Bermuda’s rugby stars of tomorrow rolled up their sleeves to help clear a stretch of the Railway Trail that was badly damaged by last year’s two hurricanes.

Twenty-six players and coaches from the under-17 squad together with staff from the Department of Parks braved Saturday morning’s wet and windy weather to put in a five-hour shift.

The crews cleared vast swathes of vegetation from both sides of the Store Hill junction in Smith’s as part of a project to reconnect and improve the length of the Railway Trail.

The initiative is led by Mike and Tucker Murphy together with the Friends of the Bermuda Railway Trail (FBRT).

The FBRT, together with the Bermuda Tourism Authority, now has its sights set on bridging the Store Hill junction in the future.

The team recently completed a major overhaul of the trail between Crawl and Coney Island, which involved the erection of a series of bridges and significant clearance work.

Many of the rugby players used Saturday morning’s opportunity to lend a hand to raise sponsorship money that will go towards the team’s upcoming tour.

James O’Shaughnessy, tour manager, said: “The boys enjoyed a good workout with a lot of lifting and dragging but more importantly the exercise reinforced a number of the key principles of rugby including commitment, discipline, work ethic and last but not least teamwork.

“The under-17 youth squad is heading to the United Kingdom at the end of March to commemorate their coach Devrae Noel Simmons who tragically passed away on January 8, 2014 and complete a tour he was in the process of finalising prior to his untimely passing.

“The tour will include three matches against top-quality club sides including a Friday night game at Allianz Park, the home of Saracens Rugby, and a visit to Wembley for a Premiership Rugby match. In sum, it will create memories of a lifetime. The squad has been training since September 2014 and Saturday’s activity was a fundraiser for the tour with many of the squad being sponsored by family members and friends.”

The huge operation to resurrect the trail section from Crawl Hill to Coney Island has taken about a year to complete and has involved the assembly of 740 feet of bridge spans.

It has already proved a huge success with scores of walkers and cyclists descending on the new stretch every week. The next phase of the plans, which will include bridging the Store Hill Junction, are expected to be submitted to the Planning Department shortly.

Tucker Murphy told The Royal Gazette: “The under-17 team and coaches gave us great support working alongside the Parks Department to clear the trail on both sides of Store Hill.

“Their efforts clearing debris from the hurricanes to further open the trail and remove cut trees on both sides of Store Hill now leaves only a few more trees to cut back in preparation of the site to repair the pylons and clear stumps from the trail.”

He added: “The stretch between Bailey’s Bay and Winton Hill has already attracted more walkers and cyclists than we first imagined.

“Our counter recorded around 400 people using the section on New Year’s Day alone, and about 800 on a quiet week in January.

“That is about ten times the number of people we counted before we started the project a few years ago, which clearly shows a pent-up need for connecting the trail and improving it so that pedestrians and pedal bikers have a safe place to use.”