New fitness craze is mud in your eye
Tired of gym? Obstacle courses test your fitness and initiative
DOWN AND DIRTY: Obstacle-course races such as the Warrior Challenge — left — and Muddy Princess in Stellenbosch, offer a playground for adults SOUTH Africans are slithering through mud, climbing giant walls and swinging from wooden bars — all in the name of fitness and fun.
Obstacle-course racing — a sport in which participants must complete a number of challenges — is the latest fitness craze to sweep the nation.
Fitness enthusiasts are entering events such as The Beast, Muddy Princess and Warrior Race because they promise outdoor thrills.
So says Zoon Cronje, who is involved with the Warrior Race and Impi Challenge.
“South Africans love adventure and the outdoors. The obstacle courses present a challenge for them to overcome. It’s team-building with a bit of a fitness challenge to it. It is something they can do with friends. People grow into the sport by starting with the introductory obstacles and train towards the more challenging ones. There are so many people who go to gym, but where do they go to participate and measure their fitness? These challenges are a playground for adults.”
Cronje said that when the Warrior Race programme started three years ago, there were 7 000 entrants at the first competition. Now each event is run on two days and attracts about 9 000 people each time.
Marcina Majid, 32, a Durban gym owner who competed in the Impi Challenge in on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast last Saturday, describes it as an “awesome” experience that started as a challenge between her and two girlfriends.
“A lot of the obstacles require a great deal of upper-body strength, which is where it was incredibly beneficial to be part of a group. A few of the obstacles included crawling under barbed-wire fencing, walking through chest-high mud, climbing tyre walls, climbing up wooden beams, crawling through muddy tunnels and climbing up walls,” said Majid.
It was her first obstacle-course challenge, but it won’t be the last.
“I think challenges like these are going to be trending for a while. It is a fantastic way to get outdoors and keep fit. Most people are looking for different avenues of exercise that are fun and exciting,” she said.
Johnny Knez, who designed the course for The Beast challenge, which was held at The Wedge in Gauteng yesterday, said the event started last year with 5km, 10km and 15km obstacle-course races.
“The 15km is for the ultra-fit with about 56 obstacles. It’s a monster which very few people complete. It’s very challenging. When you see what they do, it’s unbelievable that human beings can do stupid things like this.”
Johannesburg electrician Bradley Claase, 28, who has taken part in about 20 challenges, said that completing each race “makes me hungry to get fitter, faster and stronger for the next race”. He pays between R350 and R500 per entry.
Prasheen Maharaj, 41, CEO of Southern African Shipyards, participated in last week’s Impi Challenge with his wife and friends. He said he appreciated an opportunity to escape the rat race.
“We often play sports like soccer, cricket, tennis, et cetera. However, we very rarely engage in adventure or extreme sports. ”
Muddy Princess is where women literally get down and dirty, completing 15 obstacles over 5km. Sandra Loosen, manager of Muddy Princess, said that since there were several competitive obstaclecourse races already, they decided to do a fun version for women only.
“The girls want a fun day out to play in the mud like kids. They enjoy doing something out of the box. There is no timing and competition; it’s more of a fun run.”
Muddy Princess launched in February in Stellenbosch, attracting 2 000 participants. That grew to 3 500 at the second challenge two weeks ago in Johannesburg. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.sundaytimes.co.za