The athletic field had been permeated with smiles from students and staff from Moorpark College bright and early, including community members and vendors to celebrate the FLeX Club and one special person: Moorpark College alumnus and Marine Veteran Chris Leatart who had been diagnosed with leukemia.

Vendors from 24 Hour Fitness to even Gold’s Gym attended the event to raise awareness for a fit lifestyle and help promote a possible bone marrow donor for Leatart.

A booth for City of Hope’s “Be the Match” was also set up taking anyone who was interested in being a donor, providing them with cheek-swab kits and any information that was asked for. Janet Higgins, Community Engagement Representative with City of Hope, had over-seen the “Be the Match” table.

During a break-time speech, Higgins had announced the success with people signing up to be a donor and her thankfulness in doing so.

“We have twenty-five new donors added on to the registry,” said 7 year representative Janet Higgins for Be the Match organization. “That’s twenty-five new chances at life. I really want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart.”

As Higgins continued, she has expressed her goals in getting more students, staff and community members to join as well.

“I want to push it,” said Higgins. “I want to get twenty-five more donors… It takes 10 minutes to save a life!”

Along with the City of Hope booth, Chris Leatart had showed his appreciation by attending and, according to the event-star, is moved by the amount of people showing their care to save a life.

“I feel great about this,” said Leatart.”This is completely overwhelming to see all the support I’ve had.”

The XRC had included various physical challenges in one obstacle such as bear-crawls, lifting weights, and more! Through each set of races, the FLeX Club’s Fitness Specialists were there encouraging each participant as they worked their hearts out to finish within the 10 minute time-frame. Men and women competed within their own groups that were divided into students and faculty/staff.

The obstacle created by Moorpark College’s FLeX Club had not been an easy task to finish, according to MC’s students and participants Janine Stovall and Chris Luczywek.

“This event was really difficult,” said Luczywek who was representing the male participants in the competition. “It pushed you to your limits.”

Janine Stovall, Culinary and Kinesiology major, had agreed to the level of difficulty that the course had been. Stovall is also taking Kinesiology instructor Jeff Kreil’s Boot Camp course during the Fall semester.

“It was more difficult than I had expected,” said Stovall who had represented the women’s heat. “I knew it would be a lot of fun and I like to challenge myself.”

Moorpark College’s Faculty Jeff Kreil is the head of the FLeX Club and organizer of the Xtreme Raider Challenge event. According to Kreil, the event had been a great success and would not have been what it was without their volunteers.

“Our volunteers have been amazing,” said Kreil. “This event wouldn’t be what it is without them.”

With all the help of the volunteers, the annual XRC had been a day to remember.

“We’re just having a great time” said Kreil. “Everyone is having a great time, everyone is working really hard and we’re just having a lot of fun.”

All of the money raised helps not only the Moorpark College Flex Club and Chris Leatart, but also to help pay for the testing at “Be the Match” for City of Hope. Over $1000 were raised during the event with an ending amount of 35 people signed up to be a donor for someone in need.