In a thrilling weekend of sport, England emerged victorious in the Cricket World Cup, Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag at Silverstone, Novak Djokovic won an epic final at Wimbledon, and Chandler Building Supplies won the BMF Mastermerchant Trophy for the third year running.

Chandlers made just one change to last year’s winning line-up, with Mike Hindle joining Trevor Mudd, Kayleigh Sinclair and Sean Sinclair to form their “Merchants of Menace” team. They faced tough competition from the 14 teams taking part, including first time entrants, Hafele, who won the Super Supplier Award thanks to the sterling efforts of their team members Richard Oddy, Craig Barnes, Mark Hughes and Chris Currie.

Held over a weekend in the Lake District, the Mastermerchant competition involves a range of challenges that test the teams’ communication and problem-solving ability as much as their physical perseverance.

The fun event has a serious purpose as the competition is designed to help colleagues learn more about each other’s strengths and skills and what can be accomplished through teamwork. Zip wire and rope climbing tasks were added to the physical challenges this year, alongside others that ensured everyone got as wet as possible scrambling over rocks and through streams.

But like the Crystal Maze, teams also tackled mental challenges to uncover clues, crack codes and guide blind-folded team mates.

Congratulating the winners and all those taking part, BMF CEO John Newcomb said: “This fantastic teambuilding event has been taking place since the 1980s and I’m delighted that so many teams from merchant and supplier members continue to take part. It’s a great way for people to get to know each other better and work together as a team and I would like to thank Stephen Lee Associates, the management development company who devise the challenges and have run the weekend’s events on our behalf for 30 years.”

“I would like to thank Builders Merchants News for their whole-hearted support– not only sponsoring Mastermerchant this year, but also entering their own team to gain the full experience of the event.”

Pictured: BMF Chairman, Peter Hindle MBE (far left) and Lucyanne Matthews, Associate Publisher Builders Merchants News (far right) present the Mastermerchant Trophy to Chandler Building Supplies’ “Merchants of Menace”.