Through mud, sweat, and
pain—anyone who has participated ina Spartan Race can at test to the strength,
skill, and willpower needed to out match the obstacle race. Known as one
of the world’s most gruelling sporting events, these highly anticipated events
also entice women of different age, race, and status.
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| NATALIE DAU |
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| HOLLEIGH MASON |
Natalie Dau and Holleigh Mason,
are mothers and “fitrepreneurs” who have been living in Asia for quite some time.
They co-founded Urban Remedy Asia, a wellness online portal which aims to support like-minded people on their wellness journey. Coming from different backgrounds, both found common ground in pushing
themselves to the best of their abilities. Dau, originally from Australia, has
been active since she was a child, and being in the corporate world for over
two decades, discipline was her secret weapon to keeping herself fit.
Despite her active lifestyle, Dau
never thought of joining the Spartan race until a day before the first race in
Singapore in 2015. From that day, she continued training, and have been
competingand finishing in the podium since. Now she is competing in the Elite Beast
division.
“I actually didn’t really know
anything about the race and what was in store, and had done zero training,” Dau
said. “After I crossed the finish line the first thing I said was I could go
and do that again right now, so from then I was hooked.”
Spartan Beast has more than 12 miles and 30+ obstacles that will test one’sstrength,
endurance, resolve, and everything elseone ismade of. The unpredictable terrain
and Spartan Obstacles are carefully designed to push the participant into their
discomfort zone.
Mason, on the other hand, was not the
active type, she had very unhealthy habits, had developed medical
complications, and even reached her heaviest at 128kgs. “I can’t tell you how
much medication I was previously taking, blood thinners, steroids, inhalers,
antibiotics every other month,” Mason shared. “I was living like an 80-year-old.”
Starting slow, Mason first worked on
her diet, and eventually engaged in exercise after losing about 20 kgs. She
bailed out on the first Spartan Race she signed up for due to a chest
infection, which she believed was self-inflicted. “I think I manifested
it! I was terrified and super pleased to
have a doctor’s letter releasing me from the commitment”.
She felt ashamed on what happened and
promised herself to do the next. She has completed her first Spartan Sprint, which consisted of
tough obstacles including wall climbs, sandbag carries, and rope pulls, held in Bintan Island last
November 2016. The thrill she felt after finishing the first race motivated her
to train harder, she is now set to join Spartan Super in May. This division
is the middle-distance course that
is designed to test one’s endurance, perseverance, and grit with more than 25
Spartan obstacles and over eight miles of rugged terrain.
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| COLLEEN AUGUSTIN |
Colleen Augustin is a 19-year-old
fitness enthusiast from Malaysia. She may be young but she has proven to get far
in the race. Augustin was able to podium-finish three of the local Spartan Races. In 2015,
she finished in first place at the first Spartan Race Sprint ever in Malaysia and
finished as first runner-up in the 2016 Spartan Race Beast. Her most recent race
was the Spartan Race Sprint held last 12 March 2017 where she took home the
first-place after the tough 8 km with 25+ obstacles.
Augustin started running when she was
16, and despite being one of the top achievers in the Spartan Race, she
regularly does bootcamp training with Muay Thai and
Brazilian jiu-jitsu, including weights and cardio, as well as hiking and
running.
Being really good at the sport does not
spare Augustin from snarky remarks about her heavy training and being a girl,.Herlove
for sports manifests and fuels her more to be the best at it, and is more
determined to show everyone she can do it. Finishing Spartan Sprint, Spartan Super Races, and Spartan Beast, she is a proud
holder of trifecta medal.
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| MELADEEL GAMEN |
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| WHENG DICHOSO |
Separately, Igamen and Dichosoboth
moved to Singapore to pursue their careers in their respective fields. Living
in a foreign land, they both knew they have to be strong to look after
themselves. Through advertisements, they learned about the Spartan challenge, andwereencouraged
to sign up for it.
“Since then I became a part of
the community and started training with them,” Igamen said. “I felt I was never
alone and that I’m part of the family.”
Igamen competed in Singapore’s inaugural
Spartan Race, the 2015 Singapore Spartan Sprint. For her first Spartan event,
Igamen finished fourth among female participants under the team category.She
would run once again in succeeding Spartan Races the following year in Singapore,
Malaysia, Australia, and Indonesia.
Dichoso is an active member of badminton
and volleyball teams, as well as a photography group that shoots almost all
running events in Singapore. For her, living an active lifestyle isn’t exactly
new.
She signed up for her first
Spartan Race thinking that the event looked fun. This would surely put her
athletic abilities to the test, but she still took Spartan Workouts at her gym to
ready herself.
After her first Spartan
experience, she decided to attend a mass workout program conducted by Spartan
Race CEO Joe De Sena. There, she became acquainted with the Lion City Spartans,
and realized that she would need more intense training to progress in the race.
Similar to
the experiences of these amazing women, the American competition series Spartan: Ultimate Team Challenge will
showcase an obstacle course only hardened athletes can dare to overcome. Composed
of two men, two women, and an elite Spartan athlete, different teams compete
against each other in a brutal one-mile race designed to test the very limits of
the human mettle.
Catch the
premiere of Spartan: Ultimate Team
Challenge on April 22, Saturday, 9:35pm (8:35pm BKK/JKT), first and
exclusive on RTL CBS Extreme.
About RTL
CBS Asia Entertainment Network
RTL CBS Asia Entertainment
Network is a venture of two of the world’s largest content producers: RTL
Group, a global leader across broadcast, content and digital, and CBS Studios
International, the leading supplier of programming to the international market
place. The Network has two channels: the general entertainment channel, RTL CBS
Entertainment and the male-skewed entertainment channel, RTL CBS Extreme. Both
channels are widely distributed in the Asia Pacific and are localized in five
languages.
RTL CBS Extreme
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