Father, Daughter Take On 30-Hour Coffin Challenge

JACKSON, NJ — While most of us will be waking up Monday morning snuggled under comforters in our dry, warm beds, John and Alairra Nash will be trying to stay warm as they pass the midpoint of the 30-hour Coffin Challenge at Six Flags Great Adventure.

The father and daughter from Seaside Heights are among the six contestants lying in coffins on the grounds of the amusement park in Jackson as part of the contest, which began with a "Laying to Rest" ceremony at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The contest ends at 8:30 p.m. Monday.

"I've always been very competitive," Alairra said Saturday evening. "I wanted to take on a challenge." The 18-year-old just recently completed her basic training with the U.S. Army in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, following in the footsteps of her father, who was a staff sergeant in the Army infantry.

"I served for 14 years," John Nash, 47, said, noting that he recently decided to join the Army Reserves to complete his service time for retirement. "Seeing my daughter go in motivated me to finish my time."

John Nash was motivated to take on the Coffin Challenge with Alairra for a much different reason, however: he's competing to honor his wife, LynnAnn, who originally was selected to compete with Alairra. LynnAnn Nash has been battling lupus and multiple sclerosis, and a flare-up in her illness forced her to step away.

Initially, Alairra was going to withdraw as well. Then John spoke up and offered to do the challenge with her, LynnAnn said.

"When she (Alairra) got the email saying they were picked, she was really excited," John said, admitting that at first he didn't believe it was real. " ' They're trying to sell you something, I said.' " But when he realized it wasn't a joke, he volunteered to compete in LynnAnn's place.

"I told her (LynnAnn) I would dress up like her," John said with a laugh, of his offer to compete when his wife could not.

"They (Six Flags' staff) were really great about it," LynnAnn, 44, said, adding that she was really disappointed she couldn't compete. "I felt like I was letting her down."

Alairra said she had been looking forward to the opportunity to spend the time with her mother, after being away at basic training.

"I didn't see her all summer," Alairra said. "This would have made up for it." But she and John were doing what they could to keep LynnAnn a part of the experience. Among the plans: playing the song "Baby Shark" on repeat much of the 30 hours.

"It's her favorite song," Alairra said, laughing. She'd compiled a package of remixes of the song — there's at least 90 versions, in fact — that she planned to use. "I just want her to know she's still a part of it."

John said he planned to pass some of the time studying his anatomy and physiology notecards for his nursing classes. He is pursuing a nursing degree in part to be able to better take care of LynnAnn as she continues to fight through her health issues.

"I'm her champion, or I try to be," John said, noting that LynnAnn's illness was so complex that finding doctors to treat her has been a challenge. Becoming a nurse is one of his ways of coping with it, because it allows him to have a better understanding and more compassionate responses to her challenges.

John and Alairra said their main goal with the Coffin Challenge was just to have fun. "It's more of the experience," she said, an experience that was going to include several contests within the contest that would earn the winners points.

"If I have to eat crickets, I'll eat crickets," John said. "I think MREs are worse than crickets," Alairra added, referring to the ready-to-eat meals that soldiers eat in the field.

"We both want to prove we have the discipline to do this," she said.

And if it comes down to John vs. Alairra in the competition? "My daughter will lose," John said.

"I know she has some surprises up her sleeve. I raised her. I know what she's capable of," he said, as Alairra laughed in the background.

"Just the fact that we get to do this as a family makes it fun," she said.

You can check in on the contestants on the live feed Six Flags has set up on YouTube below.

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