On the 1st August 2014 at Surrey Quays water sports centre 200 Mindshare co-workers arrived by coach with very mixed emotions, stepping out of the coach in trepidation wondering what the day ahead would have in store for them. Looking out upon the water many spied the 3 x 12 metre long boats with a large brightly painted dragon heads and tails attached to each end. Alongside the fiery colourful boats laid the most important part of the day – a Bar providing a wide range of chilled cold lager on draft, specially sourced wines and soft drinks and a BBQ with a wide range of mouth-watering food such as Sirloin Steak Roll with Caramelized Red Onion, and New York Cheese Cake with Cream all for refuelling and rewarding the teams.
The calm atmosphere of people arriving and disembarking form the coach swiftly turned to into a cauldron of competitive energy and excitement! Once participants had experienced their first time out on the water and observed their race times, the desire to get faster and faster took hold…. Even the most traditionally reserved became dragon boat athletes powering through the Surrey waters in perfect unison. Now add the dimension of inter-company racing and you have yourself a competition! Co- workers became rivals as the desire to be the days champion fuelled the oars people on as the racing reached a pinnacle. CEO versus duty mangers, male vs female and inter-company teams divided as teams raced for the final time.
‘The best job I have worked on, but the people make that’ said one of our fellow co-workers and it’s true. There was screaming, laughing and playful booing for a winning team, most of the teams there being female crews and only one team being an all male set up, no wonder they got booed for winning!
Back on dry land and dried off from the frivolities, eventually the beer from the bar tuned into ammo for the water pistols, this itself was great fun but note that all the teams were all in animal fancy dress and a real spectacle was had!
A statement from the CEO of Mindshare Worldwide explains how the mixed emotions, fun and competition became the funniest day of their summer.
‘A massive THANK YOU from our CEO and all of Mindshare Worldwide for making our Summer Party a brilliant day out! Dan and the team were fantastic. The whole day was brilliantly planned out and they kept it fun packed throughout. The unexpected branded awards were an added bonus. The food was great, and drink plentiful! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and have said it’s our best Summer Day out for years! I highly recommend Race the Dragon for any event.’
No matter how many people that are involved in your event it has the potential to be one of your best summer days out.
At the end of such an epic day, we had the presentation and reward ceremony where winning and losing teams could receive the congratulations they needed. Branded glass trophies were presented to 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed teams, other teams received gold medals for their outstanding effort throughout the day. Photos were taken with the CEO, people cheered and clapped and handshakes went all round, everyone deserved a pat on the back for making the day so memorable.
