We take a look back on a series of productive meetings, phenomenal food and drink, breathtaking views, and friendly sporting competition.
The trip started in the very early hours of Saturday 18th March, with the journey from Sheffield down to Heathrow airport getting underway at 4am. It was 22 hours later (8pm Mountain Time) that the guys arrived in Denver.
The first thing on their agenda was to pick up the rental car, and what better way to start the week than an incredibly generous free upgrade to a BMW X4, courtesy of a lovely 'Sixt' car hire employee.
It was straight to bed when they eventually got to the hotel at around 9:30pm.
The following day was spent preparing for the week’s coming meetings and exploring the beautiful Colorado Springs.
After getting stuck into some food and drink at a local bar and taking in some ‘March Madness’, it was back to the hotel to catch up on some sleep, fresh for the week ahead.
Monday’s agenda started with the week’s first meeting with USA Weightlifting, a really productive session with Alex where Rich and Martin were able to iron out lots of amendments to their Platform and create a roadmap for their continued development.
In the afternoon, they darted across to visit USA Archery. Rich hopped on a call with our friends at CherryHub, while Martin did a bit of troubleshooting with Brad and Nicole. Brad even invited them to join him for some shooting on Tuesday evening at his local club, but more on this later…
On the Tuesday, they woke up bright and early to take on the ‘Manitou Incline’, one of the most popular hiking trails in the state, gaining over 2,000 feet of elevation in less than one mile.
While they weren’t able to break the Sport:80 record (just six minutes shy of Harry Bunting’s time), the two of them smashed the task in 40 minutes and were duly rewarded with some truly breathtaking views at the summit.
After heading back down via one of the trails, they sat down to have some breakfast in a traditional diner in Old Colorado City, before a second meeting with USA Weightlifting to discuss their Platform’s Campaign Manager, our email marketing solution for National Governing Bodies (NGBs).
After spending the afternoon with USA Judo, with whom they had another incredibly productive meeting, they took up the offer from Brad at USA Archery, and joined him and his son at their local club for a little friendly competition. Rich came out on top…
It was another early start on Wednesday morning, as the pair weren’t going to miss out on a trip to the ‘Garden of the Gods’ before their visit to USA Taekwondo’s nearby headquarters.
Despite a slight mishap with the sat-nav taking them on a slight detour, Rich and Martin eventually found their way to USA Taekwondo’s office, where they had positive discussions about future enhancements to their Platform and potential improvements that can be made to their events module. Afterwards, a second meeting with USA Judo rounded off the afternoon.
A productive meeting with USA Team Handball, who are doing some extremely impressive work to automate their processes in difficult circumstances, was a great start to their Thursday morning, before a busy afternoon which started at the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum.
It was once again Rich who emerged the victor as they took on a series of the interactive sporting challenges throughout the museum.
Naturally, the pair made sure to find a local bar that was showing England vs Italy (couldn’t miss out on supporting Gareth Southgate and the boys), before heading back to their hotel to catch up on customer support tickets ahead of an early start on Friday for their journey back to Sheffield!
The long return journey was absolutely worth it for Rich and Martin, who had a truly unforgettable week full of fantastic people, food, and experiences, and they already can’t wait for the next one!