Issue 022/2005

The Recruit Obstacle Race
(Reprinted from 1966 College Year Book)
 


Ron Dickenson
40 years after completing the Obstacle Course

Before I even came to R.M.C. as a recruit, I had heard of an even called the Recruit Obstacle Race. From pictures and descriptions in the papers, I knew that it was a rigorous and demanding race. What I didn't know, however, was the great importance it holds in the college, or what running the race is really like.

To begin with, it is one of the many traditions of R.M.C. that every recruit must run the obstacle race and it is a milestone in becoming accepted as a true member of the cadet wing.

Running the course marks the end of the main part of "Recruiting" and an easing -up of the recruits' hurried existence and deprivation of privileges. In short, the Recruit Obstacle Race is a unique event, and only the participants themselves can really understand the anxiety, exhaustion and elation which come before, during and after the race.

Prior to running the course, we underwent an intensive conditioning program carried out in our physical-training periods. This program consisted of cross-country runs to Fort Henry and back, instructions and practice in coping with different types of obstacles, and exhausting exercises and gruelling circuit training. Naturally, we inwardly complained of all this hard work, but we understood that without it, serious bodily harm could easily occur during the race. As the day of the obstacle race came nearer we received advice from the other years on such particulars as how much sleep to get the night before the race, and the importance of teamwork in overcoming the obstacles. We didn't know whether to believe all the grim details which the second-year class (last year's recruits) had told us concerning the race but the leering races and stories of the other years soon dispelled our doubts.

The day of the race came and after changing into old clothes, smearing Vaseline over our bodies in preparation for the inevitable paint we would encounter, having the customary pictures taken and getting a pep talk from our squadron commander, we were ready to begin. The staff-adjutant raised his blunderbuss...and we were off, amid a deafening roar and the wild cheers of the cadet wing.

I came to the first obstacle - a ditch filled with cold, muddy water. Emerging from the ditch, I crawled along another ditch - this one being filled with mud, slime and dry ice. A low tunnel was next, filled with mud. I crawled through, choking on the mud, only to be faced at the other end with a huge greased slide. I struggled; I jumped; I clawed, and finally reached the top, only to find that a long run awaited me. Over a high log and down to Kingston Bay I stumbled, my thoughts incoherent and my body aching. I plunged into the icy water, swam around some buoys and struggled up the bank, numb and heavy from the water. I ran like an animal - no thinking, just moving out of sheer will-power, for I just had to beat that course. Over a greased log I clambered, through more tunnels filled with paint, stale porridge, and dead rats; over ropes, up hills, over wall; I was growing like a rabid dog; the world no longer existed - I was in a nightmare of fatigue and nausea. Suddenly - I saw it - the finish line. Could I make it? I had to! I forced myself, I tripped; I stumbled; and then it was over! I collapsed on the ground, feeling as if I were going to die. I was led to a shower, and just stood under the hot water, letting it soak into my numb and listless body. I had finished the race! I felt like shouting to the world that I had made it.

After we recovered and cleaned up, we went to the gymnasium for the presentation of trophies and congratulations from the cadet wing.  This being done, the cadet wing commander formally declared "Lids Off" which means that we recruits were the undisputed masters of the cadet wing for the rest of the day. This was the part of the Recruit Obstacle Race we most enjoyed, for here was our chance to treat the senior-class members like recruits and to have the run of the college.  It is tradition for the recruit class to throw the cadet wing commander into the lake after the race and we wasted no time in fulfilling this happy duty. This mission accomplished we went to supper and treated the seniors without mercy, making them literally bow and scrape at our feet.

It was our night - no front six inches of the chair, no looking straight ahead and decorating our tunics with R.M.C. slop. It was great to feel human again! During the evening, full of a deep sense of pride and accomplishment, we hazed our "favourite" seniors, most of whom understood how we felt and co-operated fully. We soon tired of all the frivolity and had talks and small parties with our seniors. We came to know them as people - not a disciplinarians - and a sense of comradeship was built up.

The Recruit Obstacle Race is an event which few people have gone through. We who have finished it have a sense of pride and accomplishment in having gone through the course and this memory of all the happenings prior to, during and after the race will always remain with us, for we are "R.M.C. Cadets" and proud of it.

R.A. Dickenson 8027

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