Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Go! Mr Mystery's Adventures on the Gamma Ball Rally '14 (updated)

[Sarah Lloyd (Sarah_EMEA PR)]

So Mr Mystery will be cruising from Gamma’s head offices in Newbury to their Dublin site over the course of three days, taking part in challenges and all in a reasonably priced car, culminating in a black tie charity auction. A maximum budget of £500 means that just making it across to the Emerald Isle will be a challenge in itself – good job he is fully equipped with all the necessary technology to stay in touch and if the car doesn’t make it he can still drop in to his Monday morning sales meeting virtually…

Read below for daily updates and anecdotes from Mr Mystery himself.

Day 1: Gentlemen, start your engines….

We met in the glamorous location that is the Newbury Sainsbury’s car park.

Its proximity not only to Gamma HQ, but also to my navigator’s office made it the ideal starting point from which to begin our adventure. Having collected my co-pilot we, and the 32 other cars taking part, made our way to the start. The fancy dress theme has been taken very seriously by all participants, although I just wore my usual clothes and flip flops for comfort.

We then set off for Buxton to complete our two driving skills challenges; you can see my efforts in the video below.

The action continued at the go karting track before heading off to Wolverhampton to bed down for the night.

Day 2: X marks the spot

This morning we received our instructions for a thoroughly modern treasure hunt. Identifying locations via GPS, we will continue to document our adventures…

We successfully solved the clues to make sure we got our photos taken at Llangollen, Pontcysyllte aquaduct.

The town with the longest name...

And the Ferry!

Day 3: It’s the taking part that counts.

We did it! Me and my copilot made it from Newbury, in Berkshire, to Dublin on a budget of £500 (which had to include a car!) taking in three days of challenges on the way, including extreme driving skills. At the Gamma Ball Rally III, a fantastic time was had by all, but it was, of course, a fundraising event. Well, the final counts are in and a brilliant £95,000 was raised! This will be split equally between the event’s two chosen charities, The Honeypot Children's Charity and Action Through Enterprise. Worthy causes indeed and all that’s left to do now is to pass on my congratulations to my fellow participants, especially the winners; Incom-Mando, Wafty Crackers and the Flukes of Hazard. See you all next year!