Professional obstacle course racer remains king of the Beast Challenge

Professional obstacle course racer, Thomas ‘BeastMode’ van Tonder, has once again defended his title in winning his 10th Beast Challenge.

Hundreds of athletes descended upon The Wedge in Muldersdrift to participate in the 15km long route with its 55 obstacles.

Van Tonder crossed the line in 01:10:12, defending his title as King of the Beast. His time was more than a minute faster than that of second-placed Michael Joubert who finished in 01:11:27.

But what keeps him coming back for more?

“The Beast challenge has become one of the main OCR [obstacle course race] events on my racing calendar. Competing in the Beast Challenge is a personal challenge where I gauge my performance and prove to myself that I am still on top of my racing game,” he said

He added that it was a well-balanced event with a lot of very challenging obstacles as well as a fair amount of running. “What keeps me coming back is the sense of accomplishment that I have after completing such a challenging race. It is an extremely rewarding and satisfying experience,” Van Tonder added.

“The Beast has come a long way as a developing event, in a fairly new sport [for South Africa]. The quality of the obstacles has improved considerably over the past 10 races. Each race that I have competed in has challenged and tested my ability in different ways [which is] evidence of the race organisers’ commitment to designing a brand new course with each race.”

He admitted that it was difficult to judge his improvement and make a comparison between races, as the routes and obstacles changed with each event. What he had noticed was his running pace and speed through the obstacles had improved over the past years.

His aim is to build himself to a level for the Obstacle Course Race World Championships in Canada later this year.

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