Bear Grylls asks Scottish CrossFitters “is it tough enough”
Forget the Olympics, Scotland’s fittest of the fittest are about to be asked “Are you tough enough?” and maybe even “Do you want to be the best?” when the Bear Grylls Survivor Race comes to Scotland for its inaugural outing.
With the Olympics over, the next sporting challenge is being set by CrossFit Collective Scotland, who is teaming up with Britain’s favourite former Marine, testing out the first Bear Grylls’ Survivor Race in Edinburgh on Saturday 3rd September, and supporting the Tartan Army Children’s Charity in the process.
While the Bear Grylls Survivor Race is a family festival catering for both children and adults, they want their Survivor Races to have the ‘toughest’ reputation when it comes to obstacle courses and are launching some ‘never seen before’ obstacles to take their OCR to another level. This is why they have called on Scotland’s CrossFit community to road test the 5k and 10k obstacle course at Winton House, Pencaitland to ensure it’s pushing the adult contestants to their limit.
“The first Scottish Bear Grylls Survivor Race, will be partnered by the biggest CrossFit team ever assembled from across Scotland,” said Siobhan Melandri, owner of Edinburgh-based CrossFit Skirmish.
“Our athletes are not only fit but have the skills required to win. CrossFitters are all round athletes – they have cardio and endurance but a whole lot more… our athletes learn to rope climb, do muscle ups, strength and ballistic work. This gives them explosive strength, flexibility and gymnastics skills to tackle any obstacle they can throw at us. Many of our athletes and coaches have experience across all the main OCRs (Tough Mudder, Spartan) and use CrossFit to give them the competitive edge. Some of them also come from a military background too, which is why we delighted that the Bear Grylls team is asking our community to road-test the course – with the sole aim of ensuring the Survivor Race is indeed tough enough!”
Participants will have to negotiate numerous obstacles over the course, putting their athletic ability, strength and endurance to the ultimate test. And Bear Grylls’ military training and mountain experience has influenced the obstacles and challenges, which were designed in conjunction with Bear’s Mountain & Survival team.
Worldwide, there are more than 12,000 gyms that offer CrossFit; and in Scotland there are almost 40 CrossFit gyms alone.
“CrossFit has seen a massive growth across Scotland and the UK – which is in part due to the popularity of the numerous obstacle course races that are out there,” continued Siobhan.
“CrossFit is the ideal fitness regime for these type of course as it not only covers traditional endurance fitness, but takes it a step up, and addresses the need for upper body strength, flexibility and gymnastic skills that other training doesn’t. Indeed if you watch the CrossFit Games you will recognise many of the obstacles prevalent in OCRs today”.
To ensure the Bear Grylls Survivor Race is ticking all the boxes, Scotland’s top CrossFit athletes will be meeting with the Race CEO Mark Ussher post-event to feedback on successes and any areas that could potentially be improved.
“While it’s enormously exciting to be asked to test out this course for a celebrity such as Bear, it’s also important that we’re able to raise funds for charity at this event. CrossFit is all about community – creating a supportive training ‘family’ and giving back to our communities which is why we will be collecting for the Tartan Army Children’s Charity ,” she said.
“Essentially this event is all about improving fitness, proving that it can actually be fun, and giving back to the community. We have CrossFit Teams coming from across Scotland to make this happen, working together as part of a new CrossFit Collective Scotland to raise the awareness of CrossFit, why it is so good and why it changes lives for the better” said Siobhan.
Bear Gryll’s Survivor Race, 3rd September 2016, Winton House, Pencaitland.
CrossFit deal – £30 for race place and 4 family festival tickets, worth £100. Use CROSSFITSKIRMISH as discount code when booking. http://www.beargryllssurvivalrace.com/edinburgh/
CrossFit Heats: 9 & 9.30am.
Feedback session with Mark Ussher, CEO Bear Grylls Survivor Races & CrossFit 300, 11.30
For interview or feature content call Siobhan Melandri, 07912 409951
For more information, please visit www.crossfitskirmish.co.uk/beargrylls
The CrossFit Collective Scotland is a group of independent CrossFit Gyms working together across Scotland including:
Edinburgh
Bob’s Garage, CrossFit MTS, CrossFit Murrayfield, CrossFit Skirmish, (Edinburgh)
Lothians
CrossFit JXL (Musselburgh), Vinco CrossFit (Livingston), CrossFit Bathgate
East Coast
CrossFit Fife, Functional Fitness Dundee, CrossFit St Andrews, CrossFit Claymore (Perth),
West Coast
CrossFit Airdrie, Fortius CrossFit (Cambuslang),
Borders
CrossFit RDAS, (Selkirk)
For further information please contact:
Siobhan Melandri
CrossFit Skirmish
07912 409951