Truck Pulling: one rope, one team

Every Hercules Trophy has its legends. Some labours appear once and are gone; a few keep coming back, because teams keep asking for them. Truck Pulling is one of those. It has been part of the Trophy since 2012, and at our 25th Jubilee edition in June 2024 it was there again, at De Nekker in Mechelen.

What happens there? A truck, a rope and your team. That is all we are going to say about it.

What it does to a team

I have watched hundreds of teams at this labour, and the most interesting moment is never the pull itself. It is the few seconds before. Somebody takes the lead. Often it is not the manager, and often it is not the person anybody expected. A colleague who barely speaks in meetings suddenly gives the count, and six people listen.

That is what Truck Pulling shows: nobody moves a truck alone. Strength matters far less than you would think. What matters is whether a group of people can decide, together and in a few seconds, to do one thing at the same time.

The sound of it

If you walk across the venue on a Trophy day, you hear Truck Pulling before you see it. Supporters gather around it, colleagues from other teams stop to watch, and when a truck starts to move the cheering goes all the way to the lake. More than once I have seen a team cross the finish and immediately turn around to cheer on their rivals.

Back at the office

What a team learns at that rope is not about trucks. Deciding together, in a few seconds, who counts and who follows: that is exactly what a project needs when it gets stuck on a Tuesday morning. A team that has felt it once, recognises it.

That is why we organise Hercules Trophy: not for one day of sport, but for what a team takes home.

Curious which labours are waiting for your team? Look at the packages on our pricing page or get in touch.