Stage Three – Ready Steady Cargo
Margum Country Park Estate, an 850 acre park complete with Abbey, castle, lake and miniature railway was the location for Stage Three.
The aim of this two and a half hour set time stage was to complete as many haulage routes as possible by collecting cargo from designated points and transporting the goods to the corresponding delivery locations throughout the park. Teams could transport cargo by truck, ship or rail. At each cargo point, teams had to correctly answer a puzzle before they could collect the cargo and in some cases a specific haulage license was required and similarly teams had to correctly answer a puzzle to earn the license.
As the stream of cars rolled up to the impressive Margum Castle, the sun came out from behind the clouds. Determined to avoid unnecessary running after a tough morning cycle stage, a number of teams were still studying their maps well into the stage with Team 24, Tullow Oil the last to leave aptly twenty four minutes after stage start.
Teams embraced the combination of running, canoeing and mental puzzle tasks required of them. Communication and strategic thinking were key, particularly when teams paired off to visit certain checkpoints before re-grouping to visit other compulsory points.
After capsizing their canoe, Team 24, Tullow Oil surrendered to the cold and crossed the finish line first with more than twenty two minutes of stage time left to go. Maximising their time out on the course however was eventual stage winner Team 5, BG Brasil who generated an extremely impressive bonus time of one hour fifty three minutes resulting in a stage time of just thirty seven minutes.
Delighted at their performance, Simon Vanstone from BG Brasil said: “This stage really put our fitness to the test but it was our careful planning and strategising that served us well. Each of us gave it our all which contributed to us rising to third on the leader board. We’re so pleased!”
One of the elements that keep many teams coming back to the BG Energy Challenge year after year is the promise of new and engaging stages that balance testing team work, strategy and planning with participant’s fitness and their ability to think logically in the heat of the moment. This stage was testament to that fact, with teams leaving Margum Country Park having faced yet another memorable challenge.