What is the True Grit obstacle course and where does it take place?

True Grit is a 10km obstacle course event held at Dargle Valley, featuring running, crawling, climbing, swimming, swamp crossings, and mud pits. The course is designed to test physical endurance and mental persistence across a variety of terrain and obstacles. Third Hemisphere's Jeremy Liddle and Hannah Moreno completed the event, with the course described as muddy, cold, exhausting, and memorable in equal measure.

Why do professionals and agency teams participate in physical challenge events like True Grit?

Physical challenge events like True Grit build the same qualities that define strong professional performance: persistence under pressure, composure when conditions are uncomfortable, and the ability to keep moving when the path is not clear. Third Hemisphere draws a direct line between this kind of experience and the day-to-day resilience required in strategic communications work, whether that means staying calm against a tight deadline, backing a colleague when the pressure is high, or helping a partner organisation through a complicated moment. The obstacle course is a literal version of what most professional challenges require: going through the difficulty, not around it.

What does resilience look like inside a strategic communications agency?

At Third Hemisphere, resilience in a communications context looks nothing like a dramatic obstacle course. It shows up in the quieter moments: staying composed when a deadline compresses, making sense of messy or incomplete information, and keeping a client's narrative on track when circumstances shift. The team's approach is grounded in the belief that doing hard things well is rarely polished, but it is always purposeful, and that the same quality of persistence that carries someone through a mud pit carries a communications programme through a difficult news cycle or a high-stakes capital raise.

How does Third Hemisphere's team culture reflect the values the agency brings to client work?

Third Hemisphere's team culture is built around the same principles the agency applies to partner work: show up prepared, back each other under pressure, and see things through without losing perspective. The True Grit event, where Jeremy Liddle and Hannah Moreno completed the 10km obstacle course together while their families watched from the sidelines, is a clear expression of that culture in practice. The agency's view is that credibility with clients comes, in part, from a team that genuinely holds the values it talks about, and that resilience is demonstrated rather than declared.

What makes a strategic communications agency the right long-term partner for a business facing complex or high-pressure moments?

The right communications partner brings both strategic clarity and operational composure when conditions are difficult, which is precisely when communications work matters most. Third Hemisphere's approach, built around the Waterfall Strategy, ensures that every channel is anchored by consistent key messages and high-impact assets, so that even when circumstances shift quickly, the narrative holds. What differentiates Third Hemisphere is the combination of senior-led thinking, a team culture oriented around persistence and mutual accountability, and a delivery model that keeps momentum across earned media, investor communications, and digital channels simultaneously. Agencies that perform well under pressure are agencies whose internal culture reflects the same standard they set for client work.

How long does a typical strategic communications engagement with Third Hemisphere run, and what does the investment look like?

Third Hemisphere typically structures engagements across an initial six or twelve-month term, which provides enough runway to build narrative momentum, establish media relationships, and measure the programme's contribution to the client's commercial objectives. Investment is scoped to the specific programme of work and paid in monthly instalments across the agreed term. A six-month programme, for example, might be structured as a total fee for the six-month term paid in monthly instalments, with the exact figure determined by the scope of channels, markets, and deliverables. Prospective partners are encouraged to contact Third Hemisphere directly for a scoped proposal.

What lesson does watching adults attempt difficult physical challenges teach children, and how does Third Hemisphere connect that to professional values?

Children notice when adults attempt something hard, keep going when it is uncomfortable, and maintain a sense of humour rather than taking themselves too seriously, and those observations carry more weight than any instruction to 'be brave' or 'have a go'. Third Hemisphere's Jeremy Liddle and Hannah Moreno completed the True Grit course with their children, Bodhi and Koa, watching from the sidelines, and the agency reflects on that experience as a reminder that modelling persistence is more effective than describing it. The same principle applies in professional life: the most credible communications teams are the ones whose behaviour under pressure is consistent with what they say they stand for.

Jeremy and Hannah take on the True Grit challenge

Jeremy and Hannah take on True Grit

Some weekends are for switching off.

Others are for crawling through mud, climbing over walls, swimming through cold water and questioning, more than once, why you ever thought this was a good idea.

On Saturday, Third Hemisphere’s Jeremy Liddle and Hannah Moreno took on the True Grit 10km obstacle course in Dargle Valley. It was muddy, cold, physical, funny, exhausting and just chaotic enough to be memorable.

The course had a bit of everything: running, crawling, climbing, swimming, swamp crossings, mud pits and those obstacles that look a lot more manageable from the sidelines than they do when you are standing underneath them covered in mud.

Jeremy and Hannah both made it through, although probably with very different finishing styles. Jeremy crossed the line looking very, very happy to be done. Hannah, in true Hannah form, finished with a cartwheel through the finish chute.

Watching it all from the sidelines were Bodhi and Koa, cheering them on and taking in the full spectacle of Mum and Dad being muddy, tired and slightly ridiculous.

And honestly, that was probably the best part of the day.

Because for Bodhi and Koa, it was not about the time on the clock, how many obstacles were done properly, or whether anyone looked particularly graceful doing it. They just saw their parents take on something hard, keep going when it was uncomfortable, laugh at themselves, and make it to the end.

That is a pretty good lesson to see up close.

There is something really valuable about kids watching adults do things that are difficult. Not because adults need to prove anything, and definitely not because every challenge needs to turn into a life lesson, but because children notice more than we sometimes realise. They notice when you try, they notice when something is hard and they notice when you keep going anyway.

You can tell kids to be brave. You can tell them to have a go, to not give up, to try things that feel a bit scary or uncomfortable. But sometimes the best version of that lesson is just letting them watch you do it first.

That does not mean doing it perfectly. If anything, True Grit was a reminder that doing hard things is usually not very polished. It can be messy. It can be awkward. It can involve falling into mud, needing help over an obstacle, or laughing because the alternative is taking yourself far too seriously.

But there is something good in that too.

At Third Hemisphere, we talk a lot about resilience, but most of the time it looks nothing like an obstacle course. It is much less dramatic and usually involves fewer mud pits.

It looks like staying calm when a deadline is tight. It looks like backing each other when the pressure is high. It looks like helping clients through complicated moments, making sense of messy information, and keeping things moving when the path is not completely clear.

Most of that happens quietly. Behind a desk. On a call. In a draft. In the moments where you have to pause, think clearly and keep going.

True Grit was just a very literal version of the same idea.

There was no way around the course. You had to go through it. One obstacle at a time, one muddy stretch at a time, one “surely we’re nearly finished” moment at a time.

And sometimes that is the whole point. You do not need to be the fastest person out there. You do not need to be the most prepared, the strongest, or the most graceful. You just need to show up, give it a proper go and see it through.

That feels like a pretty simple thing, but it is not always easy. Life, work, parenting and business all have their own versions of obstacles that cannot be skipped. Some are exciting. Some are exhausting. Some are just inconvenient and muddy in a different way.

But the same lesson keeps coming back: do the hard thing in front of you, keep your sense of humour if you can, and finish it anyway.

A huge congratulations to the True Grit team for putting on such a great event, and to everyone who took part.

The adults may still be recovering, but the next generation is already making plans. Judging by the excitement afterwards, Bodhi has decided he will be taking on the junior course next year.

We will absolutely be holding him to that.