All done!! Pt 1

Well, its been many years in the making. And now it is done. Myself and Mr. Young got our promotions. We worked our butts off and were put through the ringer. I am now a 6th degree black belt in Taekwon do, known as senior master and a 3rd degree black belt in kong shin bup hapkido. Mr. Young is now a 4th degree black belt in Taekwon Do, known as an assistant master.
Here is a rundown of how the weekend and the test went. Photos will be posted on our facebook page once i have gone through them.
I arrived Wednesday evening and got checked into my hotel. I tracked down Grandmaster Timmerman at his house as i had nothing better to do and wanted some company. Master Geoff Booth from Australia had just arrived at his house as well, so we hung out and then went back in to town for dinner. As we got situated for dinner, Master Ott (the keynote speaker) from Washington state joined us, along with his assistants, and we also had Master Zach Woon, his wife Claire and a few from their group from the United Kingdom join us. Master Troy Trudeau from Tennessee sat with us as well. We all had fun catching up and discussing the events to come.
Thursday for most of the day, i spent it in my hotel room, running through material and resting. i was to head down and sit on the masters panel for the grading Thursday night. This was the 'easier" of the two testings. I was to bring Master Booth with me as he was going to sit in as well. As i went to his room to pick him up, he informed me that Grandmaster Ken McKenzie of New Jersey (The heir apparent for Sin Moo hapkido) had arrived and was going to follow my truck as he didnt know where to go.

After a quick detour by another hotel to pick up another Master from California, we arrived at GM Timmerman's school. The temperature in the school was already into the 30's and he doesnt have a/c. There were so many high ranking masters and grandmasters there already, that i got bumped off the testing panel. As i 5th degree black belt, i got bumped, that should tell you the level of how many people were there. The test started, and as i watched, Mr. Young, Cam Hux and Graham Abell (my uke's for my test) arrived. We watched for a bit as roughly 20 stuydents went through their paces in the "easier" test. I put easier in hyphens because it was not easier. By the time we had left, the temps was in the mid 40's and numerous people had passed out already. It was insanely hot! They definitely had it tougher.
The way GM Timmerman does his ranking, if you test in the easier test, you get the ranking of Kuk Sool Won, or Kuk Sool hapkido. If you successfully test on the tougher test, you get the ranking of Kong Shin Bup hapkido, which is known worldwide as a really tough style of hapkido to achieve.
I met up with our group and had dinner and then went to bed early to stare at the ceiling for 5 hours. I slept for about 2 hours, before waking up at 3am, waiting for the alarm to go off at 4:45. It finally went off, and we all assembled at the lake for 6am. The sun wasnt even up yet, but there was about 50 people assembled and ready to go in.
At 6am on the dot, we trudged out to chest deep water and did all sort of kicking techniques for 30 minutes. It was tough work, but fun. Every other time we had to go in the water for our test, it has been November and frozen!! This time the water was much warmer.
We then were led by Rick Tischer, a former boot camp instructor up the road for a 5km run. We ran in a double line formation singing a cadence. It was a blast. He came up with some awesome songs. Did you know that his gramma is 93 and does push ups just like me? :)
We arrived back at GM Timmermans property and started into the obstacle course. The first thing was the wall. Master Kevin Janisse went up first. He is about 130 pounds and made of muscle. He pulled me up the 15 foot wall, and then the two of us together then proceeded to help and pull over 30 people over the wall. my arms were cooked!!
Then came the peg board. This is everyone nightmare from high school gym. I got about 2 pegs up before my arms gave out. Pulling up so many people took any strength i had left. I then had to climb a 20 foot rope and touch the top. Once again, no strength left, so i used a bit of the boards in the wall to climb.
We then had to walk the log for balance, fall off mor ethan three times and you fail. talk about pressure!!
Walk the high wire, leap frog through tires, carry a log around on your shoulders in a group, do sit ups with the log, roll a telephone pole around in a push up position and then run the trail, which is about a km there and back.
End of pt 1