The endurance athlete has returned from a race across Fiji with an all-Black team. He is keen to break stereotypes in adventure sports
Coree Aussem-Woltering and his teammates paddled downriver on Fiji’s largest island, Viti Levu. They were one of 66 teams from 30 countries competing in last year’s World’s Toughest Race: Eco-Challenge Fiji. On day one, the going was already difficult as teams got into their camakaus, or indigenous-style outrigger canoes. Two camakaus capsized in the river. Ahead lay an open-ocean crossing, patrolled by sharks. Yet Aussem-Woltering’s boat made it safely to their first destination, Ovalau Island.
Aussem-Woltering is an ultrarunner by training. On this day, however, he had to apply his more recently-acquired paddling knowledge, part of an expanded skill set he learned en route to competing in Eco-Challenge: Fiji. Hosted by Bear Grylls and released in the US on Amazon Prime on 14 August, the show is a reboot of the successful TV series from 1995 to 2002.
