Research by the country’s foremost activity provider, The Activity People, reveals a combination of tougher economic times and Government spending cuts are steering employees and companies away from traditional office Christmas parties towards more action-based activities.

The Activity People monitored corporate bookings for Christmas parties over a five-year period. The figures reveal a dramatic increase in the last two years in the number of companies booking activities such as paintball, go karting or clay pigeon shooting.

Research by YouGov in 2009 revealed that only about 40 per cent of office workers were guaranteed a Christmas party, with one in six employees contributing to the budget themselves.  Rebecca Rudkin, Corporate Manager at The Activity People, believes this pressure on the Christmas party budget is forcing employees and companies to rethink their party plans.

‘More than ever before companies want value for money for their Christmas party and they want to be sure that employees enjoy it. Therefore, they are being more creative in what they are doing,’ says Rudkin.

Although the latest Government economic statistics revealed higher growth figures than expected, the planned Government spending cuts mean 2010 is likely to be another Christmas where budgets will be tight for parties.

Mark, who runs a small engineering firm in the West Midlands, is taking his team of 25 for a corporate shooting day. ‘We just wanted to do something different. We had a vote amongst our team and shooting come out top,’ says Mark

Angela, who runs a hairdressing salon in London, said: ‘We are all going karting, and having some food and drink afterwards. We are a young team and didn’t want to sit around with paper hats on. The guys are really looking forward to it.’

Rudkin says: ‘Our research shows many companies like to do something active because it relaxes people and it is simply more fun.’

The Activity People are giving every participant a £10 voucher to spend on an activity of your choice after Christmas, with Christmas and New Year bookings of 20 people or more. Just quote ref: adrenamagfreevoucher, when you book your group into any activity, and the vouchers are yours.

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The office Christmas party is changing. The image of paper hats, twinkly dresses and the finance director staggering across the dance floor appears to be fading out. The answer of what to wear at the 2010 Christmas party is just as likely to be a crash helmet as a little black dress.

Rebecca Rudkin, a spokesperson for Karting Nation – the UK’s largest online karting network – said: ‘We have seen a steady rise in companies wanting to go karting for their Christmas parties. People are bored of the same old thing and they want to do something different and be active.’

Rudkin added: ‘Not only have we seen a rise in the number of companies booking karting Christmas parties, but we also get a lot of repeat bookings. Many of the venues will put on buffets or even arrange dinner in conference rooms, so it is the complete party package.’

However, Rudkin warns that prime dates at karting venues are selling out fast. ‘We are already getting a lot of enquires for karting parties so venues are booking up quickly.’

In 2009 a number of large companies, such as accountancy firm KPMG, cancelled their Christmas party due to the economic climate. But for Christmas 2010, a year which has seen a return to positive economic growth, many businesses are taking the view that it would be a negative step to cancel the Christmas party.

Nigel Curtis, managing director of CW communications, said: ‘At the end of a year where everyone has worked really hard in tough economic conditions, we feel we need to let our hair down and a karting party is something a bit different.’

If you want to book a karting party for your company, click here.

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1. Motor sport star Alice Powell. In January Alice Powell was named the British Woman Racing Drivers Club Elite Gold Star Winner for her success and achievement in 2010. It is the second year in succession she has won the award.

Presenting the award to the former karting star was the BBC1 Formula One TV presenter Jake Humphrey. Jake said: ‘I really do think it’s about time that women who are making waves in motor racing are recognised at the very top. So good luck in 2011.’

This year Alice hopes to compete in the Formula Renault UK Championship, which receives LIVE ITV coverage and crowds at the track that match figures of attendance at an average Premier League Football game. If you are a woman who is interested in karting and would like to know where Alice started click here.

2. Italian women clay pigeon shooters. Italy is home to some of the world’s top women clay pigeon shooters. Katiuscia Spada won the Skeet Women ISSF World Cup Final in Izmir, Turkey, in 2010. It’s not the first time the Italian police officer has been seen on the medal winners’ podium in the last three years; she won the Olympic silver medal in Beijing behind fellow Italian Chiara Cainero. Skeet is a clay pigeon discipline where clays are thrown by two machines for the shooter to kill. If you want to try clay pigeon shooting, click here.

3. Water sports super star, Kristin Boese. German Kristin Boese is a legend in women’s water sports. Twice women’s world kitesurfing champion, she has been nominated for world sailor of the year. The author of several books, she has also recently launched a modelling career. If you want to try water sports, click here.

