Race feature: An event designed to empower people to test and extend their adventure fitness - the inaugural BG Survival Races will take place in London, October 3-4, 2015
This summer, Bear Grylls brings his renowned spirit of endeavour, fitness and adventure to the Obstacle Course Race (OCR) market, with the launch of the inaugural Bear Grylls Survival Race (BG Survival Race). BGSR 1 will take place in London; the first race weekend of its kind in the world.
With Trent Park in North London as the planned venue on 3 and 4 October 2015, participants will be pitted against each other through a range of ultra-dynamic Bear-Grylls inspired obstacles, to reach the finish lines of the 5km, 10km and 30km courses.
Video: Bear Grylls talks about his new race, the BG Survival Race
More than just a race event, the weekend will create a Bear Grylls Adventure Festival with live music and over 100 partners from the adventure & racing spaces, showcasing their products and a visit from Bear Grylls himself on the first day, to set the tone for the weekend.
The BG Survival Race weekend will host a series of kids and junior races (Cubs races) as part of a schools challenge, before firing the starting gun for the adult’s 5km and 10km obstacle races, alongside charity heats. Both timed and untimed heats will see professional athletes and leisure runners alike putting their adventure-fitness levels to the ultimate test in this series of unique Bear-Grylls-inspired races.
The race weekend culminates in the signature event: the Ultimate Survivor Race – a 30km course which ups the ante from the previous day’s races by not only extending the race distance but including even more extreme Bear Grylls survival challenges. These are designed to catapult athletes out of their OR comfort zones, both mentally and physically. All races taking place throughout the weekend will be open to individual and group entry.
Photo: James Cracknell, fresh from his 2:50:43 at the Virgin Money London Marathon (HERE), lends his support to Bear Grylls and the BG Survival Race
Bear Grylls explains the aim of this race: “This is about empowering people to test and extend their adventure fitness, using the type of obstacles that I have often encountered in the wild. We all have an edge, and this race is designed to push those physical and mental limits, to there & beyond.”
The planned global expansion of the BG Survival Race series will feature a range of challenging survival scenarios including urban, jungle, mountain, desert and amphibious; and these are to be set in some of the world's most extreme and challenging terrains.
The past five years has seen a significant increase in interest in Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) as an alternative to traditional 5K, 10K, half-marathons and marathons; filling the void as a fun weekend event that creates fitness challenges for weekend warriors. Part of the growth the OCR market has seen in recent years includes a spike in female participation as well the involvement of more casual racers.
Bear Grylls expands, "More girls are joining the Scouts than ever before and more girls are getting into adventure than ever before, and I love that. Some of the toughest adventurers I know are women, and this course will see both men and women competing at the highest level over some of the toughest obstacles ever devised. Join us in this ultimate adventure-fitness race!"
