San Antonio College’s Kinesiology Club hosted its 14th semiannual Backyard Beast Team Fitness Challenge at SAC’s Parking Garage 3 Nov. 1.
A mix of 80 students, faculty and staff members registered for the competition, racing in four-person teams. Twenty teams in three divisions — men’s, women’s and coed — raced through a circuit course of exercise stations that included box jumps, rope slams, body carries, stairwell runs, tire flipping, and other physical challenges.
SAC Assistant Professor of Philosophy Dan Herrick, Victor Ricondo, Dan Morrison and Carlos Cardenas of team OTF (Only the Family) set a new course record of 21:41. Herrick runs the competition with a men’s team and a coed team every semester, and team OTF set the previous course record of 22:11 last spring.
“We wanted to beat our last season’s time; we were technically competing against our past selves,” Herrick said.
The K-Club hosts the event every fall and spring semester. Competitors start on the parking garage rooftop, run downstairs to the bottom floor and progress through the exercise stations, finishing back at the top.
“It was the best feeling to break the record,” Morrison said. “It was our first goal. We were hyping each other up going into it. We were all a little nervous at the start, but we were able to have very efficient strategies and perform explosive movements. And at every station, we could cut five or six seconds off our precious time, and that is what happened. We were thrilled and proud of each other.”
Herrick’s coed team, the 4LGang, also finished first in their division with a finishing time of 30:00. A women’s team named the Buttercups earned the fastest finishing time in their division at 36:47.
“I was excited when I found out we won the women’s division,” SAC freshman Wendy Gaytan Sosa said. “I did not train for this event. It was my first time competing, so it was shocking that we won.”
For SAC sophomore and dental assistant Emily Perez, the competition provided an opportunity to focus on her health and fitness.
“I used to go to the gym every day,” Perez said. “Since starting, I have not been to the gym in six weeks due to being caught up in my work and studies. This is the first time I have gotten my blood pumping and endurance up in a while, so it feels good.”
Organizers also used the event to collect donations of socks for SAC’s Advocacy Center.
“It’s a perfect way to let the community come together,” SAC sophomore Alexandria Poer said. “It lets San Antonio College be closer to our community and be a light for good.”
SAC Professor of Kinesiology Martha Stephenson said her department hosted the first Backyard Beast Team Fitness Challenge in November 2018, and the event has been wildly successful since then. The next competition will happen in April and always occurs in Parking Garage 3.
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