Corporate games gets Army aboard
Volume 11, No. 52, September 21, 2006

Tyring: A soldier carries two colleagues in the corporate games. Photo by Graham Davis

AN ARMY team from Brisbane has taken second place in the inaugural RAN sponsored HMAS Brisbane Shield Corporate Challenge.

The team discovered, however, that the challenge was far different to the usual sporting carnival, as brains as well as brawn would carry the day.

The eight soldiers were among more than 128 athletes who contested the challenge.

A total of 16 teams participated in nine events with the aggregate point score winner taking home the shield.

The challenge was part of Navy Week in Brisbane and was held at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre at Nathan on August 23.

Other organisations to send teams included the RAAF, Navy, Defence Recruiting, Police, Queensland Fire and Rescue, Queensland Ambulance, Queensland Sport and Recreation, Channel 10 and the Queensland Olympic Council.

Organisations such as the Bocce Federation of Queensland and the AFL provided personnel and or support.

One of the events requiring brawn was the Ship to Shore Leadership Challenge that called for a single contestant wearing gumboots to carry two of his colleagues across an “oil-covered stretch of water” to the safety of the shore.

Some contestants had to also carry stores in the form of rope and tyres. Those carried would be disqualified if their feet touched the water.

Another event requiring “brawn” in the form of a strong arm was the bocce event where athletes hurled or bowled a 1.25kg steel ball towards a jack.

Volleyball kept teams on their toes. But taxing their brains was the Towers of Hanoi event in which participants had to reposition different sized blocks on pins without having a large block sitting atop a smaller one.

Come the end of the day, the ADF had scooped the pool, taking out the first four places.

The RAAF team was first with 448 points, Army second with 425, Defence Recruiting (made up of soldiers, sailors and airmen) third with 396 points and Navy fourth on 328 points.