4. Archery hot shot. Twenty-six year-old Nicky Hunt is targeting more medals in 2011. Finishing 2010 in number one position in the FITA world rankings, she helped the English team win the women’s compound team event then added the individual gold medal a day later. If you want to try archery click here.

5. Women skydivers. It’s known as the world’s biggest pink cloud with 181 women skydivers filling the Californian sky in 2009. Led by Kate Cooper-Jensen, one of the foremost skydivers in the world, Jump for the Cause was co-founded with Mallory Lewis, after her mother, legendary puppeteer Shari Lewis, lost her battle with cancer in 1998. Events in 1999, 2002 and 2005 raised a combined total of over $1 million and broke the previous world records with 119 women in 1999, 131 women in 2002,151 in 2005 and 181 women in 2009. If you want to try a sky dive or another extreme sport, click here.

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Back in 2011, West Ham United spent most of the football reason firmly rooted to the bottom of the English Premiership table and they decided to reverse their fortunes with a day’s karting and clay pigeon shooting. The team bonding session was revealed by the then England international striker Carlton Cole on Twitter.

Avram Grant, West Ham’s beleaguered manager, no doubt hoped to sharpen the striker’s shooting skills with a day hitting clays. No one at the club was available to comment on whether the karting laps got the team motoring or whether the team’s star player Scott Parker used the go-karting day to practise his corners. After the team-building event, West Ham achieved their best result of the season with a win over Liverpool, to lift them off the bottom of the table for the first time – they even ended up surviving relegation!

If you want to try karting click here, or clay pigeon take a shot here

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1. Monster Truck Driving, Sussex.Tired of the traffic and ready to put your foot down in a big way? Monster trucks are a ‘bad ass’ weekend driving experience. From £226 for a two-and-half hour session, it isn’t cheap, but the memory is as big and bold as the US ‘Grizzly’ truck you could be steering. And it’s just about the only time you will be able to bully your way over two police saloon cars without an expensive trip to Her Majesty’s courts.

2. Water Spills, Scotland. No year is complete without an excursion into the wilds of Scotland. Spring snow melts make for a rush of water and adrenalin in rivers across the central belt and the Highlands, which make it great for white water rafting. Prices start from around the £50 mark. And, while you’re up there, adding some canyoning and bungee jumping can make for an exhilarating weekend. The only difficulty is making sure it’s thawing and not still snowing.

3. Walking on water. Yes, really. You too can achieve the miracle of walking on water, courtesy of a plastic zorb. From about £20, the experience is a great buy and as the flotilla of You Tube videos testify, it’s the highlight of many a weekend.

4. Canyoning, Lleyn Peninsula, Wales. Canyoning or coasteering as some people call it, is a cross between mountain climbing, walking, pot-holing and swimming. Half-a-day’s canyoning is around £32.00. For that you get to make your way down a gorge in a wet suit, tackling obstacles as you go. But be warned, depending on the level of water, it can be a challenging activity requiring a high level of fitness. Maybe one to leave until later in the year, when you’re a bit fitter.

5. Riding, Oxfordshire. For those lucky enough to be born in the country, horses are akin to bicycles – transport that keeps you fit – but for the majority of UK urbanites, they are just creatures we lose money on at the bookies. A weekend visit to a riding school such as the one near Banbury can change all that. For around £30, you get a chance to ride indoor or outdoor, with qualified instructors at a centre approved by the Association of British Riding Schools.

6. Quad biking, Yorkshire. This Doncaster site is one of the UK’s most prestigious quad centres. Visitors get the chance bump and slide on Apache RLX 150cc, RLX 100cc and 50cc quad bikes over a disused quarry site. Prices start at around £25.

7. High Ropes, Devon. Close to Dartmoor National Park, the Tavistock high ropes course is another excuse to head to the west country for a weekend. The canopy-based activities offer challenges for different ages and levels of fitness, and start at £26.

8. Scuba-diving, Buckinghamshire. Scuba diving is a sport that is becoming more accessible and popular, particularly with the over 40s. And dipping a toe into the sport isn’t expensive. Less than £30 will be needed for an introductory session.

9. Ballooning, Lake District. William Wordsworth – one of the Lake District’s most famous sons – could have said: ‘I wandered lonely as a balloon.’ Surely, there can’t be a better way to view some of the UK’s finest scenery than perched in a balloon a few thousand feet in the air. Just imagine the poetry he may have come up with as he floated on high o’er vales and hills. Prices are around the £200 mark.

10. Off-road karting, Surrey. Just a short drive from the M25 is an off-road karting circuit without any traffic cones in sight. For between £80 and £90, you can rip up the mud and blow away all the memories of weekdays stuck on the M25. Proper driving that you can only dream about in the south east of England.

