COLLINGWOOD, ONTARIO, CANADA 19 OCTOBER 2016 – The Obstacle Course World Championships took place this past week in the Blue Mountain Resort in Canada, from 14th to the 16th October 2016, attracting over 4,000 athletes from 43 countries. Three Jeep Team athletes qualified and were selected for Team South Africa. The Obstacle Course World Championships is a single event created to unify, promote and increase participation in the sport of OCR, while celebrating its amazing athletes and community.

It was a tough but very rewarding weekend for Jeep Team athletes, Thomas Van Tonder, Jay Jay Deysel and Carina Marx, who participated on a world platform against the best in the world. Jeep Team’s Carina Marx and Thomas van Tonder raced in the OCR World Champs Pro Race with 914 male and female athletes from forty-three countries, all converging on to a 15-km long course tackling over forty obstacles with names like Dragon’s Back, Skull Valley, Mini Platinum Rig, Floating Boards, F5 Skyline, Urban Sky, Warped Wall, Wreck Bag Carry, and more. This Pro field race had no age groups, with mixed genders racing together - all the world’s best obstacle course racers only competing for the title of World Champion, and some of the biggest cash prizes in the sport.

Carina Marx performed at world-class level leaving no prisoners, finishing in an outstanding 12th female overall out of 43 women challengers, in a phenomenal time of 2:18:27. The average time taken to complete the Pro Race across male and female racers was 2:53:24. South Africa’s top OCR Champion, Thomas Van Tonder, took part in 2 races in the OCR World Champs. His first race, the World Champs Pro race, was as tough as they come against the toughest OCR athletes in the world. Van Tonder gave it everything finishing in a phenomenal 16th place overall out of 169 male participants, in a time of 1:37:40, just 8 minutes behind the overall winner. Jon Albon (UK) took the win in the Pro men’s event in a time of 1:24:36, his 3rd OCR World Championship win, and for the women, Canadian’s Lindsay Webster’s took the win, her second OCR World Championship win, in a time of 1:45:45. Both completing the same course, they dominated their races, taking the lead early on and never looking back.

Jay Jay Deysel took part in the OCR World Championships 3 km race and finished 35th out of 136 participants, in 20:36 in the 18-24 age category. Deysel also completed the 15-km Long course finishing in 43rd place in a time of 1:54:02. Said Deysel: “This was the most fun I had in a long time. I once again realized how blessed we are to do the things we love. Life is short. Be the best you can be and spread the love.”   Marx and Van Tonder also participated in the OCR World Championship Make-a-Wish Open Challenge, which took place on the 16th of October. A 15-km standard-distance challenge to test OCR strength and skills, this course was created for the best in the world to raise funds for the Make-a-Wish® Foundation. No qualification was required for this special charity event allowing all athletes an opportunity to give something back. There were 429 finishers of which 268 were men and 161 were women.

SUMMARY: RACE RESULTS JEEP TEAM SA AND TEAM SA ATHLETES COMPETITING SHORT COURSE | FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14 Jay Jay Deysel 3 km  Pro FbyDiv 23 M 0:20:35.7 33 33 34 Hanneke Dannhauser 3 km  Pro FbyDiv 28 F 0:24:08.7 3 3 68   STANDARD DISTANCE ELITE | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 Thomas B van Tonder 15 km Elite 24 M 01:37:40 16 16 Bradley Claase 15 km Elite 28 M 01:44:41 27 27 Jay Jay Deysel 15 km Elite 23 M 01:54:02 43 41 Carina Marx 15 km Elite 33 F 02:18:27 107 12  

STANDARD DISTANCE AGE GROUP | SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15 Thomas van Tonder 15 km  Pro FbyDiv 24 M 1:37:41.0 16 16 16  Bradley Claase 15 km  Pro FbyDiv 28 M 1:44:40.5 27 27 27  Jay Jay Deysel 15 km  Pro FbyDiv 23 M 1:54:02.1 43 43 45 Carina Marx 15 km  Pro FbyDiv 33 F 2:18:26.5 14 14 112  Sabrina 15 km  F-18-24 24 F 2:20:22.6 3 14 217   MAKE A WISH CHARITY RACE Thomas Van Tonder 3 km  Pro FbyDiv 24 M 0:36:05.8 10 10 35 Bradley  Claase 3 km  Pro MbyDiv 28 M 0:36:05.8 10 10 35 Carina Marx 3 km  Pro FbyDiv 33 F 0:46:15.8 4 4 155 Hanneke Dannhauser 3 km  F-25-29 28 F 0:53:35.8 1 7 26 Sabrina Daolio 3 km  Open XbyDiv 24 F 1:01:43.8 11 11 197 Jay Jay Deysel 3 km  M-18-24 23 M 1:15:58.0 9 93 127   FULL OCR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2016 RESULTS Click here: http://www.mudrunguide.com/ocrwc-live-results/?split=0&cat=5 Click here: http://www.j-chipusa.com/results.php?search=&cat=17&Submit=Search

MPUMALANGA (NELSPRUIT) 28 SEPTEMBER 2016 – This past weekend saw approximately two thousand OCR warriors descend upon Nelspruit to race in front of approximately 3300 spectators at Jeep Warrior round 6 event, powered by Reebok, held at Nelspruit’s new OCR venue, Kwanyoni Lodge, just outside the city centre.

