At the recent OCR Community World Championships at Ivory’s Rock, near Brisbane, Australia, Marijn Wouters was the fastest in his 30-to-39 age group to complete all obstacles in the 3km race.
His time was 20 minutes 57 seconds.
Wouters, 35, who was among 20-plus athletes in the New Zealand squad, also competed for NZ at the OCR world champs in Gothenburg, Sweden, last September. There he competed in four races — the 100m, 3km, 15km and 2km team relay — “and by the end of the week I was completely shattered”.
“I couldn’t lift my arms for a month kind of thing.
“I learned and I decided not to do everything [in Australia], just what I thought I was good at.”
Wouters, who’s originally from the Netherlands, but has lived in Queenstown just over six years, says he was delighted to complete the 3km course without shedding any wrist bands which you do when you can’t complete any obstacle.
He managed to conquer about 20 obstacles, some involving climbing and others, pulling weights.
Wouters first competed in the fast-growing sport in Wānaka’s Alpha Challenge about four years ago. He attributes his success to his background in running and his experience in climbing and bouldering. — Philip Chandler
