On Friday 18 September, six of the Citywide team traded the office for a field near Crawley, and spent the afternoon at the Vanguard Tough Mudder, an event run for advisers and investment professionals. Matt Burt, Tomos Croxon and Tanya Davis were back for their second attempt. Catherine Archer and Gemma Askew, who works with Citywide over the summers, came as first-timers. Gemma’s father, Clinton Askew, had tackled a Tough Mudder before, though this was his first with colleagues alongside him.

Catherine put it plainly, “I was well and truly out of my comfort zone for the Vanguard Tough Mudder. Even as a shorter course, there are some challenging obstacles. The team were so amazing at working together, with different people coaching, coaxing, encouraging and picking up the slack (or literally the person!) at every turn.”

Matt knew roughly what to expect. “This was the second time that I have completed the Vanguard Tough Mudder and both times they have been so much fun! We had some new obstacles to contend with this year along with some of the favourites from last time.” The sun shone, but there still was, in Matt’s words, “plenty of mud and water to contend with.”

For Tanya, the day came down to “everyone in the team with the same goal, getting the whole team through, over or under the obstacle and working brilliantly together.”

That approach paid off. “The team pulled together, working to each other’s strengths,” says Matt, “and we managed to get everyone through all the obstacles this year, which was a huge achievement.”

Anyone who has been in a Citywide planning meeting will recognise the approach: find out what each person does well, agree where everyone needs to finish, and make sure nobody ends up alone at the bottom of the wall. Catherine has already got the date in the diary: “We’ll look forward to next year!”