Goodbye, Slan, Auf wiedersehen, au revoir…
It’s an emotional time, bitter sweet as I say goodbye to my website mk2, which was a bit like my old VW Polo mk2, which I also thought looked cool but it would seem that only I fully understood how to handle that too!!
Now you may think it strange that I am emotional over a website, but this beast of a site has been running for just over a year and in this time has seen over 163,000 hits, 32,000 unique visitors from 93 different countries from America to Zaire with some of the more unusual being Myanmar? Cape Verde and Mozambique
With the top ten being in order; UK, America, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, France, Sweden, Brazil and the Netherlands
Now this website may have had typos, grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, misleading information and was once described to me as “it’s OK but it looks like you’ve done it!”
Which was probably because I had and with my limited IT experience it did a job, one not dissimilar to the Newbury bypass of attracting a fair bit of traffic, got you to where you wanted to be and caused some controversy.
However the reality is it was time for a change and as we are far more than just a website, in-fact the website is just a window into our world (Some Marketing talk for you!) and what would you rather look through some of that frosted glass the type they apparently use in Soho that prevents you seeing the good stuff or a nice big professionally fitted, well-polished single sheet dorma type window that allows you to see everything on offer and exactly where, when and how much it is!
Now this new website also sees the launch of the new look Man-up UK, with our new packages and of course the old classics such as Ras Dewi Sant, Man-Up in The Mud, Swim to the Edge and The Whitesands Challenge will all be there.
Whilst the new editions will include Tour de Shane, Wellness Breaks, Bootcamps, Walking Holidays, group packages and coming soonish some bucket list overseas must do events and tours aka a busman’s holiday!
What does this mean for our events and our customers, hopefully you won’t notice a difference except for the little things like – Your t-shirt and medal are there at the end!!! You won’t be missed off the starting or finishing list and you’ll get regular e-mails with updates. But please don’t let this stop you from e-mailing, messaging, texting or popping in the shop to see me!
And what about the faces! In essence they won’t change Carwyn will still be wandering the country side with his power tool doing all the work, I’ll be avoiding the registration team hoping it all went well!! Jeff will be on a kayak telling a story of how he once came face to face with a killer whale, Pricey will be in charge of all spontaneous erections and unfortunately we may have lost Adrian to the world or competing! But on the plus side I can’t see that happening to Kate. Whilst the rest will go about their business as the silent yet true unsung heroes that they are.
However we are also extremely lucky to have a couple of new additions to the fold, Al from Venatour who brings with him experience, knowledge, structure and a level head when it comes to national and international tours, groups and all things business related. And despite all of that he’s actually a good laugh.
Last but not least a man of many talents especially when it comes to the media whether that be Written, Radio or TV or the world of sport either in the professional or amateur arena and also a public and motivational speaker of some note and guitar player of not many! None other than Scrum V’s Sean Holley a lover of the outdoors and the Pembrokeshire Coast what more could you ask for.
And most importantly we’d like to see your athletic faces of old and new throughout 2017 and beyond! And we really do appreciate all your support