2017 OCR has finally kicked off and it kicked off with a bang! The weekend was a mash-up of short course and black-ops racing spread over the two days.

Saturday we saw SA’s first official team event on The Warrior Race’s short course which was a lot of fun to watch but even more fun to take part in. The 500m course has 10 obstacles which are challenging, yet do-able and has no room for error when you go head to head to cross that finish line.

My teammates, Greg and Louis, took on Team Nevarest B and Die ysters as Nevarest A for the team finals event. We managed to take the win and it was exhilarating to be the first winners of this growing part of the Warrior Race’s OCR scene. I hope the interest and competition will grow with every event.

Sunday was the big day, the day we have all been waiting for since the calendar took its step form ’16 to ’17. It was a nervous group of people huddled together waiting for WarriorRic to send us off after his hair-raising motivational. My own nerves about being underprepared had not bothered me much on the day, but as the race went on, I could feel my body taking the strain of not recognizing this kind of physical demand it has been forced to endure in quite a while. I am used to trying to “keep up”, but on Sunday I was trying to convince myself to just “keep going”. The usual excitement for the final obstacles was more worrying, but still a relief to have finally made it to breaking point – a newer meaning to the name with the added tyre-flip right in-between iron rig and breaking point. Fighting through cramps from one ring to the next, I managed to make my way to the last rope… just to have underestimated the bell’s height. I just couldn’t get enough swing or generate enough power to reach it. Very discouraged to start from scratch, I rejoined the girls that were left on the obstacle, to go for my second attempt. It was a tedious attempt, but after making sure of every move, I was high enough to ring the bell and finally make my way to the finish as the 5^th female to complete the course for the day. Phew! It was the first race in a while where I fully appreciated the meaning of wanting to keep that DQ band on my wrist!

I opted to be a spectator at the individual’s sprint finals, even though when the heats started, I wanted to go put my running shoes back on. (I probably wouldn’t have made it across the first trench 😛 ) The guys and girls who took part, smashed the course and I was amazed by the endurance and agility of the athletes who just took part in the same race that almost broke me only a few hours prior to this.

The Warrior Race has set another great example of what a great obstacle course race is, with a mix up of strategically placed challenging obstacles to test every strength and weakness of every individual.

I am very proud and honoured to be part of Team Nevarest for another year. Thank you to everyone who supported me on and off the course – I don’t think I would have been able to finish with a smile if I did not have that kind of encouragement!