PWC BOYS SWAP THEIR DESKS FOR A DASHBOARD AND HIT THE STANS
AS YOU reluctantly get your engine running on this Monday morning, spare a though for Tom Henry and Simon Todd of Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ London Assurance team who are in the early stages of a long and gruelling 10,000km drive from London to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Because yesterday the PwC team swapped their desks for the dashboard of a Nissan Micra as they set off to join in The Mongol Rally and raise money for its three charities, Mercy Corps, the Children and Young People’s Protection Development and the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation.
The only rules are that you choose your own route and a vehicle with a capacity of one litre or less to complete the journey in three-four weeks.
Having (wisely) abandoned the idea of driving across the searing heat of the Kazakhstan Desert, the courageous pair will journey through Georgia and Azerbaijan and then by ferry across the Caspian Sea after into Turkmenistan.
“We want to travel through as many ‘Stans’ as possible,” says Tom. Rather them than us.
The Capitalist wishes the boys the very best of luck, and hopes to be able to share some of their tales along the way.
PRIZE WINNER
Thanks to everyone who entered our Standard Chartered Great City Race (SCGCR) competition and congratulations to BNP Paribas director Alison Kraft, who correctly said that Seeing Is Believing was the official charity of the race, and won a year’s free Black Label membership with Fitness First.
Well done Alison. No pressure, but we assume this means you will be in tip-top shape to run the race next year?
Talking of tip-top shape, The Capitalist’s jaw nearly hit the floor to see Punter Southall’s Emily Adams – the fastest woman in Thursday’s SCGR – was back in her trainers again on Friday. The trainee actuary retained her title of Women’s Champion at the 2009 JP Morgan Corporate Challenge in
Battersea Park, logging a time of 19 minutes and 50 seconds.
Impressive stuff, though we hear that the determined lady had trained 60 miles a week in preparation to defend her title.
Is anyone else feeling slightly inferior? Then perhaps this is more your vintage. Neleen Strauss, founder of City restaurant High Timber, last week entertained a group of four lawyers for dinner from a practice near to the restaurant. The lawyers decided to finish their meal with a bottle each of the world’s finest dessert wine, Chateau d’Yquem.
Unable to agree on which was the best vintage, they chose four years: 1989, 1990, 1995 and 1996, priced between £400 and £800 per bottle. They proceeded to drink the lot, refusing to share a drop with their colleagues. Seems like good times are here again!