Soldier On program; OCdts off to Air Combat Zone; TKD Champ
1st Annual RMC 24 Hour Bike-a-thon for Soldier On a Great Success
By: 24825 Cooper Sinclair (III)
The night of Friday the 27th of Feb 2009 music, cheering and encouragement could be heard resonating throughout RMC’s New Gym. This was the location of the first ever RMC charity bike-a-thon, a 24 hour standing spinbike race to raise donations for the Canadian Forces Soldier On program. Pitted against one another, and the Director of Cadets LCol Tony O’Keeffe, each squadron from the college entered a team of riders that would invest their time, sweat…and more sweat into the 24 hours that they were responsible to man the bike. There were also teams entered by the Military Wing and the KMCSC PSP staff who attended as both inspiration and support to the myriad of Officer Cadets that were straining to put distance on these uncomfortable machines. There were even 6 brave members who decided to compete in a 24 hour solo ride just for personal bragging rights: OCdt Bujold 24235, OCdt Fitzpatrick 24158, OCdt Godin 24418, OCdt Ouellette 24179, Ex-Cadet 2Lt Sheasby and the College Adjutant Capt Brassard.
With the start at 1900 sharp Friday night, these riders had a long ride ahead of them to make it all the way until 1900 Saturday. Although there were some major bike malfunctions, last-minute changes to many personnel rosters and some hiccups with music selection the bike-a-thon was soon smoothly underway and teams fiercely competed to log the most mileage on the little odometers mounted to the bikes. With varying tactics as to personnel rotation, support and snacking each team brought a little of themselves, and a lot of creativity and motivation to this event. This energy carried on through the night…even with a few of the solo riders beginning to droop somewhere around “the 4 am slump.” And soon, the morning was teeming with people bringing in breakfast and coffees and even just smiles to get things up and booming again.
With the final minutes remaining of the day on Saturday 8 and 10 squadron were in a neck and neck race for the top. Always within a few miles of one another, one of the supporters commented that “in a real cycling race, they would be able to smell one another, they are that close”. And that mentality seemed to feed these two teams to the brink of their physical abilities, all in the name of friendly competition. With “O Fortuna” and “Goodnight Saigon” thrown onto the playlist for the last few songs, both FYOP standards, college morale was at an all time high. And, with squadron members huddled around their bikes singing along the Gym was aglow with a sense of pride and comradeship that is comparable to the completion of the obstacle course, and marching through the arch for the last time. Finally, with the time completed, teams waited with ‘bated breath as they moved, or hobbled labourdly, into the Cadet Formal Mess for the results.
The winner was 10 squadron, led by OCdt Phillips 24847, with a distance of 842.23miles whose $100 pizza-party prize money was graciously donated by CSL OCdt Ahn 24268 back to the charity in exchange for a mere civilian clothes Friday for the squadron.
There was also a rep, WO MacLean, who came down to receive a cheque on behalf of Soldier On at the after-event to the value of $3,180.98. However, after 10 squadron’s kindness and some last second donations the CF Soldier On program received $3,300.00 from the event. There are already discussions in the works for next year’s event, which we hope to make larger and more well known throughout the Kingston Military community, in the hopes of spreading the word about, and raising support for, the CF Soldier On program. Details about the program can be found Here
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RMC cadets take to the skies in F-18’s……..!!
Article by 24629 Chirag Joshi
First appeared in Precision, RMCC Journal
The weekend of 7th March, 2009 the flying club organized a trip to Air Combat Zone in Toronto to participate in dogfights in a simulated environment, in F-18 simulators. The flying club had a total of 18 members who made the trip down to polish up on their Air to Air combat skills.
A majority of the members were eager first years who wanted a taste of what it would feel like to be in the cockpit of a F-18 and ‘kill’ their enemies. For those waiting their turn to get on the simulators bided their time by watching Jetstream in the waiting room trying to get an idea of how real F-18 pilots would react in similar situation, while others polished up on their foosball skills.
Overall, the trip was a success and the flying club intends to make this an annual event. The RMC Flying Club is a College organization with the goal of stimulating interest in aviation throughout the RMC community. We want to support those who have any interest in flying whether it is as a military career or simply as a hobby.
Upcoming activities may include cross-country flights to Ottawa to visit the aviation museum, local tours of the Kingston and the 1000 Islands region in the semiannual fly day’s tentatively held in November and April, visits and presentations by CF-18’s on the 1st of May, 2009!
As you know, flying can be an expensive hobby especially for the struggling student and so fund-raising activities for the club are always in demand. The RMC Flying Club is for anyone at the College who has a love of powered flight and is willing to take the initiative to share that passion with others.
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OCdt Vanessa Larochelle Meilleur – To Compete At TKD World Level
On the weekend of March 6th OCdt Vanessa Larochelle Meilleur III traveled to Laval, QC with three RMC team members to compete at the Canadian National World Cup Team trials. The winners of this event would then represent Canada at the Taekwondo World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan from June 10-14, 2009.
The Taekwondo World Cup is the most prestigious competition in the world outside of the Olympic games. This competition represents the best of the best as only the top ten countries in the world are invited to compete at the World Cup.
OCdt Larochelle Meilleur had a dominating performance over the weekend winning all four matches and the gold medal in the Women’s 4th division. Vanessa is now a member of the national team that will compete at the World Cup. Because of her achievement at this tournament her national ranking has vaulted from fourth to first – she is now ranked number one in Canada in the Women’s Welterweight division.
Vanessa had followed her game plan perfectly in each of her matches and after receiving her gold medal said: “I am never taking this medal off!”
She also felt that the result was rather surreal and found herself not believing that she had finally accomplished her goal of being a National Champion and representing the Canadian team.
Way to go Vanessa from all of us at RMC!