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By Will Bredderman
Brooklyn Daily
This is Brooklyn!
Approximately 1,000 high school students tested their mettle in the Spartan Race — a grueling obstacle course worthy of Ancient Greece.
Teenagers from Bensonhurst’s Lafayette Educational Complex (comprising the High School of Sports Management, the Life Academy, Kingsborough Early College Secondary School, Leaders High School, and International High School) climbed ropes, scaled walls, and carried sandbags on May 16 in a fierce, military-style contest. Al Schreiber, a spokesman for the race — the five-year-old brainchild of the Reebok sneaker company, which has put the event on across the globe — said the kids were not competing with each other, but trying their individual strength and endurance.
“When you’re in a Spartan Race, you race against yourself,” said Schreiber.
Schreiber said the students amazed him with their agility and stamina — not to mention their willingness to repeat the punishing physical challenge two and even three times.
“These kids had an amazing abundance of energy and spirit to do that. We hadn’t seen a group like that before,” Schreiber said.
Principal Robin Pitts said the Spartan Race taught the students the value of perseverance.
“Overcoming the obstacles on the course will be good training for them to overcome obstacles in real life,” Pitts said.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.