Campers begin the Penguin Challenge at Homestead Park

By JOE GORMAN

jgorman@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Xavier Weaver, 12, was so set to begin the Penguin Challenge Tuesday at Homestead Park that he did not even have time to give a reporter his last name.

Instead, after stretching at the start of an obstacle course and saying he wanted to win, he ran off.

The challenge is sponsored by the city police department, Youngstown State University and the Parks and Recreation Department.

The Penguin Challenge will be at the park at 3 p.m. every Tuesday through July 30. In the challenge, there will be a weekly fitness test for kids that will conclude with a final challenge, where kids will compete in a combination of all the events for a grand prize.

Prizes will be given each week to the top three finishers in their age brackets.

With kids gathered before the first event Tuesday underneath the park’s pavilion, Capt. Jason Simon of the police department said Homestead Park is the only one where the challenge will be held, of the five camps being operated in city parks this summer.

A special challenge event will be in a few weeks at Cardinal Mooney High School so kids who attend camps at other parks can see it for themselves, Simon said.

Simon said the idea is to get kids to come back each week so they can work on being fit. The program is also part of the Community Based Crime Reduction program the city has been running on the South Side, a combination of extra patrols and social programs to fight crime in the area.

The first event Tuesday was an obstacle course through cones and trees. Older kids ran a longer portion of the course then the younger ones. About 20 kids overall participated.

Julissa Pike was one of those who competed. When asked how it went for her, she answered in a word: “Tired.”

Julissa ran the obstacle course in her slippers. She said it would have been a different story if she had been in shoes.

“With my shoes I would have been faster,” Pike said.

Pike said she is looking forward to the other events, especially the crawling and climbing events.

“I’m good at climbing,” Pike said.

S’Adiamond Taltoan and Nelson Figueroa also competed Tuesday. Nelson said the course was fun.

“Going through the cones was easy,” he said.

S’Adiamond said she is also especially looking forward to the climbing event.

“I climb everything,” she said.