Ask Katelyn Abell from IHS Markit what she thinks catapulted her team to the top of the charts in the Southfield CommUNITY Cup this summer, and she will probably shout that it was her team’s performance in the Amazing Race that sealed the win.
Abell, along with other IHS Markit team members, received the coveted Southfield CommUNITY Cup trophy at the Southfield City Council meeting on September 23.
As a first-time team chair and as a first-time participant in the Southfield CommUNITY Cup challenge, Abell is thrilled that her team performed so well. But she’s even more excited about sharing community involvement with other Southfield City Centre teams during the summer-long event.
“What really helped me was finding a person at IHS Markit to chair each individual event, and they got their teams together,” says Abell. “I was worried that people wouldn’t be able to attend after work events, but everyone was really excited to mingle with their coworkers and network and get to know people from other companies.”
IHS Markit, a global data management company, was one of 21 teams to participate this year. Teams competed to earn top points in events like goofy golf, kickball, trivia night, and bowling.
But Abell elected to chair the Amazing Race competition herself, and together with three IHS Markit colleagues, Abell worked hard to beat out competitors.
“We were all women on our team and we joked that it was girl power that helped us win,” she says. Twenty trivia questions led the team to various historical landmarks or challenged them to run with a random individual along the Southfield City Centre Trail while capturing the antics on video. “They probably thought we were crazy,” Abell laughs.
Strategic planning and physical fitness helped the team climb from sixth place to first place through the Amazing Race category, and they carried the No.1 score to the final kickball event.
“We knew that if we didn’t do well in kickball, that we would lose. But we kept winning and winning. We thought we would go home early, but we were there at 6:30, still playing,” says Abell.
While the DENSO North America team ultimately won the kickball event, IHS Markit had earned enough points to take home the cup.
In addition to being a fun team-building event, the Southfield CommUNITY Cup also works to support a local cause. This year, the teams worked together to beautify Southfield’s Bedford Woods Park. The centerpiece of the effort was a mural that adds color and excitement to the public park.
“Planning and painting the mural was a really nice way to give back,” Abell says. IHS Markit joined team members from The Mars Agency, Comau, Moncur and City of Southfield to design, prepare, and implement the plan. It was a true team effort.
Energized for next year’s event, Abell looks forward to further strengthening the community inside IHS Markit and in the wider Southfield City Centre.
“The people I work with a great, and it’s a united community, which you don’t always get to have,” she says. “Southfield is a larger city, but I feel the City Centre tries to do a lot with their community, and that’s huge. Everyone I have met here is really nice.”
