RMC 1980 Recruit Obstacle Course
The ‘before photo’…..
It was Friday afternoon…the final day of Recruit Term. We had one final test to complete after the most punishing six weeks of our entire lives and we would be officially declared First Year Cadets of the Royal Military College of Canada, Class of 1984. We ran the Obstacle Course as a team but each individual had to finish to pass the test.
The Fire Hose dousing….
We had no idea what was about to happen….
And so it begins….
Our warm-up on the way to Fort Frederick…
Up the embankment into Fort Frederick…
The ropes were laid out on sheets of plastic covered in tar. The embankments were built during the War of 1812 with the single-minded purpose of preventing the walls of Fort Frederick from being breached.
We’re inside Fort Frederick now…making the rounds of the Martello Tower within, its moat, and the stairs leading to the RMC Museum...
…through a secret tunnel for moving troops around…
..up onto the wall…
..over the wall…
…and down the outside…..
…onto the ‘safety’ mats.
Kingston Harbour….
Heading out past the dorms toward the outside edge of the College Grounds along the Kingston Harbour on the city side of the RMC peninsula…
Navigating the no-touch rope obstacle…we had to shimmy along beside each other between two suspended ropes and not let our feet touch the ground…
…and then crawl along the ground…
….and swing across the moat at the bottom of the ‘safety’ mats….
…or not…
…or not, in fine fashion!
Out onto the Sports Fields…
More no touch obstacles….
…and cargo netting over the soccer goals….
…another A Frame….
…underground tunnel that twists and turns…and smelled a lot like urine…
…coming up for fresh air and a sprint across the length of the field…
Down into the ditch at the base of Fort Henry Hill…
…through the culvert….
…more ditch…
…and exhaustion hits as we make the turn back toward the College.
Heading back….
More A Frames…
…under camouflage netting…
…more A Frames…
…another tunnel…
The Frigate is within sight…
…navigate the obstacles in the moat….and complete the last few obstacles before…
The Finish!!
Circling back to encourage our final runner…somewhat intensely it seems…and THE FRIGATE FINISHES FIRST!!
First Year Armstrong….
The ‘after’ photo….
We all finished! As a team A Flight was victorious over the other seven squadrons in the Cadet Wing.
Yea Stone, Yea Boat, Yea, Yea, Stone Boat!!!
