Like many events in South Africa, The Viking Race, a first for Durban, was postponed and eventually cancelled but the hope is now to do it virtually.
Durban, South Africa (09 July 2020) – The Viking Race was set to be an exciting event for fitness and obstacle lovers, but like many, it had to be cancelled. Jamie Cockayne had a dream to bring an obstacle race to Durban and invested his time and money to make it happen.
As the days drew nearer, excitement rose. The race was starting to take shape and quickly, the obstacles and other items began arriving from all over the world. Then South Africa went into lockdown.
The first three weeks, everyone paused, waiting for more information. It soon became clear to Jamie that the lockdown would mean the race couldn’t take place. His heart sank to his stomach as he realised what that meant for him, his business and his family.
“Like everyone, the world was pulled from beneath our feet with the announcement of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown. Personally, I very nearly was stuck in the UK away from my wife and 1-year-old daughter… the fact that I managed to get back made me endlessly positive. But, with us no longer sure of when/if a race would be possible and indeed if we could ever make our money back, we decided to cancel the entire event, and sell off what we could to keep our primary business alive.
As I sat, listing all the items brought in from around the world on Gumtree, a medal (one of many we had made for the race) sat on my desk, it felt as though it was speaking to me, even challenging me…. Viking Race 2020, it boasted, hardly something we could re-use or sell…
As the medal continued to taunt me, an idea began to grow…. We could use at least some of the work we had put in for a good cause. Virtual races are now all the rage during lockdown, so why not a virtual viking race, and why not for Charity?? People could get one of these medals for their effort. Who doesn’t love a medal, as long as you’ve earned it… Thus the Virtual Viking Race was born.”
A bit about the race:
The Virtual Viking Race will be a one-off event, for a good cause.
“The concept of the race is a virtual obstacle course race (OCR) with a bit of a difference, instead of just a race sheet that people have to complete, our obstacles will come in the form of videos, with text instructions in between. For an example, text may come up that says, Run 1KM and then the next video appears which will be a well known South African OCR athlete doing a demo of a home obstacle, only when they have watched that video (and completed it, hopefully) can they then click onwards to the next obstacle. This way the obstacles kind of creep up on people like in a real race. There will be a downloadable version, as not everyone will be able to do this format if their internet is slow, but on the most part, I think the video race will be heaps more fun.
There are two entry prices, a basic R50, and an upgraded entry R110, whereby the participants receive a medal (which are awesome even if I say so myself) and wristband via courier, 100% of the proceeds from go to charity.
The obstacles will be performed using only things available to everyone in their homes, and we will send out a race kit list the week before the race.”
The funds from the tickets sold for the virtual race will be donated to KP Projects. The project is run in KwaZulu-natal and focuses on providing education and education support in rural communities. They have secured full scholarships to excellent schools for children who otherwise would possibly never have the chance.
According to Jamie, they have had to allocate all of their funding to provide food parcels to the families in the same communities that need it most.
“The reason we have chosen this charity is because we can 100% vouch for every cent going where it is supposed to go. Something we value above all else”
It is a pity the real race had to be cancelled but Jamie adapted the project to serve others. If you would like to find out more, you can check out the website here.
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