Trish aims to climb to podium finish

DURBAN North resident, Trish Eksteen, is not one to mince her words, so when she says she is aiming for a podium finish, you know she will keep her word. The local athlete is the only obstacle course athlete travelling to Australia in June to take part in the Obstacle Course Racing Enduro World Championships.

In a sport which requires you to regularly crawl, lift and swing through obstacles in the fastest time, the enduro aspect of the event is a little bit different. At the world champs down under, the goal is complete as many 11 kilometres laps as possible while traversing and climbing 30 obstacles over a 24 hour period.

According to Eksteen, the event is like the Comrades Marathon of obstacle course racing.

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“I’m aiming for the top spot for this event. I’m not travelling that far just to make up the numbers. I want to make the country proud and secure a podium finish,” said a determined Eksteen. “I’ve been incorporating a lot of running in my training which will be key here because it’s doing as many laps of the 30 obstacles. The elite men complete around 160 kilometres in the 24 hour window and the elite women do around 130 kilometres. My goal is go 10 above that and see how much further I can go,” she said.

Eksteen is not one to be taken lightly, in the last three Obstacle Course Racing World Championships, she has finished in the top 10 and in her words was the only woman over 40 to be in the upper echelon of the results tables.

“I know the competition will be extremely tough so I’m not taking it lightly. The organisers don’t mess around when it comes to the obstacles and the layouts so my full attention is about doing my best at the champs. I’ve always felt the harder something gets the tougher I try,” she said.

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