Boxers Meet Great Wall

Last Thursday the members of the U.S. Boxing team woke up to the news that the day's training site had been trained. Instead of working out at the gym at Beijing Normal University, they would instead run the Great Wall of China.

This change of venue didn't rattle them at first, possibly because they didn't realize just how high the Great Wall is until their bus reached a section in the mountains not far from Beijing. It wasn't until they began to run up its steps, hundreds of feet into the air, that they understood what they had gotten themselves into.

"It was a long run up, man," said middleweight Shawn Estrada. "It was a long, long way up. We worked hard."

The idea came from the team's strength coach who along with team coach Dan Campbell, decided the session would be a great way to see the wall and get a better workout than simply running on the flat surface of the Beijing streets.

The boxers pushed past several stunned Chinese and tourists who were gingerly making their way up the wall's steps. Once at the top, they rode down on toboggans. There's an example of what a Great wall toboggan ride looks like below (note: this is not the U.S. boxing team).
"That was one of the most fun things I've ever done," Estrada said.

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By Les Carpenter  |  August 5, 2008; 12:01 PM ET
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