Teams of public uniformed services students from Telford College have been crowned champions in two different army event challenges designed to put their fitness and team-building skills to the test.
In the first event, three teams of 10 level three students from the college took on teams from Shrewsbury Colleges Group in a challenge run by British Army outreach experts.
The event, hosted on the Telford College campus, included many different tests with the Telford students finishing on top.
Lecturer Carl Hickman from Telford College, who supported the event, said: “There was a 20-metre multi-stage fitness test and the assessors took an average score from each team of ten as the best performance.
“Telford College student Sam Clayton achieved the highest score – which was actually an elite level reading – and the students also took part in a virtual reality challenge on a simulator.
“The assessors also tasked the teams with finding eight buried items using army issue metal detectors, and asked them to use their technical abilities to create a Meccano model to measure their speed and engineering skills.”
In a second event the following day, a level two team took part in challenges off site at Parsons Barracks in Donnington for MAC22 – Midlands Army Challenge 22.
Run by an army engagement team, students were asked to use techniques they had never tried before in a technical task to transport water over an obstacle course.
“Students in the Telford College team were praised for their initiative and team building efforts, which is very impressive. They should be extremely proud,” said Carl.
The Telford team also achieved the best time in the team event over an obstacle course where they took on other teams from King Edward VI in Nuneaton, North Staffordshire College, and the Shrewsbury Colleges Group.
Carl said there were two students that deserved special mention after their performances in the challenges.
“Finlay Anderson is a reformed student – he has a positive attitude and is integral to the course, as he was in this competition.
“He has used the power of positivity to build his attendance up to 100% and is a real ambassador for the college. Finlay showed maturity and leadership skills in the army challenges and he has a fantastic career ahead of him.”
Carl also praised Sarah Haley, saying she was integral to the team’s success.
“Sarah is highly-motivated, and she showed grit and determination to complete all the challenges including clearing a six feet high obstacle.
“She is a serving air cadet and used her experience to support the team to help them achieve their overall win – a really impressive performance.”
