Thrills, spills and chills as the Perth Beach OCR Mayor’s Throwdown takes over Scarborough Beach

There were thrills, spills and chills at the inaugural Mayor’s Throwdown on Saturday as politicians from all three levels of government tackled a Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course with ice baths waiting near the finish line.
 
The Mayor’s Throwdown was a feature event of the second annual Perth Beach Obstacle Course Race (OCR), which drew more than 1,400 people to Scarborough Beach on 5-6 April.
 
While some Perth Beach OCR competitors took the racing quite seriously, the Mayor’s Throwdown brought a high-profile, not-so-high-performance element to an event which raises money for a great cause.
 
City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin threw down the gauntlet to his fellow community leaders, challenging them to a showdown on a specially shortened 2km version of the Perth Beach OCR course packed with obstacles.
 
In the midst of a busy election year for all levels of government, the Mayor’s Throwdown was a welcome opportunity for federal candidates, rival state MPs and Perth mayors to run a race with nothing but pride on the line.
 
As the tipsters had predicted, Liberal candidate for Curtin Tom White and City of Joondalup Mayor Albert Jacob were the frontrunners, getting out to an early lead which only widened across the 2km course.
 
Mr White took the honours, a result he will be hoping to replicate at the polls on Saturday 3 May.
 
Rival state MPs Scarborough MLA Stuart Aubrey and Carine MLA Liam Staltari had already run and won their election races, but they did their electorates proud with their performances on Saturday.
 
The Mayor’s Throwdown ended with City of Swan Mayor Tanya Richardson, City of Bayswater Mayor Filomena Piffaretti and City of Canning Mayor Patrick Hall crossing the finish line hand-in-hand.
 
Impressively, all participants managed to climb, crawl, push and pull their way along the full length of a course which was more challenging than many of them had expected.
 
Once they had caught their breath, they had taken it away again when they plunged into an ice bath in the Perth Beach OCR recovery zone.
 
“The idea of the Mayor's Throwdown was to encourage people to have a crack, challenge themselves and get involved in community events like this,” Mayor Irwin said.
 
“We had some younger and fitter people who got through the course quite well and others who were struggling very early on, but I think that’s representative of the community.
 
“The fact that everyone finished the course shows you there was no lack of determination or grit in the group.
 
“I want to thank everyone who accepted the challenge and I also want to thank the Perth Beach OCR organisers for making it happen.”
 
The Perth Beach OCR is presented by Red Dust OCR and proudly sponsored by the City of Stirling.
 
Part-proceeds from ticket sales go to Trek4Vets, a non-profit organisation that supports the physical and mental health of Australian veterans.