CHALLENGER STORY
Challenger
STORY
CHLOE
I love Sparta . I love warriors . I love the warrior spirit . Before I had ever heard of SBBU , the movie 300 was my ultimate favourite .
A
family visit and a little park run . The bug had bitten , and I wanted to run . I developed a love for 21km races . A high school friend , Jeffrey Mann , challenged me one day to enter the SBBU , a savage challenge that his wife , Mustang Mann had entered the previous year .
I love charity and I love running . Jeffrey connected me with John Sikiotis , who I discovered , quite by chance , was with the Nando ’ s Group , a company I had worked for , and been a part of since 1999 . The name that I chose , Chloe , is a nickname I adopted at Nando ’ s . A name that for me reflects a dependable person , a person who always shows up . It is such a small world .
I was not confident enough that I would be accepted into the challenge . I thought if I can run , and run for charity , why not ? These two passions are so close to my heart . Then I learned all about CHOC , the childhood cancer foundation and I wanted to be a part of the SBBU experience even more . If it happened only once in my life , I would be satisfied .
To support a charity that helps cancer patients is something I wanted to be a part of as in 2019 I watched my soulmate , my best friend , my lover , the father of our children , my very heartbeat , close his eyes for the last time because of cancer . In my lifetime this world has yet to produce a giant such as him . He left a legacy and I felt with every fibre of my being that I wanted to give something of myself , in a personal way as a tribute to him . A tribute to his pain and suffering which he bravely endured . The SBBU 2023 was very personal for me .
When the original date of 26 April 2023 was set for the dinner get-together I was blown away . My sweetheart ’ s birthday . The date then moved but it was still an incredible sign for me . I eventually found out that I had made it , and no words could express how elated and honoured I felt . I chose to wear the Pikorua pendant during the challenge , a gift given to me by my youngest son , who was unable to be there with me during the challenge . The pendant is a Māori symbol that represents the path of life and the strong bond between loved ones .
As the months ticked by , I entered the Alan Ferguson 21km in Kibler Park . Brutal hills and inclines . I trained hard , with hills in mind , and when the day came and I ran the race , I felt I had sliced it . However , somewhere between that race and our next Callies club run a week or two later , my right hip , glutes , lower back , and surrounding area decided to turn on me . I struggled through this excruciating pain , trying different treatments but the pain would not relent . I could barely walk , let alone run . To surrender is never an option . Not doing the SBBU was not an option . I needed a plan .
I went through the SBBU rules again and was satisfied that if I could not run then at least I could walk . As long as I made it within the hour and stood back at the start line on the hour , I could do this . So , I focused on trying to speed up my walking and averaged 40 minutes for the 4.167 , which would give me 20 minutes of rest . In my head , this was possible .
12 SPARTAN BABY BADASS ULTRA 2024