North Notts College Learners Take Part in Marathon Fitness Challenge
North Notts College Sport and Public Services learners have recently pushed themselves to the limit in a unique group fitness challenge.
The annual fitness challenge, now in its third year, is organised by Year 2 Level 3 Public Services learners and is tackled by 60 learners from across the Sport and Public Services curriculum areas. The event helps learners build vital skills such as teamwork, organisation and confidence as the learner’s powered their way through several challenges in the fitness suite at North Notts College.
This year’s challenge tasked the committed group to bench press the weight of a Challenger II tank or 62,500kg, complete 2000 slam balls, 2000 sit-ups, 2000 push-ups, push a weighted sledge 5km, run a treadmill marathon of 26 miles, box jump the height of Ben Nevis or 1365 metres, and perform a constant plank for as long as all the elements took to complete.
The group had set themselves an ambitious target to complete the challenge within two-hours.
Year 2 Public Services learner Natasha Allen helped organise the event and set the different elements of the challenge.
Natasha said: “As an organising group we come together and share different ideas, we then go through the different options and set the challenge. It’s a hard challenge, the last half an hour is really tough but that’s when we all pull together and offer lots of encouragement to make sure we get it done!”
Year 2 Public Services learner Danielle Moss was also involved in organising the event and was busily keeping track of progress on a whiteboard in the gym.
Danielle added: “We’ve got about 60 people taking part in the various challenges. I’m keeping track of the progress, doing the maths behind the scenes.
“I took part last year, it’s nice to be more involved in the organising this year. I’d say the key thing, both in organising and taking part, is teamwork.”
Level 3 Public Services learner Tristan Gell had put in a phenomenal effort completing repetitions on four of the stations.
Tristan added: “The challenges are definitely set to test us. It really gets us working.
“So far I’ve completed 65 push-ups, 20 sit-ups, 20 repetitions of 40 kilograms on the bench press and 20 box jumps.
“The toughest challenge is probably the box jumps, it’s tough on the body and the individual jump is quite high.”
North Notts College Sport and Public Services Lecturer Mark Dawson supervised the event and offered words of encouragement to the learners taking part.
Mark said: “This event is always fantastic, it brings together the learners and shows the importance of teamwork and encouraging each other. It’s a tough challenge and one that we’ve been asking our Year 2 students to organise for the last three years.
“The learners who take on the organisation of the event gain some key skills that will stand them in good stead for the future and employment. To set-up, an event like this takes organisation and event management skills, as well as confidence. We asked the learners who organised the event to deliver the brief to participants so they’re also gaining confidence in public speaking.
“I’ve been really impressed with how well run the event has been.”
Find out more about our Sport and Public Services courses.