Watch: SA warrior gets locals fired up for the Jeep Warrior Race
Warrior Ric played MC at the fourth Fitness Comes Alive Friday Nights Under the Brick Lights to help prepare athletes.
MC and brand ambassador of Jeep Warrior Race, Warrior Ric officially started rolling out the Jeep Warrior Race in Mbombela on Friday May 27.
He played MC at the fourth Fitness Comes Alive Friday Nights Under the Brick Lights, the monthly challenge at K-Fit Kettlebell and Functional Fitness.
It is meant to help prepare athletes for the race, which takes place for the first time in the Lowveld in September at Kwanyoni Lodge.
- Read more: Find your inner warrior on ultimate course
“Obstacle-course racing is taking off in South Africa,” Ric told Lowvelder about the popularity of the race.
He said the Jeep Warrior Race is aimed at the Joe Publics – generally top athletes comprise only 10 per cent of the total participants.
“There are many entry points. Whether you want to lose weight, just get out of the house, or overcome your fear of looking silly.
“I love watching people going from zero to hero in the few seconds it takes them to start; you are a hero because you begin.”
Ric aims not only to inspire people, but to transform them. “I don’t know people’s dreams and visions, but I have a vision for them.”
In demonstrating his motivational skills, Ric had the kettlebellers responding loudly to his call, “Where are the soldiers at?” In teams of four participants completed 10-minute rounds of jerks, snatches, presses and dead lifts before a relay race completed the challenge.
Warrior Race Lowveld organiser Eric Strydom said K-Fit was one of the ways in which to prepare for the Warrior Race, which offers different challenges. There is the Black Ops (approximately 30 obstacles over about 15 kilometres), Commando (approximately 20 obstacles over about 10 kilometres) and the Rookie Race of about five kilometres.
The latter usually comprises 60 per cent of total participants. There is also a Warrior Brats for three to 11-year-olds.
Every venue is different, but Strydom promises that the Black Ops at Kwanyoni will be the hardest of any in the country to date. The support for the local event has also been unprecedented: with 8 000 entries to date while the event is still four months away.
“It is positive, healthy, clean and uplifting. It is about camaraderie,” Strydom said.
On the day there will be a safe area to leave your kids, food stalls and live entertainment. Spectators are welcome. “If you didn’t do the race, you should still be inspired,” Ric concluded.
• K-Fit Nelspruit has moved. The gym now operates from The Training Edge at Riverside Junction. Enquiries: Freek Carelse on 076-416-4453.
Warrior Ric lives by five Ps
• Presence: Showing up, instead of saying “I should have, could have or used to do that”.
• Patience: Strategic, active waiting – ” I will see the results of my workout, even if it is not immediate”.
• Perseverance: Try, fail, try again, fail again, try again…
• Passion: The energy to keep going, fuel for the soul that gets you up in the mornings.
• Purpose: Directing your passion
to achieve your goal.
