Cisco Euro Challenge
Construction Cable Chaos
Rob Howard - SleepMonsters.com / 11.09.2004
Here, a row of 3 construction bays was set out for each team, and from a distance bits of equipment could be seen laid out for the task ahead. This was to recover two ping pong balls, set in plastic tubes between the bays, by suspending buckets of water above them and tipping the water into the tubes to raise the balls to the top.
With poles, ropes and a bucket supplied most teams set about building \'A\' Frames, but to help make their pulleys they had to run off to 3 equipment points and collect two carabiners and an S-hook. They were not far away, and soon the \'A\' frames were being raised up, buckets filled and ropes thrown across between the bays. In most cases there was a leader who was most vocal, shouting instructions and organising tasks.
Suspending a heavy bucket of water, and having enough control to tip it into a small tube, wasn’t easy. The Slovakian team, Tronet a.s. were one of the first to get their \'A\' frames set up and retrieve their first ping pong ball, shouting to the marshal to confirm it was raised above the line marked on their tube. The marshals were watching two bays each to make sure there were no rule infringements, such as stepping out of the bays.
In bay one there was a special team of visiting journalists and senior Cisco staff having a go, while in the next bay were defending champions Scania CV AB. With 7 executives who’d never met before on one team it was a slow start.
As Kip Meyer of Fortune Magazine said, “It was a case of who’s in charge, and why have we got 3 plans?� But once they began working together, and helped by their extra numbers, they progressed quickly. “Everyone took the lead at some point,� added Meyer. In the end they beat Scania and raced off to the finish, delighted with their performance.
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