Challenge Complete!

The Great St Albans Challenge a Huge Success

Hundreds of people of all ages packed out the streets last weekend for the debut of The Great St Albans Challenge on Sunday 29th September 2024.

The charity GPS treasure hunt, organised by local events company Wildgoose, hopes to become an annual event and saw over 85 teams taking part and has raised over £7,700 for local counselling charity Youth Talk so far.

Registration Desk at the Great St Albans Challenge

Participants of all ages took part describing it as a “roaring success” and “the best day in ages” with many saying they had “learnt so much about our wonderful city”.

Teams dashed through the streets tackling challenges, cracking clues and racking up points with The Loot Legends being crowned as The Great St Albans Challenge Champions at the final presentation at St Albans Cathedral.

In a parallel running Explorer Scout competition the winning Scout team, Heartwood X said they had really enjoyed the fun afternoon adventure.

Both teams were presented with their prizes by local Olympian Phoebe Gill and the High Sheriff of Hertfordshire Annie Brewster.

What people said

Operations Director and Founder of the event Peter Barker from Wildgoose said:

“What a day it was! We were delighted to be able to create this event to support such a worthy local cause. St Albans is full of such great people who have a heart for charity and real fun-loving spirits. The combination of a great day out and raising funds for Youth Talk injected such a feel-good factor into the fundraising GPS treasure hunt.”

Oli Parkes from winning team The Loot Legends said:

“Thank you to the organisers for the event raising money for a great cause. We had a lot of fun, even if it did mean getting out of our comfort zone on occasions! We hope everyone else had a great time also, and well done to everyone taking part.”

Event Participant Gill Forward said:

“It was such a fun event! I learnt so many new things about the city I live in – and knowing that all the money raised will help local charity Youth Talk to support young people made it even more of a win, win afternoon”.

Local Olympian, Phoebe Gill at the Great St Albans Challenge

CEO of Youth Talk, David Barker, at the Great St Albans Challenge

Chief Executive of Youth Talk David Barker said:

“Wow – what an afternoon. A huge thank you to Peter and the Wildgoose team for making it all possible – and to our amazing team of volunteers who helped in the planning and smooth running of the event on the day. Youth Talk provides vital free confidential counselling to young people aged 13-25 across the District and the funds raised will mean that we will be able to deliver 154 more counselling sessions to local young people who are struggling. Thank you and congratulations to everybody involved – bring on next year!”

The event raised over £7,700 through ticket sales and sponsorship by local businesses.

Richard Marrett, Centre Manager at The Maltings who were headline sponsors said:

“It was truly inspiring to see hundreds of people racing around our beautiful city, having tonnes of fun and all while raising thousands of pounds for Youth Talk. As part of our commitment to support the local community, The Maltings was delighted to sponsor The Great St Albans Challenge and we’re thrilled that the event was a huge success. Congratulations to everyone involved.”