Inaugural SteelEye-Sponsored ‘RunningforALTSO’ Event a Big Success: Firm Plans More This Summer
Last week, London-based regtech firm SteelEye kicked off the inaugural ‘RunningforALTSO’ fundraising campaign, where it challenged management consulting firm Baringa Partners to a ‘run-off’ whereby it would donate £1 to mobility charity A Leg To Stand On for every kilometre covered by either firm’s participating runners.
Baringa Partners ran out the winners of the contest, with their eight runners covering a total of 436.68km between Monday and Friday last week, holding off a late surge from SteelEye, which won both Thursday and Friday for a total of 401.19km. Alongside donations made by external parties, the event raised more than £2,000 for A Leg To Stand On.
SteelEye CEO Matt Smith ran a half marathon every day, despite doing little to no training in the previous six months.
“I think all runners really surprised themselves with how much they could achieve in one week,” he said. “We also had a team member who, prior to the challenge, had never jogged further than 1km in his life. On the first day of the competition he did 2.5km and on the last, over 10km. Running for ALTSO translated into a commitment and dedication amongst the runners that meant that they all pushed through physical exhaustion, blisters and broken feet, and bad weather to just get a few more kilometres under their belt each day.”
SteelEye already has plans to expand the event this summer and Smith urges other firms to get involved and start their own ‘RunningforALTSO’ challenge; he points to a groundswell of support for the inaugural event as the inspiration for the expansion.
“Next up, we are going to do a bigger challenge with 4-5 companies taking part, and after that, we plan to make the #SteelEyeRunningChallenge an annual event. But this isn’t designed to be specific to SteelEye. We want #RunningForALTSO to be adopted by other companies. So, if you are reading this and would like to see how far your company can run in a week, all you have to do is challenge another company, select a working week, and get running,” he said. “The community response to the challenge has been incredible, especially on social media where we have received endless support and ongoing cheers from clients, partner firms, contacts, friends and relatives. Because of the incredible community support, we surpassed our fundraising goal.”
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