Going To The Run: Surviving My First Viper Classic in F1 Sepang

For my last event of 2019, I completed one of the toughest of the Viper Challenge series - the Viper Classic at Sepang International Circuit.

The Viper Challenge is Asia's biggest sporting event series that combines running (trail and road) with obstacles which test your strength, speed, agility and your ability to work with your teammates (and other participants). Their tag line, "Leave No One Behind", emphasising the importance of team work to complete the course - peppered with obstacles - stayed in my mind since last Sunday.

I first dipped my feet in Viper Arena back in 2015 but didn't particularly enjoy the indoor setting of the course. I didn't enter another Viper event until four years later, in the Viper Beach Port Dickson May this year. And let's just say I've been hooked to the sport since! I started joining OCR, mass warrior workout sessions and Spartan classes in my gym and made new friends and training partners. And after a few months of training, I got the courage to sign up for the tough Viper Classic - 20km course and 25 obstacles. I was warned that there will be mud runs and I was up for it!

After registration and bag drop-off, I made my way to the start line, joining the 7:00 am wave. I found myself in a corral packed full of other Viper Challenge hopefuls like myself. The host kept us entertained, shouting "Finish" and us responding with "Line". After a few rounds of "Finish Line"s, I was off!

Selfie before flag-off

And we're off.,,,,

Here's some photos of what happened that day...

Overall, I had an amazing time out there in Sepang, spending around 4 hours to complete the challenge, having attempted all of the 25 obstacles. The obstacles were well-designed and evenly spaced throughout the course, and had catchy names (Over your Ex, Tarzan and Jane, Nerves of Steel, Stairway to Heaven, Heave Ho, etc). One of my favourite obstacles was Tumbling Block which requires team work and coordination and getting your head down in the muddy waters. This was definitely something out of my comfort zone...

What I liked about Viper is that it is non-competitive so you can do the obstacles carefully, slowly - once, twice or even thrice if you wish... and have a great time with your teammates (I especially like the team element of it). Team work means no one gets left behind...