We did it! Race the Sun. Done.

The night before Mike, Mark, Kev L and I packed our cars up with all the gear, including bikes, and headed off to Snowdonia (Eryri) to begin what would turn out to be an epic couple of days. We arrived in Llanberis at 6pm to register the teams, get our race numbers, event order, timings and rack our equipment. We then headed back to Plas Y Brenin, our overnight accommodation, for great food and a good nights sleep. Plas y Brenin is the UK’s National Outdoor Centre and come highly recommended as a place to base yourself to explore North Wales.

By 6am the following morning we were up and out. Each team was given a ‘dabber’ which was used to register at every check point and a tracker so everyone knew exactly where we were on the course. Kev was given the responsibility of the ‘dabber’ a rather vital role and I carried the tracker.

The Foundry was team 37 and we would first be kayaking a 3.2km circular route on the waters of Llyn Padarn. Then hiking 15.4km on the Llanberis path to the top of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), followed by a 51.5km bike ride in the foothills of Eryri (Snowdonia). It might not have been our order of preference, but we were ready to get stuck in.

The organisers had a great online tracker so our Foundry friends could follow our progress at home. We were joined on the day by two other teams from our clients HAGS and their associates TayPlay.

As well as completing a personal challenge we were all taking part to raise money for Action Medical Research, the leading UK-wide charity for sick babies and children. For the last 70 years they’ve been saving and changing children’s lives through medical research, developing treatments, vaccinations, and cures.

The time had come to start the race. No turning back now! As it happened the paddle was a nice gentle start, only taking 45 minutes, including a 15 minute walk to and from the start line, to complete in a rafted kayak. The weather was kind and the only real negative was getting very wet feet when we disembarked.

Up next was the 15.4km hike to the summit of Yr Wyddfa. This is a hike we’ve done before so we knew what to expect. Whilst the temperature had been fairly mild down on the lake it was a pretty chilly -5 at the top, and we were all glad we’d packed lots of layers. Up and down in 4 hours.

After descending down Llanberis path we were ready to start the final and longest leg of the challenge: a 51.5k bike ride. This was where my energy levels really dipped as the hills seemed never-ending and the middle third of this felt tough. A quick energy gel, handed to me by a course marshal, seemed to give me a boost for the final third.

Every time we thought we were reaching the crest; the hill would continue for another few miles. Kev did especially well as he’d never ridden the bike he borrowed for the event until that very morning. Nothing like a last-minute plan.

Despite the hills we all really enjoyed the bike ride (didn’t we, Mark?). The scenery was unbeatable as always and it felt great riding back to Llanberis to cross the finish line for such a good cause.

We were all done and dusted by 3.30pm – much faster than our predicted time. Our event time was 7 hours 48 minutes - just over 8 hours if you include the transitions between events.

Everyone received an environmentally friendly and sustainable wooden medal, which was a nice touch, and we also got a special mention by the organisers for our great social comms on Insta­gram and LinkedIn leading up to the event.

Thanks to our Foundry friends, our brilliant clients and creative community, we’ve raised over £5500 for Action Medical Research. The Just Giving page is still open so all help is much appreciated to push us over our target. You can donate here: https://bit.ly/49f8cTY We feel incredibly proud to achieve this as a team and enjoyed it so much some of us have already signed up for next year!