Pantaenius UK take on the 2011 Royal Marine Challenge – and live to tell the tale!

On 8th October 2011, a crack team of yacht insurance intermediaries from Pantaenius UK Ltd turned commandos and took on the 4km Royal Marines Commando Challenge course on Woodbury Common, to raise money for the Royal Marines Charity and Devon Air Ambulance.  A rag-tag team of ten would be military recruits (Andy Crick, Simon and Jenny Firth, Denise and Shaun Beavon, Leigh Huggett, Jonathan and Hayley Reynolds, Ross Bailey and Toby Courtney), clad in Pantaenius team shirts and army trousers lined up at 1025 on a sunny October morning, raring to go and ready to face obstacles more customarily the stomping ground of Britain’s elite armed forces.

The starting claxon was sounded and the team eagerly set off into the woods and across the common, navigating uneven terrain and dodging bracken, gorse, tree stumps and rocks.  Along the way the plucky gang did press-ups in the mud, braved pitch black tunnels (many of which were full of mud and water), waded along rocky streams, traversed icy cold chest deep lakes, scaled energy sapping inclines and picked their way down treacherously steep descents, before enjoying total immersion through an infamous underwater tunnel known as “the sheep dip”, followed by final uphill run home. 

There were numerous achievements, with several team members overcoming personal inhibitions along the way such as setting aside claustrophobia to conquer the tunnels or battling unease of water to complete the sheep dip, although one team member stood out for the accolade of ‘Woman of the Match’ having displayed supreme effort.  Like many of the most meticulously planned military missions, the situation was a little fluid at times and all did not go to plan; Denise Beavon suffered catastrophic equipment failure when the soles were torn from both of her boots very early on.  After an attempt to jury rig the boots and patch up the soles proved unsuccessful, Denise soldiered on to complete almost the entire course barefoot – wearing on her feet only her socks, to the amazement of her team mates and the nodding approval the Royal Marine course officials who she clearly impressed.  Not even Royal Marines complete this course without their boots!  The team started and finished together, showed tremendous team spirit and raised in excess of £850 for the Royal Marines and Devon Air Ambulance.