By FLTLT Brendon Colton
Volume 48, No. 18, October 05, 2006
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QUIET ACHIEVERS: LAC Robert Steedman and CPL Brooke Meadows with the record of their achievement from the Uluru Challenge, |
HOW far is it to Uluru, and how quickly can you get there?
That was the question put to the AP-3C detachment deployed in the Middle East by their resident PTI, SGT Steve Weaver.
The distance is 9,888km and the detachment’s 180 members took a figurative 10 days, 23 hours and 30 minutes to get there.
SGT Weaver wanted to raise the profile of physical training in the group as well as reinforce their sense of ‘one team – one goal’. Covering the distance from their base to Uluru in the shortest possible time was their challenge. Everyone was to participate and they could jog, run, walk or cycle the distance. “The activity was a physical and psychological exercise for everyone who participated in it,” SGT Weaver said.
“Achieving a common goal blended the Task Group, and the physical effort required to achieve it, in as short a time as possible, contributed to [their] overall fitness.
“I got the idea after hearing about a similar challenge that one of our Coalition partners had used.”
He said the whole task group was raring to achieve the quickest possible time. They slogged away kilometre by kilometre until the distance had been covered.
“I kept people focused and motivated by providing updates of how far we had gone on a map of the world,” he said. “Every second day you could see our progress across different countries and oceans towards Uluru.”
The honours for most distance travelled in one day went to LAC Robert Steedman with 201km and CPL Brooke Meadows with 80km. The section with the highest contributing total was the Force Protection Air Defence Guards who travelled 1,602.5 km in a single day.
“Recognition of achievements in this challenge should strengthen the motivation of future rotations to break the record,” SGT Weaver said.
“The benchmark has been set and now it’s up to future rotations to see if they can improve on the record and earn boasting rights to be the Uluru record holders.”
