If you can't remember, here's a summary: you stand at start line and wait while Hellboy presses play on his iPod. A voice comes from a speaker telling you to get ready. You prepare for the pain. Three beeps sound and you jog to another line, 20m away, and turn around. You wait for the next beep, then run back. This is done repeatedly for about a minute, and then three beeps issue again from the speakers, indicating that the next level will commence. The next level has shorter beeps, another minute goes past and three more beeps are heard and the next level starts. The higher the level, the faster one must run between the lines. This means that higher levels require one to run the 20m more times. Before you know it, you're running flat out and the next beep happens about that same time you put your foot down to finish the previous run. It's not long after that that you physically can't continue and have to bow out.
We had 8 people turn up on the day out of the 17 that were on station this weekend. Our names were drawn out of a hat and Spaggers and I were chosen to go first. Here's a picture of us in action:
Spaggers opted out at the respectable level of 10.1, and I managed to push through the pain for a little bit longer to reach 11.4 before opting out.
Next up was Hellboy and the Doc, both renowned for their cardiovascular fitness. Here's a pic of them about to plant their foot and wait for the next beep.
The first to go in this duo was Ben (left). As the test progressed, you could see in his contorted face that he wasn't going to give up without a fight, but he had to let it go at 12.10, which is an amazing effort. Hellboy kept going to attain a score of 13.8, which is on par with a lot of professional athletes. Very impressive.
Next up was Geoff (left) and Tommy. It was truly excellent to see this old diesel mechanic having a go and he ended up pushing his way to 6.6 without even breaking a sweat. That's enough to join the NSW police. Tommy pushed on to get 8.4, which means he's right if he wants to join any of the 3 armed forces.
Next it was Matt Azza (left) and Nick the Rodent. These two are right into their fitness and so it wasn't surprising that they both cracked level 10. Matty came through with a solid 10.4, while Roden broke the goal-worthy level 13, spot on 13.0.
I was really impressed with how everyone went. For posterity I took photos of everyone that I could right after they'd finished up. Here's a collage of pain that I've created.
And so, after all, it was Nick "hellboy" Helmore that took out the trophy/milk-urn-with-eyes. Here's the proud lad holding his award high for everyone to see.
The beep test. It was actually a lot of fun, when you weren't actually doing it. Now we're all going into training to beat our personal records.
Until next time, I've got my sights set on that milk-urn.
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