Page 24 - IB_November2020

Sport

LOCAL COMPETITORS CONQUER

ECO-CHALLENGE FIJI

By Samantha Magick

After paddling, hiking, sailing, biking and climbing as part
of the World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji, how does it
feel when you finally cross that finish line?
“I was so thrilled. I was waiting for it for a long, long time.
My expectation was really high, I told my team, top ten
[finish] but I’m so glad that we crossed the line,” says Eroni
Takape, a local competitor with Team Namako.
“How did it feel to cross the finish line? Absolutely thrilled
but also just a profund sense of satisfaction that we did it,”
says another local competitor with the Tabu Soro team, run-
ner and paddler Anna Cowley. “There were just people drop-
ping out all the time, so that thought was always in the back
of our minds, how far can we go?”
There was also a lot of pressure on the local teams Cowley
says. “The leaders, they’re so amazing…These are profes-
sional athletes, sponsored athletes but we’d never done this Eco-Challenge Fiji competitors (L-R) Peter Manoa, Anna Cowley and Eroni Takape.
before.
“And then because we are such newbies, we hadn’t been
really expected to finish. But to finish and prove people wrong next solution to find to solve our problem,’” Takape agrees.
was really satisfying.” One of the requirements of Eco-Challenge Fiji was that
All participants in the Eco-Challenge Fiji had to first audi- teams needed to include both men and women.
tion by video and submit a CV detailing their sporting experi- “I think it was fantastic for the people to see men and
ence, before being selected as part of the event. They then women competing and know it’s not just for the guys and we
had to undergo strenuous training and certification regimes can do it too,” says Cowley. “When we were going through
before competing. some of the villages I would say to the girls, ‘you should do
“There were a few months of training before the real race,” something too, do you think you can do something like this’
well-known Fijian triathlete and Takape’s teammate, Petero and they would say ‘yeah yeah yeah’, and in the interior, oh
Manoa says. “And in every discipline …there will be a weak my gosh those people are tough, because they have to be.
link in almost every team. Maybe someone will be weak in “I think for women as well if you go to any park after
cycling, maybe someone will be weak in padding, so everyone school, the majority of people playing are who? It’s mostly
won’t be strong in everything. That’s why we need a team, so boys and men, because women have the added expectation
everyone is working together.” of looking after the family. So they are at home cooking or
“We had so much to learn,” says Cowley. “None of us are looking after the kids and so it makes it that much harder to
climbers, we had to get certified for climbing and using actual be able to compete and compete at these levels. So to see
climbing gear…there was mountain biking, stand up paddle that women can and do for me was one of the great messages
boarding, white water rafting, sailing the camakau, as well as of the show.”
the navigation. So it wasn’t just learning these new skills, it All three competitors hope that the program inspires people
was training in all of them as well.” to think about their health and exercise.
While the physical demands of the race were gruelling, it “To me as human beings we are designed to move, we’re
was also a huge mental effort say the competitors. not designed to be sedentary but these modern lifestyles have
“You need to be really physically fit to do those things for not been so good for us in the Pacific and Fiji’s NCD crisis
hours, to be cycling for hours, or paddling for hours, and it’s everywhere, really, it’s off the chart when you think that
the mindset needs to be strong. Because it comes to a point there are three amputations due to diabetes every single day,
where your body has just had it and it’s just the mind that that’s crazy,” Cowley says.
tells you to keep going,” says Manoa. “We’re endurance athletes but not everybody is. I really
“When people were really getting tired and exhausted, we liked what Nathan [Fa’avee of the winning Team New Zea-
were just thinking of the next step, and the next step, and land] said in the show…he said, ‘Everybody can have their
the next step. Sometimes when things are going a bit ugly and own Eco-Challenge’ and your Eco-Challenge can be getting out
rough with the team, that’s when we just have to look down and doing a 3km run/walk once a month as long as everybody
and think about ‘ok what’s the next step’ and ‘what’s the does something.”

24 Islands Business, November 2020