Inspired by the Physical 100 TV show, Great 117 is a popular fringe activity leading up to the Great Eastern Women’s Run.

Described as an incredible fitness experience to get stronger, faster and push your limits, it comprises five different stations to test your agility, strength and endurance. 

The type of stations that we had reminded me a little of the popular Hyrox phenomenon that has recently overtaken the world. 

This year’s event took place last Saturday morning and it was full of excitement and fanfare. The five stations this year were battle rope, box jumps, reaction wall, kettlebell swings and shuttle run.

Battle Rope

For this station, we needed to repeatedly move a long rope from side to side over a pole and were timed based on how many reps we could do in two minutes. 

This was my first station and the hardest one in my opinion. The rope was quite heavy and very challenging to swing. I struggled a lot with this. 

As well, I thought that two minutes allocated were very long because I was tiring extremely quickly. Friends whom I chatted to at the event also felt that the battle rope was the toughest, so at least I’m not alone in my thoughts! 

Box Jumps

This was my second station. It is a plyometric exercise where we were required to explosively jump from the floor onto a raised platform as many times as possible within two minutes. 

This was pretty challenging as well, and I found myself getting exhausted very quickly. As the seconds continued to tick on, the breaks in between jumps began to get longer and longer. 

But then again, I guess the two most difficult stations were over first. At least I could get a short breather before the next station, too. 

Reaction Wall

This was the station I most enjoyed. This directly tests reflexes and agility and we were supposed to tap out the electronic lights that lit up randomly on the wall, as many times as possible within one minute. It was a fun exercise even though I found myself panting when it was over. 

This is a good exercise to take  a bit of a breather from the strength-based exercises, so I thought it was a good addition to the Great 117 events. 

Kettlebell Swings

As the name suggested, we were tasked with driving a weighted kettlebell from between the legs to shoulder height in an explosive hip motion. It is a full-body exercise that tests power, strength and core stability. The kettlebell was 8kg. 

This was easier than I had originally expected, mostly because it was the only station with a number cap. We had to do 60 reps within two minutes. I managed to complete 61 reps with about 20 seconds to spare which I was quite happy about, because I’ve never done this exercise before! 

My break between the kettlebells and the shuttle run was also the longest, because I was in the first wave for the kettlebell and the last wave for shuttle run. So I had ample time to catch my breath, refuel and rehydrate myself – which I realised I definitely needed. 

Shuttle Run

As the name suggests, this is a test of speed, agility and cardiovascular fitness where we had to run back and fourth between two markers and tap out the light each time we reached either end of the circuit. We had to do this four times.

For the shuttle run, I noted that the light tapping feature was not always reactive or sensitive when it was tapped. The consistency and sensitivity of the tapper could be improved. 

But that aside, the shuttle run was interesting to do, fun and reminded me of my school student IPPT days when shuttle run was one of the then-five stations featured in the IPPT test. 

Conclusion

There was a prize presentation ceremony for the top three winners followed by a lucky draw to conclude the session. I have to admit I was pretty jealous that the first prize in the lucky draw was a Tiffany. I was sadly not lucky enough to win it. 

It would be such a great idea for the Great Eastern Women’s Run in the future if Tiffany pendants could be given out to perhaps all finishers of the 21.1km category (instead of a finisher t-shirt) because many women love Tiffany!

Nonetheless we all received awesome goodie bags at the end of the event containing $30 FairPrice vouchers, as well as chocolates, sports gels, compression wear and other knick knacks. It was quite generous of the organizer and event sponsors.

As a whole, Great 117 was definitely a whole lot of fun, and it was a great opportunity to get together for fitness to try something new apart from running. 

I truly loved the vibe and camaraderie yet how everyone is so down to earth, friendly and warm despite the fact that this was a competitive event with prizes for the top three. I am definitely and eagerly anticipating next year’s event already!

Event Video