Poole Alcock LLP takes on Tough Mudder North West 2018

At Poole Alcock we enjoy setting ourselves challenges and this year has been no different. As a firm of Solicitors and support staff, for most of us, our day job invariably involves sitting at a computer behind a desk. Whilst it may not be the most physical of jobs, it is certainly mentally demanding.

Tough Mudder on the other hand, requires both mental and physical strength.

A group of 10 Solicitors, Partners and support staff decided to push themselves beyond their comfort zones and attempt the Tough Mudder Half course at Cholmondeley Castle on Saturday 8^th September 2018.

The team consisted of Dan Brooks, Cherry Riddlesdin, Anna Burns, Eve Lakin, Nic Fury, Jamie Riseley, Helen Stoller, Leanne Gillan, Natasha Mafunga and Hannah Kelly. A great variation of Conveyancing, Crime, Family, Business Services and Personal Injury departments.

We chose to raise money for St Lukes Hospice in Winsford, Cheshire. This charity is very close to our hearts at Poole Alcock in light of its locality. It is a well known charity with our staff members with many people knowing someo  ne who has benefitted from their care.

Since 1988, St Luke’s has been providing palliative care to local people, supporting them in ways which go beyond the scope and funding of the NHS. Last year they supported over 1,000 local people with a huge range of support from end of life care on their ward to supporting carers, and from helping children cope with grief to helping patients return to work after an illness. They are a charity and provide all their care for free, so they rely on the generosity and commitment of supporters to raise more than 80% of their costs.

On arriving at Cholmondeley Castle, spirits were high within the team despite the threatening rain clouds overhead. Why the weather was so important I don’t know because we were very soon to be submerged in muddy water! The course was 5 miles with 13 obstacles to overcome.

The team braved obstacles such as ‘Kiss of Mud’ which involved commando crawling underneath a barbed wire net and ‘Mud Mile’ which involved wading through muddy water before climbing/sliding up and down muddy mounds. ‘Sewer rat’ was probably the most amusing as it involved crawling through a pipe before having to somehow lower yourself down into thick claggy mud. A team mates hand was crucial in being able to get out of this quagmire without losing a shoe! Needless to say, no one came out clean after that one!

Team work was hugely important and we all certainly bonded through giving each other piggy backs through mud and climbing over each other after having made a human pyramid to reach the top of one obstacle.

Good humour was the theme of our team and we are proud to say that we all got through it together.

After crossing the finishing line, we toasted our achievement with a bottle of free cider and headed back to Nantwich for food and drink in our ‘finishers’ t-shirts, worn with pride.

We are absolutely thrilled to have also raised over £1,000.00 for St Lukes Hospice.

Thank you to everyone who donated and sent encouraging messages to us. It meant so much to us all.

Would we do it again? Perhaps we’re crazy but everyone’s views after finishing was ‘bring on 2019’ and ‘bring on the full course!’

See you in the mud next year??