Not everyone is cut out for an army life but 40 people took up the challenge to live the life of a soldier for just one day.

Ten groups of four people each took part yesterday in gruelling physical challenges that every rookie soldier has to go through as part of their training.

Closely followed by army officers who shouted, cajoled and pushed them to their limits, the participants carried tree-logs for a distance, crawled under barbed wire and climbed three-metre high walls.

The wannabe soldiers had to go through five challenges: Fire in the Hole, Rucksack Run, Tree-log Run, Tug-of-War and an Assault Course.

The participants consisted of five women and 35 men; some were work colleagues while others attended the same gym. The winning team was called Iasis Gym and was made up of Mark Borg Spiteri, James Vidal, Caroline Zammit and Mauro Camilleri Darmanin.

The event really consisted of a fund raising activity organised by Inspire in collaboration with the Armed Forces of Malta. It was held at the Luqa army barracks. Although it was still too early to say how much was collected, an Inspire spokesman said the amount exceeded €1,000.

The event was a great success and would be organised again next year, the spokesman said.