain charity relay challenge that is hitting the shores of West Wales on Monday, May 17.
RNLI lifeguard supervisors Elin Jones, from Ceredigion, and Chris Rigby, from Pembrokeshire, will be doing their bit to make the QinetiQ Relay Challenge a great success as it works its way around the coastlines of Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire on Monday, 17 May.
Elin and Chris will be up bright and early on Monday, to see the relay baton handed over ready for them, QinetiQ employees and other participants to start a 10 kilometre run from Aberporth to Gwbert.
The run will start at 8.30am when a baton and a piece of QinetiQ technology called an Ocellus, which allows people to track and map the relay’s progress on a webpage, is handed over from the previous leg of the relay, which started out in Malvern.
After the run to Gwbert, 10 kayakers will then start their leg of the relay from outside Forest Adventure in Cardigan at 10.15am, and they will then paddle down to Poppit. Relay teams will continue running, walking, kayaking, sailing and cycling to the next site in Pendine, Carmarthenshire.
QinetiQ’s nominated charities this year are RNLI, Royal Legion, SSAFA, and Cancer Research.
Pembrokeshire RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor Chris Rigby will also assist in providing safety cover for kayakers who will be undertaking part of the relay challenge from Cardigan to Poppit.
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: ‘RNLI lifeguards have responded to 1,198 incidents and aided 1,410 people along the coastline that the runners, walker and kayakers will be negotiating on May 17. So the relay teams will be able to see very directly where the money they are helping to raise can be put to good use by RNLI lifeguards.’