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Karting is a great sport for kids. Says who? Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button, to name a few junior karters. No wonder then that junior go karting is buzzing with would-be F1 champions and junior thrill seekers.

So how do you get motoring into the sport? Well, one of the reason’s that go kart racing is  booming is that there’s so few barriers to entry, according to Chris Pullman, senior operations consultant at the track in Kent where both former F1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button first got to grips with racing.

‘Racers as young as four are welcome,’ he says. ‘Obviously, we don’t stick them on the petrol karts but they can ride on our electric karts around our Kids Mini GP Circuit and they love it.

‘Then from six onwards, youngsters can get involved in the Bambino School. This prepares them for the faster karts by teaching them important skills such as pedal control, steering, control of the kart and safety awareness.

‘Traditionally, the earliest children could start racing was at eight. But, as they mature quicker these days, we feel there is a great opportunity for them to learn the basics of driving to prepare them for full racing at eight years of age.’ To race competitively in the UK, eight is the age to be but with the continued success of British drivers in the F1 championship, it’s understandable why kids from as young as four are keen to get behind the wheel.

If you want to spin around some karting circuits for your kids. Or even for yourself, click here.

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One in three UK workers is too shy to get sweaty in front of colleagues according to a British Heart Foundation (BHF) survey. The BHF study, which looked at UK workplace exercise trends, revealed that over half of UK workers are desk-bound for most of the day with nearly 50 per cent eating lunch at their desks. According to the findings 81 per cent of UK workers fail to get the recommended amount of exercise a week.

With the UK government predicting that 36 per cent of men and 28 per cent of woman will be obese in five years, what’s the answer? The BHF survey suggests the workplace is the perfect location for keeping fit and active, with half of UK workers admitting they won’t travel more than 10 minutes from work or home to exercise.

Lisa Purcell, project manager for the BHF’s Health at Work Programme says: ‘Embarrassment shouldn’t prevent people from being healthy at work. You don’t have to don a lycra leotard to get fit and healthy, the payoffs from even simple changes like taking a walk at lunchtime are too great to ignore. Getting healthy during the working day means you are less stressed and better motivated.

‘Bosses need to understand there’s a massive return on investment here. Simple measures to improve the health of your workforce – like swapping tea-break biscuits for fruit, or getting the team together for a lunchtime kickaround in the car park – can improve productivity, reduce staff turnover, and mean fewer sick days.

‘We are calling on businesses to take their employee’s health and wellbeing seriously, and start reaping the rewards,’ she said.

The BHF Health at Work programme, sponsored by Legal & General, has already signed up more than 800 organisations. Employees from bin men to bank tellers are finding there’s no need for blushes when they’re all in it together.

Apprentice star

Claire Young has lost four stone since appearing on the BBC’s Apprentice. She says: ‘All companies need a fit workforce – a healthy mind is a productive mind. The more employers look after their staff, the better they will perform. It’s a great way to ensure a happier and healthier workplace.’

Five corporate sporting events for shy employees

1. Paintball. No need to worry about getting sweaty in front of work colleagues when playing paintball: the protective clothing will hide your blushes and save your face. If you want to fire your work colleagues into action, click here.

2. Karting. Karting is another sport where the more retiring office worker can hide behind the crash helmet and the overalls. Put your foot down and get your colleagues away from the desk for some exercise. It may be sitting down, but the blood is pumping. More and more offices have having their Christmas parties on the track. Check it out here

3. Clay pigeon shooting. Here’s a sport that’s more swanky than sweaty. Green wellies, tweeds, picnics, oh and there’s also the shooting. Clay pigeon shooting is the perfect mix of social and sporting for lots of work colleagues. Take a shot at it, click here.

4. Segway. Segway racing is a popular corporate event that doesn’t have to embarrass anyone. With the average British office worker spending so much time chained to their desks, a whirl in the countryside maybe just be what the doctor ordered. To take a ride, click here.

5. High Ropes. Tree walking is a corporate sporting event that is rising in popularity. And just like Tarzan and Jane, it is possible to still look cool, although the loin cloth is optional. To book, click here.

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Go Karting proves to be the breeding ground of Formula One Champions. Throughout the times, Formula One stars have always come through the Karting ranks – take a look at the 2010 Formula One Championship as a key example. Back then, Spanish driver and twice winner Fernando Alonso went head-to-head with Australia’s Mark Webber, with Britain’s Lewis Hamilton – another junior karter – just a little off the pace…but since then he’s gone on to dominate the Formula One scene.

