An excellent mixture of players from all three senior teams turned up for this fun, but challenging event on a lovely sunny Saturday morning. They were met by Ricky Armstrong at 09.00hrs at Carrick Little car park in the Annalong area of the Mourne Mountains for a quick muster call.

Soon afterwards the players set off up a 2 kilometre path and made their way to the corner of the Annalong forest where they were met by Tony Heffernan, the event organiser, who gave teams their final briefing and navigation packs, before setting them off on their way at 09.40hrs. The teams then had to orientate their maps and cross-reference the tasks and their locations before heading for the first task.

This team building event was designed to put the players under pressure while having to process information and solve tasks that were time-restricted. The tasks chosen were designed to include all team members, and could only be achieved by working together as a team and pooling resources. During the day each team had to navigate around the Annalong valley and find the various task areas. The distance between each task was a minimum of 2 kilometres and with 20 minutes allowed for travel between each task, and given the terrain, it was achievable with some effort. Finally, to keep the players busy they were given 15 brain teaser questions to solve during these sections.

Feedback from the day has been passed back to the coaching staff, with each team having been assessed by the task masters who recorded their findings. Their brief was also to identify individual players who showed natural leadership and were problem solvers while under pressure.

The Club really appreciates Tony’s time and effort in planning this event, and also those who gave up their Saturday to help run it, namely Ricky Armstrong, Ashley Armstrong, Craig Cooper, Mark Vance, John McMaster, Bill Hichens and John Langtry.