South African Obstacle Course Racer Raees Kajee makes his country proud at the Spartan World Championships 2019 in Lake Tahoe
"I came, I ran, I owned the mountain"
Raees Kajee with his medal after the Spartan World Championships 2019 at Lake Tahoe
Photo Credits Raees Kajee
South African Obstacle Course Racer (OCR) Raees Kajee has taken the sport to a new level in South Africa when he completed the Spartan World Championships 2019 at Lake Tahoe in the United States of America a few hours ago.
The 33 year old HR director, husband, and father made his country proud when he completed the 36 obstacles over more than 22KM of terrain.
"If this race has taught me anything, its that if the mind is strong and body can achieve anything."
The Spartan Global Ambassador finished first in his age category in the 2019 Age Group World series to qualify for the Spartan World Championships.
Raees Kajee training before the Spartan World Championships 2019
Video Credits Raees Kajee
Raees had this to say about the race:
"Spartan World Championship 2019 at Lake Tahoe has been the most epic, intense, crazy, amazing, challenging race in my life. Leading up to the race, I thought that I was prepared for anything... But nothing prepares you for mother nature hey.
I mean the mountain had to be cleared the day before the race due to a snow storm and lightning. And the race was delayed by 2 hours on the day due to the heavy snow from the night before. Now those are conditions for a true endurance race.
Standing at that starting line with the worlds best, I was not nervous. I was excited at the possibility of the impossible. And then it started to snow. How amazing is that??? Running through the snow IN SNOW, up a beautiful mountain..."
Some of the statistics from the race from Raees:
1. Temperature was about -4 degrees celsius, worse on top of the mountain with wind factor
2. Almost 2000m of elevation gain and 23kms of running
3. 36 obstacles
4. Over 1.5 km of heavy carries (double sandbag up and down a mountain slope)
5. A close to freezing swim with the water like -8 degrees celsius
He continues to say:
"There were times when I just wanted to stop and give up, but I kept reminding myself to just enjoy it. Place or not, enjoy the journey and I did. And of course met some amazing Spartans along the way. Unfortunately quite a few Spartans had to be carried off due to injuries, frost bite and hyperthermia and I wish them a speedy recover. For me, no injuries is already a win.
Well done to all the Spartans who competed this weekend, in all categories. Irrespective of your placement, you are all winners. Aroo!!! It has been an honor and a pleasure standing and competing with you.
Thank you to all the volunteers and support staff for keeping us safe, to Suhagna for your support and understanding, to Spartan South Africa for showing me theres more to OCR, to Jason Friedman for helping with my running, to iloveza.com for the media support and all my friends and family for your love and support."
Watch the Race Here:
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Ziyaad Plaatjes is the Co-Founder of iloveza.com.
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