2021 Highlights

At the beginning of a new year, we think it's important to look back over the past 12 months. When there's a lot of doom and gloom in the news, it's easy to forget all the highlights and good moments we had throughout the year. Despite everything, 2021 was still a great year for us, so we thought we'd share our recap with you!

This time last year, we expected things to be "back to normal" and were in the middle of planning for a traditional September Games. Little did we know that we'd still be in the midst of the pandemic! 2020 was a learning year for us, so we felt much more confident when we had to switch back to virtual events in 2021. Our first event of the year was one of our most unique events - the virtual Amazing Race! Teams used the power of the internet to race around the world, answering questions and Google Maps-ing as quickly as possible. In May, we held another online event, putting everyone’s knowledge to the test with ‘50 Years of Trivia’!

Summer saw the beginning of our outdoor Challenges - the Nutrien Cycle Challenge, the Suncor Step Challenge and the ROSEN Run Challenge. All the Summer Challenges were designed to get teams outdoors and moving, as well as giving them a way to earn a few extra points before the September Games started. Summer was also when our team got vaccinated!

Calgary Corporate Challenge is supported by a Board of Directors; in 2021, we welcomed four new members to our Board and created two brand new committees (If you were interested in being part of a committee, check out our posting here).

Every year, we hire an Event Assistant for a few months to help us plan and run the September Games. Well, last year, we got two! We were lucky enough to have Joseph and Gabrielle join us in July and they were great additions to the team.

Speaking of September Games, we managed to put on a full Games once again and even managed to safely host some in-person events! Alongside Rowing, Horseshoes and Bocce, we also ran a variety of fun Esports (sponsored by CP) and our BDO Bingo Challenge, which encouraged teams to get outside and explore our beautiful city. The Games were a great success and it was awesome to see so many teams in person once again. (You can read about our winners here.)

Post-September Games, Taylor returned to the office! She had been off on maternity leave but jumped right back into planning for the 2022 September Games. Eventually, we bid a fond farewell to Gabbie and Joe, as well as Chelsea, who initially joined us last year as an Event Assistant and stayed on as our Interim Event Coordinator. Hopefully, you’ll see them around in 2022 as volunteers at one of our events!

We rounded off the year with our annual Christmas Tree-via Party at Schanks, then spent a few weeks away from the office for a well-deserved break.

In more personal news, 2021 was a big year for a few of our staff members. At the beginning of October, Dave and his wife Roxanna (a CCC alumnus!) welcomed a beautiful baby girl to their family! One perk of working from home is that 'home' can really be anywhere, so the Fords are currently in sunny Spain, working remotely. We also got to celebrate with our British staff member Hayley, who officially became a permanent resident of Canada!

Now that we're done reminiscing, it's time to go back to planning for this year. Want to know what we've got going on? Check out our Event page!