Words: Sarah Kobal | Photos: Zoon Cronje
Since being introduced in 2013, the Warrior Race has taken South Africa by storm, with more than 21,000 warriors now participating in these challenging obstacle races. Four Warrior Races have already taken place this year, with four more to go; the next race takes place in Natal, then in Cape Town, followed by the last two in Johannesburg.
So why has it become such a hit so quickly? All is revealed in DO IT NOW Magazine's interview with Warrior Race Director, Pieter Swart, as well as his future plans for this popular obstacle race.
Q: What made you decide to start the Warrior Race in South Africa?
To get something new going in South Africa. I think that South Africans are, by nature, very adventurous, so I wanted to give them something different to the usual triathlons, trail runs, and so on.
I also saw that there was definitely a market for obstacle courses, so I started working on the concept in the middle of last year, and put it into action at the end of last year. And here we are now, almost 20,000 participants later taking part in all the Warrior Races.
Q: Did you expect the Warrior Race series to pick up this quickly?
No, not at all. My two partners came on board only after the first race. Some of them doubted it and the market, but after the first event, they said, "Ok, we're on now, there really is a market for it." The last event in June had 6,500 participants, and although it's winter, we still had 4,500 participants … not bad.
We're looking forward to the next events, which are being held in Natal and then Cape Town. After that, there's the Celebrity Challenge that we are doing in Johannesburg. We're hoping to attract 8,000 participants to that event.
Q: Will non-celebrities be able to participate in the Celebrity Challenge?
Yes, definitely. Corporates will be able to 'buy' a celebrity in an auction, who will do the race with seven of that corporate's team members.
We are hoping to get about 200 celebrities involved: sport stars, soap stars, well known business people, you name it. The day will be normal, with the 8 km Rookie race being used for this event, as it's just for fun and charity. All the money we raise from the auctions will go to a nominated charity, which is why we are hoping to get a lot of people coming to this event.
Q: What are your future plans for the Warrior Race?
Well, we aren't going to change too much. We'll have some upgrades and in terms of the obstacles, we want to keep on improving and bring in new ideas, because the moment you become stagnant, you'll lose your feet in the market. We also want to add two more races to the 2014 calendar year, to make it ten. We would like to have two races in Cape Town instead of one and also another race in the Eastern Cape, such as Knysna.
We receive a lot of requests to have the race in various other areas, but we need to grow the team steadily, as there is a lot of construction and management, something people don't always realise. We currently have a team of 25 people who work constantly for five weeks to get a course done. It's a lot of work, so we will see what happens next year.
So why has it become such a hit so quickly? All is revealed in DO IT NOW Magazine's interview with Warrior Race Director, Pieter Swart, as well as his future plans for this popular obstacle race.
Q: What made you decide to start the Warrior Race in South Africa?
To get something new going in South Africa. I think that South Africans are, by nature, very adventurous, so I wanted to give them something different to the usual triathlons, trail runs, and so on.
I also saw that there was definitely a market for obstacle courses, so I started working on the concept in the middle of last year, and put it into action at the end of last year. And here we are now, almost 20,000 participants later taking part in all the Warrior Races.
Q: Did you expect the Warrior Race series to pick up this quickly?
No, not at all. My two partners came on board only after the first race. Some of them doubted it and the market, but after the first event, they said, "Ok, we're on now, there really is a market for it." The last event in June had 6,500 participants, and although it's winter, we still had 4,500 participants … not bad.
We're looking forward to the next events, which are being held in Natal and then Cape Town. After that, there's the Celebrity Challenge that we are doing in Johannesburg. We're hoping to attract 8,000 participants to that event.
Q: Will non-celebrities be able to participate in the Celebrity Challenge?
Yes, definitely. Corporates will be able to 'buy' a celebrity in an auction, who will do the race with seven of that corporate's team members.
We are hoping to get about 200 celebrities involved: sport stars, soap stars, well known business people, you name it. The day will be normal, with the 8 km Rookie race being used for this event, as it's just for fun and charity. All the money we raise from the auctions will go to a nominated charity, which is why we are hoping to get a lot of people coming to this event.
Q: What are your future plans for the Warrior Race?
Well, we aren't going to change too much. We'll have some upgrades and in terms of the obstacles, we want to keep on improving and bring in new ideas, because the moment you become stagnant, you'll lose your feet in the market. We also want to add two more races to the 2014 calendar year, to make it ten. We would like to have two races in Cape Town instead of one and also another race in the Eastern Cape, such as Knysna.
We receive a lot of requests to have the race in various other areas, but we need to grow the team steadily, as there is a lot of construction and management, something people don't always realise. We currently have a team of 25 people who work constantly for five weeks to get a course done. It's a lot of work, so we will see what happens next year.