Just like motor racing legend Ayrton Senna, Alonso’s father José Luis made a kart for his elder sister when she was eight, but the three-year-old Fernando Alonso showed more enthusiasm for the sport than his sister Lorena. (The above clip shows Alonso returning to karts for his local crowd in Oviedo in northern Spain, where he was born.)

Alonso’s rival Aussie racer Mark Webber was later into karting, taking it up aged 14, and winning the New South Wales championship in 1993. But Red Bull racer Webber recently returned to the karting track. He was at the Karting circuit in Milton Keynes to support fellow driver Chris Van Der Drift.

New Zealand’s Chris van der Drift was injured at the beginning of that August racing season in the Superleague Formula at Brands Hatch but his insurance did not cover his medical bills. The karting fundraiser was held at Milton Keynes’ go-kart circuit. ‘We’re like one big family in motor racing and if one of us finds ourselves in times of hardship then the rest of us rally round,’ Webber said.

If you want to try karting – with or without the promise of a future career in Formula One – click here.

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2. James Cracknell OBE. The former Olympic gold medallist is the ultimate extreme sports adventurer. After rowing to gold in Athens, he’s been a full-time, full-on action man. He rowed the Atlantic with fellow celebrity Ben Fogle for Children in Need, was knocked out by a New Zealand boxer, attempted the Norwegian polar explorer Amundsen’s Omega3 South Pole Race and competed in the 2008 European Triathlon Championships for GB. In April 2010 James became the highest placed Briton ever in the 25-year history of the Marathon Des Sables – a six day marathon across the Sahara desert. In August, he was involved in a horror cycling accident in the US, in which he fractured his skull but is, hopefully, on the road to recovery.

3. Eddie Izzard. Stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard is an unlikely convert to the world of extreme sports. In the summer of 2009, after a couple of weeks’ training, the transvestite comedian decided to do seven weeks of back-to-back marathons for Sports Relief. In all he ran 43 marathons in 51 days, keeping fans posted about his progress on his blog Eddie Iz Running. He received a special award on BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 2009.


4. Steve McQueen. With a dad who was a stunt pilot for a flying circus, it’s maybe not surprising that movie legend Steve McQueen was drawn to extreme speeds. In his day job in Bullitt, McQueen shot one of film’s most famous car chases and off-screen he was a real-life racer, driving motorcycles, and cars both on and off-road. On-screen, of course, he’s famed for jumping fences on motor bikes in the Great Escape. If you want to try a range of McQueen’s favourite motor sports, click here.

5. Sir Jackie Stewart. Three times winning Formula One racing champion Sir Jackie Stewart went from one extreme sport to another activity. Not content with becoming perhaps the UK’s greatest ever racing driver, he represented his country at clay pigeon shooting too and now runs a clay pigeon shooting school at Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. If you want to try clay pigeon shooting, near to where you live, just click here.

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Claire Tyler, CEO of Relate, commented on the report’s findings: ‘It’s when life gets really hard – you’re starting a family, pressure at work can be immense and increasingly money worries can be crippling. We cannot afford to sit back and watch this happen.’

Lisa is a professional woman in her early 40s with two children, is she happy? ‘Yes. I believe it is important to have time for yourself. Of course my priority is the family, but I make time for exercise because it makes me feel good, and renews my energy.’
Tristia Clarke of TalkTalk, who were partners in the survey, said: ‘People in their late 30s and early 40s are a time-poor generation. Long hours at work means they have less time to spend face-to-face with friends and family.’

Robert, a 49-year-old engineer, agrees: ‘I think you need to retain a balance, after a bad day at work I like to do something different. Then I can come back refreshed.’ Robert’s colleague Peter, 48, who works in IT, thinks friends are an important part of happiness. ‘I enjoy active sports with friends, the banter, the competition, are all part of the fun.’

Relate’s report says that 27 per cent of people feel lonely a lot of the time. Robert believes this is an easy trap to fall into. ‘I know for me it is an effort sometimes to join friends but I think it’s worth it.’  Ben, who together with a group of friends, has recently cycled the length of the country to raise money for charity, said: ‘I feel a bit of a fraud because although we have raised a good sum for charity, I have personally got a lot out of it. It was great fun and really boosted my self esteem.’

So what’s the secret of midlife happiness? ‘Balance,’ says Lisa. ‘Health, fun and challenge,’ believes Robert. ‘For me it’s having something that recharges my batteries. That can be friends or exercise. Whatever turns you on, really,’ says Ben.

If you want to try a range of adrenalin activities with friends, which may or may not tackle a pending midlife crisis click here.

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