The Nelspruit terrain was perfect in sorting the men from the boys and took no prisoners. Hailed as immensely tough and technical, the Warriors that finished, really earned their Jeep Warrior stripes. “This course was the perfect preparation for the OCR World Champs,”

says Fritz Pienaar, Race Director of The Warrior Company, “we were lucky with the natural elements. We had a world-class terrain, which made it tough and technical but this is similar to what they can expect at the OCR World Championship event in October.”

Jeep Team's OCR Elite athletes, Thomas van Tonder and JJ Deysel, did not disappoint in the toughest event of the day, the Black Ops Elite race, as they crowded the podium taking 1st and 3rd respectively.

This is van Tonder’s 3rd win out of the six Jeep Warrior races so far in the Jeep Warrior series of 8 races. Both van Tonder and Deysel have also been selected for the OCR World Championships taking place in Canada this October.

Nelspriut Black Ops Elite course presented athletes with 33 demanding obstacles over an 18km trail course. The course culminated in a final set of obstacles, which were exceptionally complex, arduous and tough, putting the athlete's agility and strength to the ultimate test. With a starting line of 63 male and female athletes, only 24 made it to the finish line.

After a gruelling battle for over 90 minutes, Jeep Team Elites Black Ops athlete, van Tonder, lived up to his nickname ‘#BEASTMODE” and clinched 1st place in a time of 01h33. Van Tonder exhibited a sterling performance showing his grit and determination when, at one stage, he was lying 5 minutes behind the first place contender. Digging deep, he found his "extra gear" and took first place in what can only be described as a world class effort.

Said van Tonder: "I am very excited to be able to take home a win in the Black Ops Elite this weekend. The course was challenging and tough, with those last obstacles really placing me under immense pressure but I just had to keep up my momentum and I'm happy that it all paid off. I had to remain focused and steadfast to my belief that whatever you do you must give it your all and walk away knowing that you have given it absolutely everything you got." 

As race winner, van Tonder gets to drive off in a Jeep Renegade along with R10 000 prize money. He gets to keep the Renegade until the next event in Meerendal Wine Estate on the 22nd and 23rd of October.

Ice Model and OCR athlete, and just back from injury, the impressive Trevor Lagerwey, took a surprise 2nd place in a time of 01h41 with Jeep Team's Jay Jay Deysel seemingly coming out of nowhere with a herculean effort, taking 3rd place in 01h43.

The women's Elite Black Ops race, which is over the same course as the men’s Elite Black Ops, proved to be extremely demanding with only two out of the 7 starters completing the race.

South Africa’s second seeded OCR female athlete, Trish Bahlmann, took 1st place in a time of 02h01, followed by South Africa’s top seeded OCR female athlete, Hanneke Dannhauser, in 2nd place in a time of 02h04.

The OCR World Championship is being held in Toronto, Canada, from 12-16 October. South Africa has a strong 6-athlete team going. They are Jeep Team's Carina Marx, Thomas van Tonder and Jay Jay Deysel. Joining them are Bradley Claasen, Hanneke Dannhauser and Sabrina Daolio. Approximately 116 South African OCR athletes have qualified to compete in the OCR World Champs.

The Jeep team will be competing in Jeep Warrior Race 7, which takes place from 22-23 October 2016, at Meerendal Wine Estate, Western Cape Results:

BLACK OPS ELITE - MEN

1. THOMAS VAN TONDER - 01:33:54
2. TREVOR LAGERWEY - 01:41:48
3. JAY JAY DEYSEL - 01:43:40
4. EGOR OUSSOV - 01:47:39
5. BRADLEY CLAASE - 01:48:24

BLACK OPS ELITE - WOMEN

1. TRISH BAHLMANN - 02:01:46
2. HANNEKE DANNHAUSER - 02:04:30  

COMMANDO ELITE - MEN

1. DANIEL GREEFF - 00:59:23
2. LEON SCHOLTZ - 01:02:36
3. ANGUS WATSON - 01:03:13
4. ADAM HABIB - 01:07:43
5. ARMAND VAN DER MERWE - 01:08:12  

COMMANDO ELITE - WOMEN

1. DANIELLA LUSHINGTON - 01:08:04
2. TALITHA SCHOLTZ - 01:08:20
3. NIKKI CAROMBA - 01:13:35
4. CINDY WILLS - 01:17:32
5. NATASHA DELEY - 01:19:43  

##Ends Editor’s Notes

All photo credits: ZC Marketing Consulting

ABOUT THE JEEP WARRIOR SERIES The Jeep Warrior Race is South Africa’s largest obstacle course race series that spans eight events across four provinces. The series burst onto the scene in 2013 and immediately spearheaded the meteoric rise of obstacle 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 new sport of obstacle racing with its larger than life obstacles and innovative courses to challenge South Africans. What makes Jeep Warrior Race so popular, is that anyone can participate - all you need is a pair of old running shoes and a great sense for adventure.  

To find out more, go to the Jeep Warrior website - www.warrior.co.za.

To keep up with the action, like Jeep Warrior’s Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/thewarriorrace - or follow the event on Twitter - https://twitter.com/thewarriorrace.

Jeep #Warrior7 Meerendal, Western Cape 22 Oct -23 Oct

Jeep #Warrior8 Pretoria - Legend MX 19 Nov – 20 Nov  

Issued by Hot Salsa Media on behalf of Jeep Team SA. For more information, interviews or high resolution images, feel free to contact Viv Quann: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.