Waimea Weekly
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Locally Owned and Operated
24 Champion Road, Richmond wrfs.co.nz
Wednesday 1 May 2024
Page 6
Jenna fulfilling dream
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Show will go on
Moutere’s upper and lower strength facility GORDON PREECE Nelson Obstacle Park in the Moutere Hills is climbing the walls and swinging into the growing world of competitive obstacle course racing in Aotearoa. Personal trainer Julia Kelly and her builder partner Kevin Ford, who both live in Nelson, have transformed 104 hectares of bushland into a purpose-built obstacle park with 50 arduous obstacles over four courses ranging between 2.5 and 10km. The couple have also revitalised the annual Wairua Warrior event at their Moutere Highway venue with the first under their ownership taking place in September last year, pulling in 540 international and domestic competitors. The event was previously owned by Greg and Donna Witika and held at Cable Bay Adventure Park, before the pair moved up north. Julia says it took three months of “hard slog” and “sleepless nights” in May last year to construct the “only permanent [obstacle] park in New Zealand” with assistance from local donors and sponsors. “It has got over 50 obstacles, we’ve got something called a Valkyrie,
Julia Kelly and Kevin Ford have unleashed their inner warrior by constructing a leading New Zealand obstacle course in the Moutere Hills. Photo: Gordon Preece. it’s a great big scaffolding arch with hoops hanging off it and you go up and over with your hands,” she says. “We’ve got a warrior ladder, which
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is two ladders, huge wooden ones against each other, and the competitor has to use their hands to go up the inside, across the top, and come back down again.”
Julia says to go from bush to a dedicated obstacle course and a platform for a bustling local sports event was “absolutely amazing” for her and Kevin, who
is also a globetrotting obstacle course competitor. “To see all that finally come to
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