Creative Clarity 2
13th June 2018

Big Cat takes on the Wolves for the Children’s Liver Disease Foundation.

It was the morning of 2nd June. It was overcast; a gentle wind brushed the trees and shards of sunlight sporadically made their way through the grey clouds. Birds chirped gently in their nests and the postman strolled along the pavement handing packaged delights to expectant recipients.  This view was watched from bedrooms around Birmingham, as the individual members of the Big Cat team pulled their bright white t-shirts over their heads, filled up on a hearty breakfast and fastened their laces tighter than ever before…

In groups of two and three, the Big Cat team pulled up into a field in rural Leicestershire, spotting each other from their glowing white shirts amongst a sea of black and blue. Together they came, striding through the entrance and headed towards the large wooden constructions in the distance…

With mobile phones and wallets left in cars, big black numbers scribbled in sharpie across their foreheads and medical disclaimers signed on the dotted line, this was anything but a usual morning for the Big Cats… Today was the day they took on the wolves!

Children’s Liver Disease Foundation is a fantastic charity fighting childhood liver disease by providing information, emotional support, research funds and a voice for all those affected.

We’re lucky enough to have been working with them for over 3 years now supporting on their digital and design elements for various fundraising activity. At Big Cat we’re no stranger to going the extra mile and this year, we showed CLDF that we truly give a damn by going where no Big Cat had dared to go before. Albeit nervously for some of the team, 9 of us signed up for the Summer Wolf Run – a gruelling 10k obstacle race involving tall and testing structures to clamber over, muddy tunnels to crawl in, swamps to wade through, stinky open water lakes to swim in and mud suckers that took our Graphic Designer Simon in its clutches up to his neck.

Big Cat Wolf Run

Once signed up, warning emails were hitting our inboxes every couple of weeks reminding us to ‘get training’ because the Wolf Run ‘is an EXTREME sporting event’, resulting in many of the team regularly throwing their heads back at their desks getting increasingly more nervous and asking themselves: ‘WHAT WAS I THINKING?!’. Despite the worry and fear felt by several members of the Big Cat Wolf Runners, we all made it to the start line and proudly to the finish line too.

The adventure started off in a waist deep, filthy lake before we ran our way through slippery muddy woodland trails, dodging branches, leaping over fallen trees and clambering up banks. We were then met by the infamous mud suckers, and taken hostage by the deep slodge that clung on even harder the more you moved. Clutching onto tree branches for dear life as we made our way over some of the worst and most fear inducing parts of the mud sucker, shoes, earrings and dignity were lost whilst we clambered, fell, slipped and battled our way through several kilometres of marshland.

At the half way point, we were met with a giant slide that required us to run and jump to get our momentum up. Hips, knees, elbows, chins and goolies all fell victim to bashes and bruises as we raced down on our stomachs, hoping for the love of God that the brown, murky water spraying in our mouths was just mud rather than remnants of various woodland and lake dwelling creatures.

The rest of the course was a rather wet one; with several sink holes tripping us up before we had to submerge ourselves in a deep and freezing cold lake and swim under obstacles to get out at the other side. To finish off, we attempted a rope swing and threw ourselves into a lake that smelt worse than the goose faeces we were swimming in and made our way to the finish line.

We had an absolutely fantastic time, despite a couple of minor injuries, nearly losing Simon to the mud sucker and myself contracting moderate hypothermia (nothing that couldn’t be fixed by a pint of Pimm’s and a new, dry Wolf Runners finisher top). No one can say that we didn’t give this race our all and we’re absolutely thrilled to have raised nearly £1000 so far for the magnificent Children’s Liver Disease Foundation.

BIG CAT CONQUERED THE WOLVES!

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