1st February 2020 – Tierpoort Adventure Farm

Calen Hastie – The Jacaranda Warrior Race kicked off at one of the Warrior Races old favourite spots, Tierpoort; always brings a tough course to be challenged and every athlete is tested to their maximum ability.

I felt nervous for the first race of the year as usual. But when the race started, I used that same nervous energy to fuel me through the entire race. I had one advantage over the rest of the field; I knew the terrain well. I paced myself through the 1 st 3 km of the race without pulling any leads. As the race progressed, I made smooth progress before the hill section started. This is where I could build a good lead on the athletes in front of me. I pushed my limits on the hill section and managed to keep athlete number 2 in my sights.
Once we started descending of the hill section, I gained ground on number 2 and we raced all the way down. Thereafter came mud monster. Athlete number 2 made it through quickly, unfortunately, the line I picked in the mud as ‘favourable’ was not as favourable as I thought. This cost me 30 seconds of race time I sorely needed. I pulled myself through and sped through Ironrig. This was the defining moment of the race as I had managed to pass 2 other athletes in the process and putting me onto the podium for overall 3 rd place, Elite male.

This race was a fantastic start to a year of racing, and I look forward to competing and racing harder
and faster in the next one!

Thank you to my team and the sponsors who make this possible and to the biggest sponsor of all;
God, who gave me the strength to do my best.