On October 10, Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) kicked off the 2015 Army JROTC Raider Season with American Senior High School serving as the host school. The event included over 300 participants and spectators from across Miami and Broward County to observe teams going head to head in the grueling 5-event iron man type competition.
Competing school Army and Air Force JROTC teams were from high schools Miami Coral Park, South Miami, Homestead, Plantation, South Dade, West Broward, Coral Gables, Killian, Miramar, Miami Senior, Miami Southwest, Miami Sunset, and North Miami.
Enduring the heat and humidity, male, female and mixed teams competed in the Tire Flip, the 5k Team Run, the 1-mile Cross Country Rescue, constructing One Rope Bridges, and an event new to Miami-Dade County, the Raider Fitness Challenge Endurance Course.
The events were scored by observers that serve as Army JROTC instructors in Miami-Dade County, members of the Army Reserve stationed in Homestead, and by Army ROTC Cadets assigned to Florida International University.
The Army JROTC Cadets at FIU will be commissioned in June 2016 as Second Lieutenants in the United States Army. The primary purpose for judges with such seasoning is to ensure safety and to enforce the strict rules and guidelines governing uniforms, grooming and conduct.
The day began with a 7 a.m. briefing and at 8 a.m. the event signaling the start of the competition was the 5k team run where as a group, teams of ten jogged as fast as possible across gravel, sand, and hard packed surfaces. During the run, members of the team are required to remain within 10 meters of each other and run unassisted. Immediately after completion of the team run, teams regrouped, grabbed equipment and move without rest to the next event, rotating from event to event until all 5 events are completed.
The Tire Flip entailed a team of 10 who against the clock, moved a 400 pound industrial tire a distance of 50 meters, and then back to where the tire was initially positioned.
The Cross Country Rescue is a 1-mile team run where the 10 member team carries a military grade stretcher weighted with a 120 pound object to simulate a casualty. While navigating the course, the team is required to crawl and move the victim under two obstacles 24 inches off the ground for a distance of 10 feet, and complete a written examination with questions that test the team’s knowledge of first aid and lifesaving procedures.
The objective of the One Rope Bridge event is for the team, using a 120 foot rope, to travel from point A to point B with equipment for a distance of 50 feet without touching the ground.
The final event, and new to Miami Dade County, is the Raider Fitness Challenge. A special course was constructed on the American High School campus that includes obstacles to crawl under, navigate over, and carry. Creating considerable anxiety was the 200 pound obstacle constructed of nine automobile tires the team had to lift, move 50 feet, and return to its original position. Each team devised their own special strategy for lifting the object, which is intentionally designed to not have handles, corners or any protruding point that made it easy to lift.
After 5 hours of a grueling competition, the teams emerging as victorious were South Miami, Plantation, West Broward, North Miami Beach, American and South Dade.