Published at 11:09, Thursday, 26 April 2012

EIGHT young people from Balfour Beatty came third in the first Apprentice Team of the Year competition, following a six-week contest against teams from some of the country’s leading employers.

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The Brathay Apprentice Challenge pitted eight teams of apprentices against each other in a range of challenges designed to test young people’s business acumen, team working and even physical endurance.

The finals, at the Brathay Trust’s Cumbrian HQ, saw the Balfour Beatty team narrowly lose out to winners aerospace firm Cobham and MBDA Missile Systems. They saw off competition from five other teams from Bentley Motors, the Co-operative, the National Apprenticeship Service, Rolls-Royce and Virgin Media.

The two-day event in Cumbria tested teams’ problem solving and physical endurance, culminating in a 10-mile whaler boat race across Lake Windermere and built on six weeks of fundraising and communications challenges.

The team, all based at Sellafield, raised the most money of all the teams, for their chosen charity Help for Heroes. In addition, they secured support for their activity from rugby league stars, Copeland MP Jamie Reed and went into schools to promote apprenticeships.

Team captain Thomas Hyland said: “We’re gutted to have come so close to winning the apprentice team of the year challenge, but we’ve got so much out of taking part in this competition.

“It’s been a tough competition and we’re really proud of our achievement, not only at the finals in Cumbria, but also in raising almost £10,000 for Help for Heroes.”

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk