Saturday 6am THE FINALE – Amazing Race

I only finalised this Challenge last night but I was happy with what I came up with.

All through the night it rained and I thought, bring it on! I sort of hoped the weather would be ok when everyone arrived but then if it rained while we were out running so be it!

I woke up a little late which didn’t leave long to get the 20 Oxygen drink bottles out around Kiama. But I got them done in the end. Just! Each bottle contained a “clue” inside for each Team which would lead them to their next destination. At each stop Challengers had to punch 100 punches, swap over and same for their partner.

I figured the GREENs and BLUEs being in 1^st and 2^nd place, could go the slightly harder way and the REDs and YELLOWs could take a slightly easier route. In the end it didn’t matter as Kiama Council workers had gotten word of an amazing race challenge and set about finding the clues whilst cleaning up the rubbish around town. So a few Oxygen bottles went missing but the coke bottles, chip packets and other rubbish remained.

I had to run back and forth between the four teams telling them the clues and even though half the race was cut out, it kind of added to the whole mystery of it all and was pretty funny.

The Reds and Yellows ran out of clues at Kiama Cycle Shop and started to run back to Hindmarsh Park. When they saw the GREENs AND BLUEs they sprinted home for an equal 1^st finish. Little did they know we had half the race still to go. But of course our clues were missing at Kiama Cycle Shop and a GREEN BLUE sprint finish was on.

The Amazing Race was a fun little mystery in the end but what was more amazing was the work ethic of Kiama Council staff on a rainy windy Saturday morning. I bet they were sitting there laughing about the mad “Crew in Blue” who were running around town with no idea where to go!

Everyone congregated over to Gloria Jeans for a nice warm coffee and rest after a looong week.

So what are the final scores? Who won? All was revealed at the Party that night.

Saturday 6pm – Oxygen’s 1^st Birthday Party and Awards Night

What a great night! It was held at Waves at the Beach Restaurant and we indulged in a two course feast and a few drinks. This was to celebrate not only the end of Challenge Week but also our 1^st year in business. There was a slideshow running throughout the night showing a picture history of Oxygen over the last 12 months, what great times we’ve had and how far we’ve come.

Throughout the night, I announced several awards starting with the question on everyone’s lips, who won Challenge Week? So it was revealed, FINAL point score after Oxygen Challenge Week was as follows:

GREEN – 602

BLUE – 591

YELLOW – 548

RED – 508

Through receipts we were also able to determine that $2000 was poured into the local economy all in the search for Bonus Points during Oxygen Challenge Week. The BLUE Team just pipped the YELLOWs with a spend of $534 during the week. A fantastic week of fun, fitness and friendships! Great work to everyone involved.

There were also individual awards announced including:

The Ultimate Challenger (Green Team MVP) – Mark Burns

Blue Team MVP – Kate Dickson

Yellow Team MVP – Kirsti Kenningale

Red Team MVP – Cathy Grose-Jones

So Oxygen Challenge Week was wrapped up but we still had the all important Member of the Year Awards. In case you’re wondering how we determine this, remember how you guys “sign on” to the clipboard to mark attendance at class? Well we have not only done this at EVERY group session for the last year, but the Trainers have also teamed up afterwards to determine “Performance Points” for those we feel have worked hard, encouraged others and just generally bring a good vibe to class.

Well us Trainers got together one Friday night with a big whiteboard and some markers and started tallying. We came up with our Top 40 pointscorers and revealed them at the Awards night. After a tense countdown, the Bronze medal was awarded to Judy Franklin, Silver medal to Kylie Starling and the Gold Medal with a runaway victory was Renee Miller. Congratulations ladies you are inspirational!

Some other major awards announced on the night were:

King of Boxing – Joel Stewart

Queen of Boxing – Kate Dickson

King of Strength – Wayne Starling

Queen of Strength – Lisa Smith

King of Core – Shane McCauley

Queen of Core – Renee Miller

King of Running – Geoff McIntyre

Queen of Running – Julie Forster

King of Stretch – Shane McCauley

Queen of Stretch – Laura James

So finally this 6 part Blog Post Series comes to an end. I hope you have enjoyed reliving the awesome event that was “Oxygen Challenge Week” and bring on the next one in April 2011! Thank you to everyone who has helped Oxygen get to where we are today and I can’t wait to see you all at our 2^nd birthday next year!

