Recreation Services hosted the X-Campus Obstacle Course on Tuesday at the Student Recreation Center-North.

The course was approximately a mile and a half with several obstacles, including stairs, stepping through hoops, running through sand, riding on scooters and balancing on benches, among other challenges.

“It’s just short enough to where they get all of the way through and get rehydrated, get everything done and get a good workout in,” certified personal trainer Justin Marks said.

Marks, who was among the volunteers helping at the obstacle course, said the different activities and challenges provided a good lower-body workout for the students.

“This whole thing is mostly just cardio,” Marks said. “You got some agility work obviously right here [going between the poles in the sand] and then jumping over things and the stairs, lots of agility and cardio.”

The obstacle course was designed to be a more creative way for students to get a cardiovascular workout in, rather than just running on a treadmill or around a track.

“I’m just trying to give them other options, more healthier options, of things to do around campus,” Sara Wagganer, assistant director of fitness and wellness at the Student Recreation Center-North, said. “That’s what we try to do with these special events, get them away from maybe doing other things that they shouldn’t be doing and doing something good for their bodies.”

Last year, Recreation Services hosted a similar event – a “backyard obstacle course,”, which was set up behind the Student Recreation Center-North and was much smaller than this year’s event.

“This year we just decided to try to do it on campus rather than behind campus this time, something just a little bit different,” Wagganer said. “We’re always trying to experiment with new special events to see what they like and what works.”

This year’s event had students running from the Student Recreation Center-North, over the catwalk through Laferla Hall to the stairs by Brandt Hall and back to the start with obstacles along the way.

“I feel like when we are running through campus it brings awareness to the fact that the [Recreation Center] isn’t just a place to lift at,” Marks said. “We have events for you to get involved and maybe this event will get your fitness career or lifestyle jumpstarted.”

Recreation Services hopes that by putting on this and other events will raise awareness that fitness activities at Southeast aren’t limited to the Rec. Center.Recreation Services already hosted a rowing competition, and other special events happening this year is a badminton tournament on Oct. 21 and Redhawk Warrior Night on Nov. 15, which will feature events similar to that of the popular TV show “American Ninja Warrior.”