Seven new activities added to the 2024 Big Rail Diversity Challenge

Seven brand new fun physical, mental and skill-based activities await teams taking part in this year’s much-anticipated Big Rail Diversity Challenge.

Women in Rail’s flagship event, The Big Rail Diversity Challenge (BRDC) provides a platform for team building and networking and is designed to highlight the benefits of working in gender-balanced and diverse teams.

Organised by multi-media specialists Nimble Media Ltd, the 2024 BRDC is being held at Newark Showground, Nottinghamshire, on 19 June, and will feature a total of 28 challenges including favourites such as Hungry Hippos, Walk the Plank and It’s A Knockout.

The septet of new challenges includes a trip back in time to compete in The Big Diversity Sports Day with teams taking part in classics like the sack race, skipping and beanbag balancing. Staying with the physical challenges Golden Bungee Balls will test teams in a head-to-head endurance test where they need to retrieve as many golden balls as possible while ‘bungeeing’ across a giant inflatable. Toxic Jigsaw will see the teams tag-team to navigate a giant 150 foot long inflatable in pairs and complete a jigsaw.

New mental and skill-based challenges introduced for 2024 include ID Parade designed to tests teams’ recognition and memory skills to identify celebrities from the world of entertainment, while in Mortar Attack teams navigate their way through ‘radio-active waste’ and launch a solid fuel maroon rocket – streaming a smoke trail up to 1000 feet into the air – before making their way back to their crashed shuttle.

Semaphore Whisper is based on the game of Chinese whispers using flag semaphore with teams split into groups, one responsible for delivering the message, another deciphering it and the third confirming the final communication. The seventh new challenge is titled Silent Disco which will involve teams battling to name as many songs as possible based only on dance moves they are witnessing, as the dancers are the only ones who can hear the music!

Now in its ninth year, BRDC has become a staple of the rail industry events calendar with many key stakeholders showing year-on-year support.

“The Big Rail Diversity Challenge continues to be as popular as ever,” comments Marie Daly, Chair of Women in Rail and Chief Customer & Culture Officer for Transport for Wales.

“Its unique blend of fun and action-packed activities, underpinned by the key message that diverse, gender-balanced teams work better together, resonates with organisations keen to demonstrate their commitment to inclusion and diversity in the workplace and the benefits this brings.

“The seven new challenges added this year promise to test teams’ problem-solving, collaborative approach and communication.”