Press release -
Discovery Tough Mudders came, saw and conquered!
The normally quiet grounds of Houwteq campus were transformed today into a mud-fuelled arena where gladiators challenged themselves to doing something new for the first time, taking part in the first ever Discovery Tough Mudder event on African shores.
More than 2,700 people, mostly Capetonian Tough Mudders, challenged the 8km and 16km courses, taking on 21 gargantuan obstacles with the world's best backup: each other.
It took months of planning and weeks to build, but the course was a perfect replica of the stuff that makes Tough Mudder an international sensation - with a few proudly South African touches - this isn't your ouma's obstacle course. “I couldn’t be more thrilled with today’s event and growing Mudder Nation here in Africa. I’ve seen countless venues around the globe and this place is remarkably stunning! I can’t wait to see what Invictus Events has in store for the next Tough Mudder” stated TMHQs Global Licensing Director, Johnny Little.
“Seeing teams working together to achieve the same goal and feeding off each other’s strengths was a great sight. By testing both teamwork and fitness, the course turned into a fitness playground pretty quickly, and before they knew it, the Tough Mudders had worked all their muscles and got their heart rates to healthy levels. They all took their fitness and endurance levels to brand new levels which was impressive, its no wonder Cape Town was ranked first in the latest Discovery Vitality Fittest City Index, leading the pack ahead of other major cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria,” said Iona Maclean, Head of Experiential Marketing at Discovery.
There certainly were some Herculean efforts on the course: in the single timed wave of elite Mudders in which over 50 people competed. With a total prize purse of R70k the winning results were as follows:
1st Louis Smit
2nd Claude Eksteen
3rd Chad Gordon
1st Carla Vvan Huyssteen
2nd Nedene Cahill
3rd Lisha Sookan
The beauty of this event is, while only 6 Mudders 'won a prize', every single person who completed the course today feels like a hero.
The man behind the South African Operation, Andrew Douglas of Invictus Events, was blown away by the Mudders' efforts today: “The event exceeded all my expectations and then some! It was amazing to see so many Capetonians come out today to challenge themselves on this tough course”
The first ever Tough Mudder event on African soil proved to be a massive success. Tough Mudders not only challenged themselves to do something new for the first time, but worked together and helped each other along the route, even those who weren’t their team mates. Great sportsmanship overall.
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About Discovery Limited
Discovery Limited is a South African-founded financial services organisation that operates in the healthcare, life assurance, short-term insurance, savings and investment products and wellness markets. Founded in 1992, Discovery was guided by a clear core purpose – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. Underpinning this core purpose is the belief that through innovation, Discovery can be a powerful market disruptor.
The company, with headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa, has expanded its operations globally and currently serves over 5 million clients across South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, Singapore and Australia. Discovery recently partnered with Generali, a leading insurer in Europe, and has partnered with John Hancock in the US. These new partnerships will bring Discovery’s shared-value business model to protection industries in Europe and the US.
Vitality, Discovery’s wellness programme, is the world’s largest scientific, incentive-based wellness solution for individuals and corporates. The global Vitality membership base now exceeds three million lives in five markets.
Discovery is an authorised financial services provider and trades under the code “DSY” on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange.
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