In the News
November 15, 2012 –
No obstacle for United Way
A group of women from a military hockey team swapped their chilly ice rink for the warm water of a pool Wednesday as they became the first team to swim through a water-based obstacle course in a fundraising effort for the United Way.
Inflatable floating obstacles dotted the pool at the military sports complex for the event.
Five military teams were confirmed for the first-time event and could drop in to give the course a try anytime during the afternoon.
Whoever had the best time at the end of the day would be declared the winner.
“This is the first of hopefully many to come,” said Ryan Thompson, the inter-mural co-ordinator and United Way representative for Royal Military College athletics.
“It’s a team of five,” he explained. “You race through the six obstacles as a group. So it works on a bit of teamwork, bit of athleticism, bit of strength, a lot of team cohesion and hopefully a lot of fun. Being in the department of athletics, we don’t want to make anything too easy for everybody but we want to make sure they get a bit of a workout when they come.”
Every participant paid $5 to take part, with all proceeds going to the United Way. It was open to cadets, full-time military members, staff and even civilians if they were members of the military sports complex or paid a drop-in fee.
Thompson said they didn’t want to make the course too much like a hard-core, water-based military obstacle course in which participants would have to wear fatigues and combat boots. Those taking part Wednesday only needed to add a t-shirt to their bathing suits to guard against friction burn from any of the inflated obstacles.
“It’s also going to make it a little harder to swim through the water,” he said.
The obstacles are normally used in the RMC cadets’ physical education classes for water training under instructor Bert Breuvart, who set up the course.
They included a rolling log-type obstacle the teams had to get over, a couple where they had to pull themselves up to the top by ropes before sliding down the other side, and a long, walk-the-plank type of obstacle they had to negotiate without falling in. The last task was to dive down and pull five weights from the bottom of the pool.
Breuvart, athletics co-ordinator for RMC, said a major part of the day is also to promote fitness and an active lifestyle.
Maj. Lisa Elliott, who teaches at one of the schools on the base, stood on the pool deck and took in Breuvart’s handiwork.
Elliott and four teammates from a base hockey team were the first to take up the challenge. They had seen some pictures of what the obstacles looked like and decided to take the plunge, both literally and figuratively.
“Some of those obstacles are a little higher looking than I expected,” observed Elliott.
“I love supporting the United Way so we can have fun, make fun of each other, see if we float any better than we skate. We know we can skate, but the swimming part, we really don’t know.”
Thompson said Breuvart has designed a course that both challenges participants physically but also mentally in terms of how best to get over each obstacle.
“So we are taking that concept and transporting it to the United Way and hopefully raise a little bit of money while we do it.”
Thompson said he hopes the event will become more popular next year when more people are aware of it.
“We’ll start small as the (land) obstacle course did a number of years ago and then ultimately make this into a spectacle where people really want to come in, have some fun. Maybe we will have some sponsors as we go along as well.”
Raising money for the United Way is the main goal but they also want to give people some value for their donation, he said.
“Hopefully for next year we get more people and we just keep going forward.”
Anyone interesting in getting involved in future waterborne obstacle courses can contact Thompson at 541-6000, ext. 8742 or by em-mail at ryan.thompson@rmc.ca.
Source: Kingston Whig Standard
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