Taking on the world’s toughest obstacle race for charity – The Royal Gazette

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

About a week ago, Khalid Pitcher made his way through The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race often described as the world’s toughest.

There are walls and ropes to climb, multi-rig swings and multiple carries. Elevation changes and rough terrain make it all the more difficult.

Khalid thought he understood what he was in for but signed up any way. His idea was that by doing the gruelling race, he would be able to raise funds for a charity he believed in, Raleigh Bermuda.

Eager to have company, he proposed the idea to friends. He was not surprised when they laughed.

The race organisers call The Beast “the ultimate Spartan test”.

“It’s a challenging 13.1-mile course teeming with 30 obstacles that require strength, skill and grit. Elevation changes and uneven terrain will leave your lungs and legs burning. The Beast is notorious around the world for its degree of difficulty.”

Khalid has always been active. He loves basketball and martial arts and, for many years, competed regularly as part of the Bermuda Sanshou Association.

He took a step back from contact sports after his first son was born eight years ago but then decided it was time to get back to feeling fit.

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

A few years ago, he tackled Tough Mudder, an obstacle course and mud run in the UK.

“I like that kind of layout, that style of a race,” Khalid said. “I’ve done May 24 where it’s just the running but I like the idea that you’re in between obstacles that you have to conquer. It just kind of makes it more interesting when you have that.”

Because “life sometimes gets crazy”, he would set fitness goals for himself.

When The Beast popped up on his radar, he immediately saw how it could be of benefit.

“I’ve worked with Dany Pen of Raleigh before and I like the organisation so I decided why not up the ante and do something more challenging? Why not see if I can raise funds for Raleigh.

“I just wanted to give back, or try and help Raleigh, because I genuinely believe in what they’re doing with young adults – just getting them to experience life and realise there’s so much more out there; trying to help them to achieve the goals that they want.”

That The Beast was an obstacle course was fitting, he thought.

“There’s always going to be obstacles in life, it’s just how you get through them and keep going forward; how when you’re faced with obstacles head on, you push on to reach your goal.”

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

He started practising in June with runs along the dunes and beaches in Warwick as well as tons of training with Henry Adderley at LifeThyme CrossFit, a Dundonald Street gym.

“He helped me a lot. I definitely think training at the LifeThyme gym with Henry was a big advantage in prepping for this race. The dynamic workouts that they do there definitely helped me a lot – the lifting and everything helped me as far as being able to work on my upper body,” Khalid said.

“The Spartan obstacles, there’s a lot of upper body; the monkey bars, the rings – we have to cross and swing – the rope climbs. So that sort of training at CrossFit gym was definitely a big advantage.”

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

Khalid’s plan had been to do the race in September, when it was held in Vermont but at the end of July, he had a bike accident and fractured his fibula.

He was unable to train “for pretty much all of July and part of August” and had no choice but to push back the race by a month.

With his wife and two sons, he travelled to Granbury, a small town just outside Fort Worth, Texas, for the October 21 race.

Khalid completed it in 5:34:26, placing 1,685th out of 2,787 people in his category.

“It was a very challenging race but in a good way,” he said. “At no point did I feel like I wanted to give up. I just kept going, knowing that I’d be able to finish it.”

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

Still, it was “a little bit more” difficult than Khalid had expected. He anticipated that the course would be flat but there were hills and vertical climbs.

“And the heat – you can’t prepare for the heat. Even though it was October, it was still pretty hot out there and getting used to breathing in that dry air was a bit challenging. Luckily they had enough water stops to keep as hydrated as possible.”

A minor concern was that he would injure himself along the way but, aside from a bit of stiffness for two days or so, he was fine.

Khalid Pitcher competed in The Beast, a 13.1-mile obstacle race, to raise money for Raleigh Bermuda (Photograph supplied)

“You have to prepare yourself. I’ve always had a strong mental fortitude where I could just push myself but that’s not enough. You do have to train. But I definitely got bit by the bug. I do want to do a few more races, a couple other Spartans to see if I could do better.”

• For more information visitspartan.com; raleigh.bm. Donations to Raleigh Bemuda can be made through HSBC Bank Bermuda account 010-120756-001 or throughptix.bm