Warriors are set to take over Cox Creek Cellars in Guelph-Eramosa in early October for the Canadian Cancer Society’s fourth annual Wellington Warrior Challenge.
Billed as “Wellington’s extreme survival race,” this year’s five to six kilometre mud run will include five new, never-before-seen obstacles, bringing the total to between 25 and 29.
One of the new obstacles will lead into or out of one of the three natural ponds on the property.
“So our other five new ones have all been built by our wonderful volunteer group on the past few weekends, so we have monkey bars as well as parallel bars and then we have a few new tunnel crawls,” said Michelle Horwood, community fundraising specialist for the Wellington County branch of the Canadian Cancer Society.
Despite these new additions, Horwood also said the standbys are back as well.
“There are three ponds as well, as like I said, there’s a new water obstacle to make them a little bit more enjoyable because they can get pretty high,” she said.
“I know one year you literally had to swim, and then we have the five vertical walls are back for people to enjoy as well as our big start/finish line which is like the headliner one.”
Though the start and finish obstacle are the same structure, each direction presents a different challenge. At the beginning participants run down a 12 to 15 foot ramp and at the end they must climb the side of the obstacle, Horwood explained.
“There will be a barbed wire crawl as well … and we have the big long tire runs … and then we’ll have the balance beam,” she said. “The swinging balance beams are back.”
The race is set up so that anyone can do it, Horwood explained. Participants don’t have to spend months training and they don’t have to be in amazing shape or the strongest person to have fun.
“We would like people to be able to do this so they can support a warrior,” Horwood said.
“So we have a lot of survivors come out and do it and a lot of people like that so it’s just a really good complement to our mission and our brand of getting out there and fighting back against cancer in our community.”
The goal for this year’s event is to raise $55,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society and all the funds will be kept within the county and Guelph supporting programs and research.
One of the programs that will be supported is “the wheels of hope program, which is our shared ride program,” Horwood said. “Our volunteer drivers drive people to and from their cancer-related appointments.”
Another program that will receive support is the peer support program, “which will pair someone who’s been recently diagnosed with cancer with another person of the same financial and cultural background who also has that type of cancer, who has been through that journey, for them to be able to have the support and be able to talk about what they’re going through,” she said.
The more funds a team or individual raises the more advantages they have in the race.
First, the top fundraiser has their pick of start times; the race runs from 10am to 5pm.
“The more you fundraise the better time you’ll start at,” Horwood said.
In addition, 15 seconds will be knocked off a race time for every $100 the individual or team raises.
This year’s race will feature two food trucks, Poor Bhoy’s Eatery and Café du Monde Crêperie, as well as live music.
The event is scheduled for Oct. 3 from 10am to 5pm. To register as an individual or team or find out more visit www.cancer.ca/wellingtonwarriorchallenge.
