Last updated at 14:57, Monday, 06 August 2012

FITNESS fanatics donned their war paint to take part in a physical challenge this weekend.

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Total Warrior, a long distance fell race which also features a host of gruelling obstacles, took place in Shap, near Penrith.

And a team from Barrow were named the top warriors, completing the course in a quicker time than any other of the hundreds of teams taking part.

Barrow Amateur Boxing Club followed up their wins in the Dalton and Walney 10k races by finishing ahead of their competitors.

Coach Jeff Moses, who was named the fastest over 40-year-old in the event for the second year running, said his team were pleased with their performance.

He said: “We are very pleased. The times that we put in were all very good. We did the Dalton 10k, and then the 10k in Walney and now we have won Total Warrior.

“Personally, I was happy as well as I won the over 40 category and came 15th.

“It is not just boxers that we have in our team, we have some who box and some who take part to keep fit.

“It shows that if you put your mind to something just what you can achieve.”

Total Warrior is in its second year and two races, a 10k event on Saturday followed by a 10-mile version yesterday, are held over the weekend.

Contestants need to take on 24 obstacles – from crawling through tyres in mud in the Claustrophobe obstacle to climbing up the 10ft Peaks of Pain.

Mr Moses said the event is very different to a normal 10k race and requires a lot more training. He said: “The legs are alright this morning, maybe a little bit stiff and I have a couple of scratches.

“It is a good course, very challenging and it is very different to doing a normal 10k.

“You have got to do training in the weeks before, it is not just something that you could just get up and do a little bit of roadwork for. You need to do a bit of cross country and a lot of floor exercise and build on upper body strength as well.

“The next challenge I believe is the Ulverston 10k which is a week away but hopefully we can get a team together at short notice.”

Another team taking part from Furness were Alice’s Warriors, who were raising money for inspirational teenager Alice Pyne’s charity Alice’s Escapes.

The team – made up of friends Laura Crellin, 35, Anna Rodger, 38, Ellen Jamieson, 35, all of Barrow, and Marie Cowen, 33, of Lindal – decided to take part to raise money for the charity which provides free holidays for families with a seriously ill child.

The team, who undertook a training regime which involved Rocky style runs up to the Cenotaph in Barrow Park, were a member down as Joanne Holmes, 34, of Barrow, ruptured her calf muscle preparing for the event.

Mrs Crellin said the team all managed to finish in around two and a half hours and, after raising around £1,000, are already planning to enter again next year.

She said: “It was brilliant, we absolutely loved it and all managed to finish and it took us about two and a half hours.

“We couldn’t have done it without the training.

“I think the fact that we were doing it for a good cause helped us get through the training.”

First published at 14:51, Monday, 06 August 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk