The event, which the charity’s Corporate Partnerships Lead Michelle Heaney-Firth organised working with event sponsors RRG Toyota, saw 20 teams of two from local businesses race around seven secret checkpoints, taking on challenges and trying to find their way around without their phones or their wallets.
The teams were handed a set of maps, a travelcard, snacks and drinks and a small amount of money to buy food at 7 am and told they had 12 hours to get around all seven checkpoints which would be revealed throughout the day.
Beginning their quest at Arthur’s café in Mirfield, the teams then had to visit Forget Me Not’s charity shop on Trinity Walk in Wakefield, Junction 32 Retail Park in Castleford, Kirkstall Abbey in Leeds, The Salt Brewery in Saltaire, The Alhambra Theatre in Bradford, Halifax Piece Hall and cross the finishing line at Russell House, Forget Me Not’s children’s hospice in Huddersfield.
The teams all carried a mascot throughout the day, purchased at the Forget Me Not shop in Wakefield.
Gathering at the stadium in Huddersfield to share their stories and hear the winners were team members and supporters from FMG, The RRG Group, First Bus North and West Yorkshire, AFP Digital, CDUK, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Fullers Foods International, Froneri, HSBC, Bradford Bulls (women’s rugby team), Cerberus Group, Anchor Hanover Group, Joda Freight, Ossett Brewery, Colourcube Automotive Accident Repair Centre and Muslin Hall Garage.
They also heard from Hollie Shaw, 21, one of the first young people to stay at the children’s hospice and her mother Leah Fairbank about how much they have enjoyed and benefited form the support of Forget Me Not.
All the teams spoke about the kindness of strangers and the huge amount of help they received throughout the day when people saw their Forget Me Not hoodies and heard about the challenge. The combined fundraising total from all 20 teams is currently £40,136.
Clive Mattimoe, general manager at RRG Toyota Huddersfield, said: “The idea for Race Across West Yorkshire came during a conversation I had with Michelle at Forget Me Not about the TV show Race Across the World and what we both love about it is that it brings out the best in people – people always do so much to help the contestants for no gain to themselves.
"And that’s exactly what we heard from our teams – story after story after story of people they encountered who helped them out with lifts, directions, donations, snacks, drinks and advice. Everyone was just blown away by the kindness of the people they met out and about in West Yorkshire.”
The fastest team to get around all seven checkpoints was the “Baby Reindeers” team from vehicle incident management company FMG. Their team members Dean Calcutt & Katie Lang, sped around the course after hitching lifts between many of the checkpoints while wearing eye-catching wigs and carrying their unicorn mascot “Martha”.
Bradford Bull’s women’s rugby team Natalie Moorhouse and Rebecca Ball-Knight finished in second place and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Business Board team Mandy Ridyard & Aaron Holt, who have so far raised £4401 for Forget Me Not, finished in third.
Mandy Ridyard, the Mayor of West Yorkshire’s business advisor said: “Aaron and I had a fabulous day, lots of fun, a brilliant time seeing all corners of West Yorkshire and great to do that while raising money and awareness about the vital work Forget Me Not do. The kindness of the West Yorkshire public was just wonderful to experience- every step of the way we met people who helped us out with advice about where to go and how to find the things we needed.
"It’s lovely to have done so well in the challenge but the biggest winners in the Race Across West Yorkshire and the best performance was undoubtedly the team from Forget Me Not and RRG Toyota who put everything together.”
Gareth Pierce , Forget Me Not chief executive said: “It’s been so heartening to hear about the wonderful reception all the Race Across West Yorkshire teams got as they travelled round West Yorkshire in their Forget Me Not hoodies.
"The kindness and generosity they encountered is something we rely on and know a lot about as a charity. 90% of the £6million we need to run our hospice and our services supporting babies and children with life-shortening conditions and their families across West Yorkshire comes from local people.
"We can’t keep doing what we do without events like this, people like our lovely event participants, all their sponsors and the many, many people across our region who support us in so many ways.”
