Newmarket Holidays staff row 100 miles to raise funds for Just A Drop

Staff at Newmarket Holidays have rowed the length of Central America’s longest lake in a virtual challenge, raising £2,000 for water charity Just A Drop.

As part of the tour operator’s ongoing Travel For Good project, employees have rowed a total of 100 miles, equivalent to the length of Lake Nicaragua, on machines in the head office in Wallington, Surrey.

The first part of the charity mission was taken on by the operator last year on bikes, in which staff cycled the length of Nicaragua to raise more than £5,000 for Just A Drop.

Both last year and this year’s events are in support of the development of new school toilet facilities for children and teachers in Nicaragua.

Chief executive Niel Alobaidi was among those to row, paired up against chief people and chief customer officer Ian Dines, after the work force was split into two teams, competing against each other but raising money for the same cause.

Alobaidi said: “This community doesn’t have access to clean water and this affects them in a number of ways: children drop out of school a lot earlier and they can’t attract good quality teachers. This project has been purely funded by the staff and their teams, with each team rowing 50 miles.”

He said the operator would discuss further future fundraising projects with Just A Drop once this project was completed.

Pictured left to right: Newmarket Holidays chief executive Niel Alobaidi and chief people and customer officer Ian Dines in rowing fundraiser