Last month, Sidekick’s own Sarah Veasey ventured off to San Jose, Costa Rica, to represent New Zealand at the Obstacle Course World Championships. The competition brought together the best athletes from around the world for three days of intense competition. New Zealand had a team of 19 from across the country.
The competition comprised three distances: the 100m and the 3km, which were held at the National Stadium in San Jose, and the 15km event, which took place at the Doka Coffee Estate. Despite the challenge of encountering obstacles the team had not faced before (think bananas, coffee beans, and wooden corn hanging from scaffolding), all the NZ athletes competed well against tough opposition, and we were able to come away with our first-ever medal. Laura Grant won bronze in the Masters 100m in a nail-biting final.
The next step is to try to get a training facility set up for the team with the 100m course, so we can be even more prepared for future World Championships and the Olympics. One of the highlights of the trip (aside from Laura winning the medal!) was witnessing the 100m world record being broken by Isiah Thomas (18 years old) from the USA, who completed the course in 24.35 seconds, which is unbelievably fast.
The team has returned and is already back into training for the 2025 World Championships in Sweden.
