Mountie Maker
Video Transcript
Note: All WP Saskatchewan video transcripts are edited for flow and readability.
(Race Starter) “On your marks! Get set! Go!”
(Sergeant Soucy) “It’s the first ever time that we are hosting this event here, and this is where all the Mounties come to earn their uniform and their badge, so we wanted to give the participants a bit of an idea. This is a 7.5-kilometer race. We have 26 obstacles. The idea of the 26 is to mirror basically the 26 weeks of training that the cadets have to go through.”
“We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of the force across the country. It’s important to know where we come from, where we are now, and what we’re committed to provide in the future. We are very, very much committed right now to modernizing the RCMP. Be inclusive, be healthy as much as we as we can. I think we see the RCMP across the province, especially here, a lot in small communities, and we want to make sure that we are involved in our communities. We know what the communities need, and in involving them in an event like this today, and in the spirit of the 150th anniversary, I think it’s just a good way to show that the RCMP is committed to serve them in a good way.”
(Narrator) Saskatchewan has one of the lowest population densities in Canada. Because of this, the RCMP has officers stationed all over the 577,000 square kilometers of the province.
(Andrew) “Being an RCMP would be kind of cool.”
(Ingrid) “Well, I grew up in rural, in a small town, and we had RCMP, and they were really important for keeping everything safe.”
(Kassandra) “There’s not enough respect in the world for those guys. They do so much, and just the physical aspect of the job, it’s incredibly tough. So much respect for everyone in the field.”
(Tricia) “I don’t think people realize though too, a lot of it is education, and building relationships up in the community. It’s not just enforcement. And I think that’s something that needs to be seen.”
(Narrator) Saskatchewan is home to the only training facility for all the new RCMP members in Canada, with over 1000 Mounties graduating each year.
(Sergeant Soucy) “So they have to run, go around obstacles. That’s something that could be very well happening in their work afterwards, so that gives them an idea. We have almost 500 participants. That also includes children as well, because we wanted to share the fun. We have a part of the race that’s called the Mini Mountie, and that’s a 2 kilometer race with some obstacles for the children as well. We have about 100 volunteers that helped us make this happen and we are hoping it becomes an annual thing where we can have the public to come on our grounds and see a little bit of what we do here.”
“You can see the exhaustion after just seven and a half kilometers and all the obstacles. I think some of the obstacles may look easier than others. There is also a way if you can’t accomplish the obstacles, we make you do some burpees, just to get your heart rate up as well. And we can always adapt. And that’s the thing too, it (the activities) reflects well on our training as well, where we try to adapt to everybody that we have.”
(Narrator) There are 113 RCMP detachments in Saskatchewan.
(Jason) “Oh, I think it’ll be an eye opener for sure. I think everyone has kind of an idea of what they (RCMP Officers) do, but they don’t really actually see it. I’m actually very interested to see it all as well. She’s gone through depot training, so she’s kind of familiar with some of the stuff that we’re about to do, but I’ve never done any of it.”
(Tricia) “I’m mostly a runner, but I have done some small courses out here years ago. I do a lot of fence climbing and a lot of running and lifting, but this is pretty big compared to what I’ve done before, so we’ll see how it goes.”
(Jason) “I’ve definitely noticed the water dunk area over there. I’ll probably slide right in and be head deep for sure, but I’m okay with that one.”
(Ingrid) “Well, we saw the map, so have a bit of an idea.”
(Andrew) “We haven’t actually done this before, so we’re both kind of nervous, but I think it’s going to be fun. No, I think I got it good.”
(Ingrid) “The water. I’m not looking forward to that.”
(Tricia) “I’m usually fighting to keep up, so it’ll be fun.”
(Andrew) “We both do running. She runs a lot farther than I do, but we also work out. We do martial arts. We’re pretty well trained for this kind of thing.”
(Jason) “I think it’s going to be fun. I plan on givin’ ‘er. I’m kind of competitive. I plan on getting dirty. I plan on, you know, a few bruises, maybe a bit of blood, but it’ll be fun.”
(Narrator) For every five years on duty, an officer receives a star which is sewn on the upper left sleeve of the red Serge.
(Kassandra) “Oh, it’s just knowing that you’ve completed such a hard, tough race, especially with friends, too. It’s just so rewarding. And then you see the finish line, and there’s just no other feeling than just wanting to take that last leap like you guys saw there.”
(Sergeant Soucy) “We actually sold out, which we were very excited about. I think it’s a great turnout. Although the weather is not the best today, it’s actually pretty good for running. And then everybody seems to enjoy their time here. It is not easy to be a Mountie and this is why we’re here, to show it’s not easy, but it’s so worth it.”
(Kassandra) “This is my first one, actually, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll be back next year. I work out pretty regularly, so I wasn’t sure what to think. It was hard. I would think even for the most trained athletes, it was hard. But it’s fun.”
(Narrator) Do you think you have what it takes to complete the Mountie Maker?
Credits:
RCMP Representative (Sergeant Audrey Soucy)
Mountie Maker Race Participants (Kassandra Doig (2:43:59), Andrew Kirby (1:48:55), Ingrid Kirby (1:48:54), Jason Zaphe (2:42:40), Tricia Zaphe (1:35:00))
Filmed at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Academy – Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan.