Mud, sweat and tears in Warrior Race
The first of the gruelling Jeep Warrior endurance races for 2015 took place at the Heia Safari Ranch in Muldersdrift over the weekend of 1 and 2 February and saw several fitness fanatics from Ermelo competing.
The race is divided into three different levels of endurance and difficulty, each testing the participants’ athletic ability to the full.
The father-and-son team of George (senior) and Johan Venter successfully completed the Warrior Commando race over a distance of 10km, consisting of 20 obstacles such as muddy barbed wire crawls, jumping from high towers, large mud pits, climbing over walls, jumping over fire, climbing over high nets, carrying heavy objects and challenging rope work and many more. The average time to complete the race is two hours.
George Venter (junior), Danie Kruger, Vic Buitendag, Gené Kruger and Brandon de Klerk braved the shorter but equally challenging 6km Rookie race. Some of the 15 obstacles in this event are slightly easier to conquer than those in the Commando race and are suited for the not-so-fit athlete.
Manny Dos Reis proved that he is fit and strong enough to compete against the big guns by taking on the Black Ops race on 2 February. He completed the 18km race in fourth place overall in 02:20:27, setting his personal best time.
The race consisted of 30 obstacles which the organisers describe as “exhilarating and sometimes brutal, promising to deliver blood, sweat and tears”. The obstacles include body twisters, rope climbs, log flipping, sand bag carrying, muddy barbed wire crawls, jumping from high towers, larger than life mud pits, scaling walls, jumping over fire, climbing over high cargo nets and many more.
Participants in this event are advised to be fit and well prepared.
All finishers in these events received an event-specific metal “dog tag medal”.
