PIETERMARITZBURG, KZN, 28 APRIL 2017 – Sunday, 23 April 2017, saw Jeep Team OCR Athletes, Thomas van Tonder, Carina Marx, and Jay Jay Deysel take on Race #3 of the Toyota Warrior Series, powered by Reebok, at Van Gaalen Cheese Farm in the North West.

Over the weekend of the 22 and 23 April, South Africa’s largest obstacle course race series attracted almost 2000 competitors eager to face the challenge of the world-class Toyota Warrior obstacle courses have become famous for.  For Jeep Team’s athletes, the racing started with the Black Ops Elite race, the toughest of them all, featuring some 30 obstacles over a 17km trail, designed to challenge endurance, strength and agility.  2016’s SA OCR Men’s Champion, Thomas “BeastMode” van Tonder, claimed his 11th Warrior win in a super-fast time of 01:26:29. Second place went to Greg Avierinos in 01:27:12, and rounding off the podium was Louis Smit, who finished in 01:29:03. Fellow Jeep Team athlete, Jay Jay Deysel, crossed the line in 8th place in a time of 01:41:42. 

Says van Tonder, “I am so blessed to be taking home my 11th Warrior Race win. Well done to everyone as this was one tough race.” Van Tonder‘s winning performance earned him R10 000 prize money and a Warrior-branded Toyota RAV4 to drive around until the next warrior race. Jeep Team OCR athlete and 2016 SA OCR top 3 female champion, Carina Marx, finished 3rd overall in the Women’s Black Ops Elite race in 2:23:22. Sabrina Daolio took the win in 1:53:15, with Trish Bahlmann in second place in 1:59:03. The Jeep Team SA teammates then took on the Reebok Team Sprint race - a short, high-intensive course spanning 400m with 10 obstacles. Marx, Van Tonder and Deysel finished in second place behind race-winners Team Nevarest. Third place in the sprint race went to the team from #BeSnapped.   

Results – Black Ops

EliteMen

Thomas van Tonder            01:26:29

Greg Avierinos                   01:27:12

Louis Smit                         01:29:03

 Women

Sabrina Daolio                   01:53:15

Trish Bahlmann                 01:59:03

Carina Marx                      02:23:22  

Other Jeep News  JEEP TEAM MTB - Old Mutual joBerg2cJeep Team all-rounder athlete, Hlubi Mboya Arnold, is currently riding the 9-day MTB race, the Old Mutual joBerg2c. JoBerg2c is the longest paired mountain biking stage race in South Africa. The 9-day, 900km adventure began in Heidelberg, south of Johannesburg, on 21 April 2017 and finishes nine days later in Scottburgh on the KwaZulu-Natal coast.Mboya and Letshego Zulu have teamed up riding for ‘Ride4Gugu’ in memory of Gugu Zulu, a talented race car driver and 2014 Cape Epic MTB partner to Hlubi Mboya. Gugu proposed to his wife, Letshego, on the 2014 Cape Epic final stage finish line. Gugu Zulu tragically passed away in July 2016 whilst on the Trek4Mandela summit to Mt Kilimanjaro.

Results (Day 1 – 4):Day 1 (21/4) saw the riders cycle 116km from Karan Beef (Heidelberg) to Frankfort Sports Grounds in the Free State. Mboya and Zulu finished the stage in 04:41:43. Day 2 (22/4) travelled 93km between Frankfort Sports Grounds and the Reitz Showgrounds. Mboya and Zulu crossed the finish in 06:48:16 Day 3 (23/4), the riders trekked from Reitz to Sterkfontein Dam, just outside Harrismith. The Ride4Gugu duo finished the 122km stage in 09:04:57. Day 4 (24/4) the riders start at Sterkfontein Dam in the Free State and end in KwaZulu-Natal’s Emseni, a 94km ride saw the Ride4Gugu Female Team finish in 05:58:30. Day 5 (25/4), considered the hardest of the nine days, covered 123km from Emseni to Clifton School in Nottingham Road. Mboya and Zulu completed the journey in 09:10:49.   Day 6 to 9 coming soon.

JEEP TEAM INTERNATIONALJeep Team’s International Junior Triathlon star and 2020 Olympics hopeful, Mikaela Jonsson, racing in the USA on scholarship, has recently been awarded her Elite Triathlon Licence for the next two years to race both on-and-off-road triathlon.    Jonsson, studying in the USA on a sports scholarship has big plans for her Triathlon racing talent. Her aim is to travel to Europe to race as part of the European Xterra Tour.  The start of the tour is the of 10th June, Xterra in Belgium, then Xterra Finland, Xterra Switzerland, Xterra France, and finally on the 30th July – Xterra Italy.  It will be Jonsson’s first season racing with the pros as she works hard to reach her 2017 goal - competing in the ITU World Cross-Triathlon Championships in Canada on the 20th of August this year.  

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For more information please contact Bronwen Blunden on 079 060 1905 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..   

About Warrior RaceThe Warrior Race burst onto the scene in 2013 and spearheaded the sudden rise of obstacle course racing in South Africa. It quickly grew to up to 9000 participants per event and remains at the forefront of the growth spurt in the fledgling sport of obstacle racing with its larger than life obstacles and innovative courses to challenge South Africans. One of the reasons why obstacle racing is so popular, is because anyone can participate. All you need is a pair of old running shoes and a sense of adventure.  What makes obstacle racing unique is that it is one of only a few opportunities for athletes from different sporting codes to compete against each other on a level playing field. What is obstacle course racing?Obstacle course racing (OCR) is a sport in which a competitor completes a course on foot, encountering physical challenges/obstacles along the way. At Warrior Race, competitors are challenged by world-class obstacles that will involve jumping off a 6m or 4m platform into water, crawling through mud under a wire fence, battling up slippery slopes and running or swimming across water obstacles, hanging off ladders and ropes across distances and more. 

Upcoming 2017 Toyota Warrior Series events:

#Warrior4                             27-28 May                           Kwanyoni Lodge, Mpumalanga

#Warrior5                             19-20 August                       Blythdale, KwaZulu-Natal

#Warrior6                             16-17 September                 Tierpoort Adventure Farm, Gauteng

#Warrior7                             21-22 October                     Meerendal Wine Estate, Western Cape

#Warrior8                             25-26 November                  Riversands Farm, Gauteng To find out more about the Toyota Warrior Series, go to www.warrior.co.za