Kids these days don’t know what it is to work hard! Kids these days are not disciplined! Kids these days are so lazy! We’ve all heard such remarks many times, but the kids at Milton Peters College (MPC) training for the 2016 edition of the X-treme Survival Challenge are proving them all wrong!
Students Ian O’Connor, Rosario Fieveld, Malcolm Arrindell and Hosea Royer are training for the big day, the day of Extreme Survival. Scheduled for the middle of March, its MPC’s annual student (and teacher) competition that tests the students’ physical, mental and emotional stamina.
The students don’t know what they will be facing on the big day; it could be anything from swimming to biking to tying ropes or making a design out of sticks and stones. Every year it’s something different, challenging and very exciting! Some of the obstacles that the students face require them to work together as a team, others allow one student to be a star and save the day. It starts at sunrise and goes until well after dark. There is always a lot of hiking involved, generally along the Sentry Hill trail, which is the highest ridge of mountains on the island. So many MPC students want to participate in the extreme race that there is actually a competition just to be in the competition! The qualifying deadline is February 20.
Only 100 teams can participate, and each team must have four members. One team consists of teachers. At the end of the very long day there is a beach party with great food: Grilled ribs, chicken, salads and the works. As if they haven’t been active enough, they usually have a big volleyball game after the food.
WEEKender met with three members of the “We’ll Survive for Food” team earlier this week and found out how and why they do it. “There’s no reward,” said Ian, “just bragging rights.” Rosario chimed in, “Well, there is a collage of pictures they put up in the school, sort of a hall of fame, and you get a T-shirt and a certificate….and food!” They all laughed in agreement, “The food is really good!”
Rosario and Ian participated in the X-treme Survival Challenge last year and are psyched to do it again. Malcolm is less enthusiastic, admitting he doesn’t really know what he’s gotten himself into. “Last year we had to hammer a nail into some wood and then saw another piece of wood, but then the saw broke, so it took a really long time,” said one of the boys. The race organizers have rest stops set up with water and first aid stations, “You can get very exhausted,” said Ian. And even though it’s not a timed race, the participants still feel the pressure to be as fast as they can.
They all have an interest in continuing the extreme sport competition, such as the Iron Man, or the Enduroman Race. “I saw one race called the Suffer-Fest,” said Rosario, “that sounded fun!”
Ian shared that his favourite thing is the biking, while Malcolm said he loves the hiking and the scenery. Rosario explained that he likes all of it, just feeling that they are doing something together, the camaraderie and teamwork. When asked what they don’t like about the training, the answer came unanimously and quickly, “Jack Spaniards!”
Despite the stings and bites, they are all enjoying the training. Without being required to, they have already hiked Sentry Hill and the East Coast trail out to the Natural Pool in addition to the tasks the organizers have set to qualify for the challenge, “It’s a lot of work, but we are learning so much about our island,” said Malcolm, “There are some unexpected views; the scenery is just amazing when you’re hiking.” “Yes,” agreed Rosario, “St. Maarten is really beautiful.”
