In the spirit of celebrating Malaysia’s National Sports Day, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin joined thousands of spartans wanna-bes at the Spartan Race Malaysia in Setia Alam, Selangor on 11th Oct.

The minister got down and tough, swimming in muddy and dirty water like the rest, throwing spears, climbing walls and even carrying buckets of stones just like a blue-collar construction worker in the name of Spartan.

This was a very different side of Khairy Jamaluddin that we’ve never seen before, especially after being featured on the cover of Men’s Health magazine recently with a spanking clean image. He certainly inspires other youths to persevere even when the going gets tough and not being afraid to get your hands dirty once in awhile.

Spartan Race is an obstacle course race which has sparked an addiction in the average Joes to test their endurance, grit and strength through a series of challenges on the course.

“This was an altogether different and more demanding type of race from what I have done previously. It was a challenging course but ultimately quite exhilarating after I completed it,” said Khairy.

“Congratulations to the oprganisers of Malaysia’s first Reebok Spartan Race and it’s obvious from the number of participants over these two days that the interest in these types of ultra-active events is growing and I look forward to more of these events being held in Malaysia,” Khairy added.

Khairy Jamaluddin raced through 22 obstacles over 6km including running in the trails, trading the comfort of an office and air conditioning, for the hardship in flipping old tractor tyres and bonding with other spartans on the course.

Kids were not left out of the festivities, and participated in Spartan Junior races in various age categories. These races, 400 – 800 metres in distance, have an emphasis on teamwork, fun and getting muddy.

Spartan Race Malaysia has announced their next event,  the Spartan SUPER with 20+ obstacles spanning 13km and often hosted on a tougher terrain in March 2016. Some spartans aspire to complete all the race distances in the Spartan series (Sprint, Super and Beast or Ultra Beast) within a calendar year to achieve the Spartan Trifecta and receive a Trifecta medal.