The second race of the GI Joe series this year was great fun even though it was a bit colder than usual. As the event was hosted over two days I again decided to use this opportunity to race both days.

Day 1 Saturday was all about getting the legs going and also a feel for the race as the organizers had changed the course completely, I have been struggling a bit with runners’ knee the past week and was taking things rather slow. Luckily I made no mistakes and cruised to an easy victory, with no real damage done to the body.

Day 2 was all about the main event the Commander challenge plus there was a host of well-known faces from other OCR races including Pieter Brink, Stefan Lotter( who pulled out due to sickness), Ryno Scholtz, and many more. I was a little bit worried about the knee as we started way earlier than Saturday and the cold winter morning made my legs even tighter and that meant more pain.

As usual the first obstacle was a water obstacle which didn’t make thing better, I felt fine in the beginning but soon was just doing enough to stay ahead of the pack, trying to run without bending the knee too much.

The awesome obstacles were at the end of the race and I was really looking forward to the zip line as well as the kayak obstacle, not many if any OCR events has this much variety in their obstacles. I also was way more relaxed and just managing the pace comfortably. As I kayaked around the island I was just shouting at everyone how cool and fun this was, even though I was still racing for the win and had some athletes close on my heels.

In the end it was a comfortable win and loads of fun. It was really cold but I think that added to the adventure and challenge, I was happy to come away with two wins over the weekend and also made some long-lasting memories.

Thanks to my sponsors Keyhealth Nevarest Team, Toyota, First Ascent and High 5 for this great opportunity. Will most likely be back for the next GI Joe in September the 29th, hope to see everyone there.

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#NevarestTeam
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#KeyhealthMedicalScheme
#ToyotaSA
#High5