A new kind of exercise
Push-ups, sit-ups, jump rope and relay races may not seem all that challenging, but try doing these activities while kissing, and the situation gets much harder.
During the True Aggie Kissing Decathlon Friday, five competing couples had to sprint; run through tires; complete a three-legged race, a ring toss, a chicken fight; play football and basketball; jump rope; and do push-ups and sit-ups while locking lips with a partner.
The couples, competing for passes to Beaver Mountain, received points for each activity. If their lips stopped touching at any point during or between challenges, couples lost points and were disqualified from the challenge.
Lance Brown, Campus Recreation chair and coordinator of the event, continually reminded couples throughout the event that they could not stop kissing.
“You have got to lock your lips. At no point can you unlock your lips,” he said.
After five events, however, Brown said he started to feel bad for the participants so he gave them a brief halftime, instructing them to wipe their faces and lips off so they could return ready to kiss.
After nearly an hour, Brad Schultz, first year master’s student in accounting, and Camille Hillstrom, sophomore in radiology, took first place.
The couple, who have been dating several months, said it was hardest to continue kissing while jump roping. Even though the activities were challenging, Schultz and Hillstrom said they really enjoyed it.
“It was fun. I’m good to go. I’m ready for another hour,” Schultz said. “I guess it helped that we’ve been in training for seven months.”
The competition was neck and neck, but the couple credited their slim victory to their strategy of love and never letting go.
Couple Nicholas Hansen, sophomore in graphic design, and Caroline Berry, senior in family consumer science, came in second.
By the end of the competition, Berry said her face and lips were numb and raw. Being shorter than Hansen, she also said she had a stiff neck.
Hansen and Berry won $30 to a movie theater and $10 to Village Inn.
Brown coordinated the decathlon as part of a series of nontraditional intramural sports competitions he is organizing. He said the activities are designed to get the entire student body involved.
“I want to cater to all different aspects of campus, not just for athletes,” he said.
With the True Aggie Kissing Decathlon, Brown said he wanted to cater to couples, offering an activity that would attract participants and an audience.
“I wanted to create activities that would be awkward, hard to do and fun to look at,” he said.
Aside from offering an activity for everyone, Brown said the decathlon is an old USU tradition he is hoping to bring back permanently.
-arie.k@aggiemail.usu.edu
Unable to stop kissing, sophomore Nicholas Hansen and girlfriend Caroline Berry, senior, did sit-ups during the True Aggie Decathlon on Friday. Hansen and Berry took second place. Participants were disqualified if they stopped kissing. (Cameron Peterson)