Friday 6am STRETCH – Refresh n Recover

It looked as though people REALLY needed the Stretch this morning! I set up four stations of recovery exercises that each worked on different areas.

John Wiaczek from Kiamassage was nice enough to come down and help out with some seated massage which people gladly accepted. There with John on the cricket pitches were some foam rollers and massage tools which were put together by myself, John and Mark Burns. The look on Brad Moore’s face when he was rolling out his IT Band was priceless! Burnsy actually got up early, drove down the physio practice in Gerringong and forgot his keys, so after turning around and getting it sorted it was all sweet in the end.

Other stations included Sit n Reach Challenge with Laura, BOSU stretches and more stretching on the yoga mats. Teams spent 1 minute on each stretch and 8 minutes total at a station which worked out perfect with the numbers we had. By the time they had done each station it was about 7am and they certainly looked appreciative for the fact they didn’t have to do anything too physical.

SIT N REACH CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

3^rd 10 points – GREEN

4^th 5 points ^– RED

Update on scores after Operation STRETCH:

GREEN – 563

BLUE – 555

YELLOW – 499

RED – 464

So it all came down to just ONE more session, The Finale, The Amazing Race. Challengers were told to get to bed early, they were in for a big one tomorrow!

Thursday 6am STRENGTH – Muscular Mission

The plan that I had given the other Chiefs was thrown out the window after I woke early with a new plan I’d been thinking about all night. Yes it’s true, sometimes I lay awake at night thinking up new ways to torture you people.

So with four different Strength exercises mixed in with some cardio, the Teams set off to rack up as many reps as possible for each 3 minute set. The winners of each Challenge were:

SHOULDER PRESS/HILL CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

FENCE/SQUAT JUMP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – RED

4^th 5 points ^– YELLOW

WALKING LUNGE CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – RED

4^th 5 points ^– YELLOW

PUSH UP/STAGE LOOP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

Equal 2^nd 15 points – GREEN

Equal 2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

Then it was on to the good old fashioned Tug-o-war Challenge. Due to smaller numbers, the REDs took on the YELLOWs with the YELLOWs prevailing. Then the GREENs who looked beaten, eventually dragged the BLUEs over the line. With Superior numbers the GREENs won the overall Tug-o-war Challenge but points were awarded as follows:

TUG-O-WAR CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – GREEN

2^nd 15 points – BLUE

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

Updated scores after STRENGTH Muscular Mission are:

GREEN – 478

YELLOW – 389

BLUE – 440

RED – 372

An epic battle was coming up at CORE Short Circuit.

Thursday 9:30am CORE – Operation Short Circuit

It was a massive turnout for a 9:30 session, 30 participants showing up. With all the BOSUs and Med Balls set up, the first part of the session involved a killer Abs circuit of all the ol favourites – Diagonals, Dead Bugs, Twists etc. Five exercises in a row followed by a 1 minute rest and second lap of the circuit. So then we were warm and ready for Challenge time.

The Challenge was The Side Plank. On the minute, change sides to the other arm with a commando style rollover. No touching the ground or you’re out! The YELLOWs and GREENs pushed hard with plenty of Team members still in the last 10 Challengers. But eventually they all dropped, even the Core experts Judy Franklin and Renee Miller. So a showdown between YELLOW (Kerry Philp) and BLUE (Ali Day) developed. Kerry was amazing pushing this young professional Surf Lifesaver and Iron Man to his limits before finally caving in at 35 minutes. YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY – 35 MINUTES! Inspirational!

So the points were awarded as follows:

SIDE PLANK CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

3^rd 10 points – RED

4^th 5 points ^– GREEN

Update on scores after CORE Short Circuit:

GREEN – 501

BLUE – 480

YELLOW – 426

RED – 396

I couldn’t wait for INTERVAL RUN that night, they had no idea what they were in for!

Thursday 6pm INTERVAL RUN – Team Relay

Wasn’t there some colour tonight? O and you guys too. THAT Green suit made an appearance again for the first time since St Patricks Day. We walked over to Black Beach carrying a few coloured ropes and the Teams began to sense this was no ordinary run.

Over at the Rock Pool the rules were finally revealed. Each team had to nominate  a minimum of Three Advanced runners to run up and around the Lighthouse. The Intermediate runners had to run to the Kiama Scout Hall and the Beginner runners got to wait across from the Post Office.

On the way back from the Lighthouse, the Advanced runners had to unravel the team rope and the runners had to come back as one, all holding the rope. Collect the Intermediates and Beginners and first Team home wins. The results were:

TEAM RELAY CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – RED

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – BLUE

4^th 5 points ^– YELLOW

Not one person came back having done it easy. It brought some people to their knees. Many people thought that was it, the session was over. But we walked back up to the Lighthouse where Challenge 2 began. Ten minutes, as many Lighthouse Loops as possible. Each lap counts as one point for your team. Ready, set, go! After an agonizing wait, the YELLOWs took out their first Challenge win!

LIGHTHOUSE LOOP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – YELLOW

2^nd 15 points – RED

3^rd 10 points – BLUE

4^th 5 points ^– GREEN

Update on scores after INTERVAL RUN Team Relay:

GREEN – 536

BLUE – 517

YELLOW – 475

RED – 450

So the week was winding down but Challengers were urged not to quit just yet! Tomorrow’s STRETCH session was gunna be well worth it to help ease those aching muscles.

Wednesday 6am INTERVAL RUN – Obscene Obstacles

Wow! After turning up to Hindmarsh Park and NOT seeing Dave’s car parked in the laneway, questions were being asked and something was up. Instead Ali Day’s car was there but no Ali. Where are we running to Dave? All in good time guys.

All Teams were asked to put their colour differences aside and run as one in either Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced packs. They didn’t even know where they were running to but still they just kept going. After 10-15 minutes on the road we turned up to a nice sunrise at Kendall’s Beach. Waiting there was Ali Day and the Obscene Obstacle course we had promised. Down the beach, around the agility poles, through the tyres and up the dreaded staircase of the Gallipoli looking cliffs that form Kendall’s headland.

1 point per lap or 5 points for every lap completed with the Medicine Ball. 20 minutes later the BLUEs had slaughtered the opposition tallying an even 100 laps of the course. The next closest were the GREENs on 79, then the YELLOWs with 75 and RED completing 68.

KENDALL’S KILLER CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

Progressive Pointscore after Obscene Obstacles is as follows:

GREEN – 282

RED – 254

YELLOW – 247

BLUE – 228

The scores were close and everyone seemed to be fired up for Fight Club at 9:30am BOXING!

Wednesday 930am BOXING – Fight Club

A similar set up to Monday morning BOXING but quite different in the end.

Four stations, The 20/20 Shuttle, The 180 Fast/SlowRound with Laura, The Pole2Pole plus The old Hill Round. Good news was the rounds were only 2 minute and not 3 like the other sessions. This didn’t mean it was any easier though with all Teams pushing the Intensity levels up in the quest for maximum points.

THE HILL CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points – RED

THE POLE2POLE CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

THE 20/20 SHUTTLE CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – GREEN

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points ^– RED

Time was up at 10:15am when class normally finishes and I thought we weren’t going to have time for our Fight Club challenge. That was each Team nominate to go 2 minutes with the Champ. They lined up in droves for their chance to belt me up and I’m sure no one will argue Cathy Grose Jones was the standout going first. She pounded me all over the stage and set a standard that few others could match. Every participant worked hard though and looked they enjoyed the 1-on-1 stuff.

Progressive Pointscore after Fight Club is as follows:

GREEN – 342

BLUE – 307

YELLOW – 293

RED – 282

Great stuff folks! I couldn’t believe how close the scores were and how the rankings kept changing. Except the GREENs still leading, going strong. Could they keep it up though?

I knew we’d see what everyone was made of at Adrenaline Abs at 6pm CORE.

Wednesday 6pm CORE – Adrenalin Abs

The heavens opened up for our CORE session.  That didn’t bother me, as I have only ever cancelled ONE outdoor fitness session over the last 7 years.  And that was because of lightning. Well that happened again. It was a little dodgy at times but we had 25 eager participants keen to do something. So huddled under the shelter of the stage we hit the planks, side planks and diagonals until we ran out of options. After all, the equipment was sitting in the pouring rain in the middle of the park.

I REALLY wanted to do one of the Challengers I had set aside for tonight but it was dangerous at times with some lightning around and understandable that people didn’t want to get out in the rain.

But some people did and we conjured up the slightly unusual “Abs of Steel” challenge.  The team that could produce the best belly slide through the big puddles of water in front of us would WIN.

So Chief Brad Moore stepped up and showed us he had plenty of guts, so to speak, taking out the belly slide challenge with ease.

Updated scores after CORE are:

GREEN – 372

YELLOW – 323

BLUE – 320

RED – 315

So the Challengers were sent with an early mark and told to gear up for Thursday morning’s STRENGTH session titled Muscular Mission

Tuesday 6am CORE – BOSU Block Party

Another colourful session with our Cardio/Core mixer. There were 8 stations, 50 seconds work at each and two laps were completed to get the heart pumping and the abs burning.

The BLUES managed to WIN their first session with solid numbers and a competitive spirit. 20 points coming courtesy of a great Team Sit Up Challenge and 15 points coming from Ali Day taking out 2^nd in the Plank Challenge. Unfortunately Ali couldn’t keep up with his rival professional athlete Judy Franklin who took out the PLANK Challenge for the GREENs with a 6 and a half minute effort! It must be noted Judy also did not take her rest breaks in the Brydie Abbott Oxygen Plank Challenge. Wow!

PLANK CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – GREEN (Judy Franklin)

2^nd 15 points – BLUE (Ali Day)

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW (Kylie Starling)

4^th 5 points – RED (Deb Chatfield and Julie Forster)

TEAM SIT UP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – BLUE

2^nd 15 points – RED

3^rd 10 points – YELLOW

4^th 5 points – GREEN

Progressive Pointscore after BOSU Block Party is as follows:

GREEN – 168

BLUE – 143

RED – 132

YELLOW – 128

So we had a couple of hours rest and moved on to STRENGTH with the Superset Smash at 9:30am!

Tuesday 9:30am STRENGTH – Superset Smash

A record number of people turned out for a 9:30am session with 23 at the class. REDs were looking dodgy with a few minutes to go as Chief Renee Miller was the only one there. But they pulled together at the last minute and had 4 hard working REDDIES.

The GREENs and YELLOWs had the most numbers but because of The Machine Judy Franklin the GREENs were able to win yet another Challenge with Judy holding a 3 and a half minute Squat Hold with me. Honourable mentions to Pete De Vet, I mean, Pete Davis from the YELLOWs with a Squat technique that could rival fellow YELLOW Brydie Abbott.

SQUAT HOLD CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – GREEN (Judy Franklin)

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW (Pete Davis)

3^rd 10 points – RED (Cathy Grose Jones)

4^th 5 points – BLUE (Matilda Ford)

Progressive Pointscore after Superset Smash is as follows:

GREEN -   203

BLUE -        160

RED -        157

YELLOW – 155

So with Strength done it was time for some Guerilla Warfare at the 6pm BOXING session!

Tuesday 6pm BOXING – Guerilla Warfare

A change of scenery with the YELLOW and RED Chiefs meeting and greeting everyone at the usual Hindmarsh Park but then trekking over to Black Beach Reserve for a very scenic Boxing session.

There were four coloured stations with YELLOWS starting at the Agility poles, REDs starting at the cricket pitch, GREENs on the Stair round and BLUEs running the around-the-world loop.

All rounds except the Cricket pitch were “10 tally” rounds however that didn’t mean the Cricket pitch round with Dave was an easy one. Continuous unders for 3 minutes with random “2,4,6,8 or 10” calls was hard yakka. Just ask GREENIE John Mak who doubled up!

The REDs and YELLOWs turned up in numbers and the extra recruits counted bug time.

Because of the numbers the Challenge Rounds all had the same result:

RED, YELLOW, GREEN and BLUE in that order. The results below:

STAIR ROUND:

1^st 20 points – RED

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

3^rd 10 points – GREEN

4^th 5 points ^– BLUE

ROUNDTHEWORLD:

1^st 20 points – RED

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

3^rd 10 points – GREEN

4^th 5 points ^– BLUE

NAPALM SHUTTLES:

1^st 20 points – RED

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW

3^rd 10 points – GREEN

4^th 5 points ^– BLUE

Progressive Pointscore after Guerilla Warfare is as follows:

GREEN – 244

RED – 235

YELLOW – 215

BLUE – 187

Challengers were told to watch out, Wednesday’s INTERVAL RUN was titled Obscene Obstacles for a reason!

MONDAY

6am BOXING – Rumble in the Jungle

Great start to Challenge Week this morning. 36 people braved the damp conditions and smashed it out at four different Boxing stations. The Greens currently lead with 69 points, followed by the Blues on 55, AND in equal 3rd the Yellows and Reds on 41 points each. ATTENDANCE is crucial folks so get there!

There were TWO main point scoring Challenges. They were the Hill Round and also the Shuttle Round. 1^st place receives 20 points, 2^nd gets 15, 3^rd gets 10 and 4^th gets 5.

HILL ROUND:

1^st 20 points – GREEN (1150 punches)

2^nd 15 points – BLUE (1000 punches)

Equal 3^rd 10 points – RED & YELLOW (880 punches each)

SHUTTLE ROUND:

1^st 20 points – GREEN (1370 punches)

2^nd 15 points – BLUE (1200 punches)

3^rd 10 points – RED (1130 punches)

4^th 5 points – YELLOW (1110 punches)

Challengers were reminded to not get too carried away, it’s only Monday. 1session down, 12 to go. They were told to Rise to the Challenge and turn up tonight for Operation Afterburn.

6pm STRENGTH – Operation Afterburn

WOW! I’ve never seen so much colour. It was an awesome atmosphere tonight. Before the session had even begun the YELLOWS had secured Bonus Points thanks to Brydie Abbott and her brand new Workout Muse.

We began our Super Circuit involving 8 stations that covered Hindmarsh Park. A tough agility run/hill sprint got the heart rate into overdrive and we completed 2 laps of the Circuit to the tunes of the Rocky Soundtrack and “I see you baby, shakin that a$$”.

After a quick drink we lined for Challenge 1 – Push Ups to the Death. It came down to ONE from each Team but eventually Elise Moore from the GREENS came home strong. She didn’t even look like she was struggling! Special mentions and Bonus Points to Wayne Starling from the BLUES and Joel Stewart from the REDS who battled it out for Silver and Bronze.

After a quick break, the Squat Jump Challenge began and it came down to a qsuare off between RED and YELLOW for the buns of steel award. Brydie Abbott featured again with some outstanding Squat technique but it was Chief Renee Miller who prevailed. Well done Chief.

The third Challenge proved a flop with some shaky looking Push Up castles so it was abandoned and the colourful Group photo was snapped.

PUSH UP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – GREEN (Elise Moore)

2^nd 15 points – BLUE (Wayne Starling)

3^rd 10 points – RED (Joel Stewart)

4^th 5 points -         YELLOW (Brydie Abbott)

SQUAT JUMP CHALLENGE:

1^st 20 points – RED (Renee Miller)

2^nd 15 points – YELLOW (Brydie Abbott)

3^rd 10 points – GREEN (Mark Burns)

4^th 5 points – BLUE (Geoff McIntyre)

So RED was crowned Winners of the Operation Afterburn STRENGTH Session and the progressive Point score is as follows:

GREEN – 117

RED – 93

BLUE – 89

YELLOW – 79

See how that Afterburn affected everyone at the Tuesday morning CORE session BOSU Block Party.