When the going got tough, it seems Sci ’13 needed some help to get it going.
Three hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds into the annual Grease Pole climb, it took Sci ’12 student Cian O’Neill-Kizoff to reach the top and show the engineering frosh how it was done.
O’Neill-Kizoff captured the tam as he had done last year, snagging the coveted Tam Frosh title for the second year in a row.
Despite Saturday morning’s sunny weather, the climb took one hour, seven minutes and 25 seconds longer than last year’s event, which took place in the rain.
“In previous years, it would be frosh only,” Mackenzie Dixon, Engineering Society senior senator, said. “Now it’s an all-faculty event so, after a certain amount of time, alumni are sent in to help.”
Dixon said more than 600 first-year engineering students were at the event.
“You’ve also got the entire force of FRECs, Water Team, Queen’s First Aid, Queen’s Security, lifeguards. … We have every safety precaution imaginable,” he said. “It’s the best exercise in risk management that Queen’s has to offer.”
At times when the climb got risky, the Grease Pole and Student Constable co-ordinators who were monitoring the event yelled, “Break” and the crowd would catch on to the chant.
Those in the pit had to break their rings and move away from the pole due to a safety concern.
There were no major injuries this year, Dixon said, adding that the climb was successful and fun for those involved.
“It’s definitely more of a faculty bonding experience than it was in previous years,” he said. “Sci ’13 earned their tam.”
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