This year’s CBRE ‘Row 50’ event saw 28 teams compete to raise money for Action For Children, the firm’s 2018 supported charity. Overall funds raised from around the country have topped £12,000 with the two Southampton teams adding £1,200, more than doubling its initial target and one of the largest contributors.

The event took place at Red Funnel’s Terminal one and money raised on the day was split between Action For Children and the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, Red Funnel’s chosen charity for this year. In amongst the teams were two key donkey supporters – Busby and Red Merlin – who had made the special trip over from the Island that morning to cheer on the rowers.

Two teams of five rowers “Row Hard or Row Home” and “Seas The Day” set out for Terminal 1 to pit their rowing skills against one another. Row Hard or Row Home, captained by Stephen Whitworth with support from Lance Anelay from Santander, and Robert Shadbolt, Ken Raisbeck and Beth Hobbs all from CBRE. Seas The Day was captained by Amanda Hook who was equally well supported by CBRE team members Ghassan Al-Hourani, Liam Small, Derek Johnson and Liam O’Connell.

It was as tight as it could get right to the wire, with Row Hard or Row Home pipping Seas the Day by just 31 seconds to complete their 50km row in 3 hours, 21 minutes and 5 seconds. These times meant that the Southampton crews came in in 5^th and 6^th place, a fantastic achievement given it is one of the smallest CBRE UK offices.

Commenting on the event, CBRE Senior Director Stephen Whitworth, said: “We always look forward to CBRE’s Row 50 event and were delighted when Red Funnel offered to host our teams at its ferry terminal. In spite of a damp start to the day, we were lucky with the weather while rowing and both teams put in a huge effort to ensure we were right up there with the other offices competing around the country.

“Having Busby and Red Merlin over was great fun and we are hugely grateful to both Red Funnel and the donkey sanctuary for their support.”

Pawel Pudlik, Red Funnel Operations Manager added: “Our congratulations to both CBRE teams who had clearly trained well and made it a fun event to be involved with. The Sanctuary’s farm manager Julia Newton, and I thoroughly enjoyed our go on the rowing machines. The public were generous on the day and we have been able to donate over £75 to the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, our chosen charity this year.”