‘I doubted if I was going to make it’: Thomas van Tonder conquers 600-bar Bloukrans Bridge challenge

South African obstacle course racing world champion Thomas van Tonder completes his descent during the Red Bull Bridge Bars challenge across the Bloukrans Bridge on Monday.

Image: Craig Kolesky / Red Bull Content Pool

“I have finished what I started. I set a big, crazy goal, and we actually got it done.”

Those were the words of South African obstacle-course racing world champion Thomas van Tonder after completing a world-first crossing beneath the 216-metre-high Bloukrans Bridge near Nature’s Valley, between the Western and Eastern Cape, as part of Red Bull Bridge Bars on Monday.

Van Tonder conquered 600 suspended monkey bars stretching more than 280 metres along the bridge’s arch, completing the purpose-built course in 47 minutes and 37 seconds in a remarkable test of strength, endurance and mental resilience.

With the longest monkey bars ever built suspended beneath the bridge, the challenge was unlike anything the Red Bull athlete had experienced before.

“There were plenty of times up there where I doubted if I was going to make it,” he said on Monday.

“Usually the simulations that I did before the attempt took about 30 minutes. In my head I was like 30 minutes is a good time (to be done), 35 minutes if I am slow. I got to the middle of the bridge, looked at my watch and saw 30 minutes and thought ‘sh*t’, I haven’t done this for as long as it was going to take me. So, I didn’t know if my hands were going to take it towards the end.

“I underestimated how tired my body would be by the time I made it to the middle. In my head, I was going to be quicker and more fluent in the middle, but that was not the case. I was tired.”

He began the crossing at 10.21am with a heart rate of 150 beats per minute, immediately facing the course’s steepest section: a 45-degree ascent that forced him to face away from the direction of travel and pull himself upwards from bar to bar.

By 10.34am, the sustained climb was already taking its toll on his hands. Although Van Tonder had expected the ascent to be the toughest section, the continuous load on the same muscle groups proved more demanding than anything he had experienced during training.

Reaching the crown of the bridge brought a change in gradient, but little relief. With fatigue affecting his grip and rhythm, Van Tonder broke the remaining distance into smaller targets, communicating each one to head of rigging and safety Richard Lievaart over the radio.

“We simulated and trained as much as we could, but nothing can really compare to the continuous strain of the incline on the same muscle group. Mentally, that was the toughest part. It was difficult to get any rhythm and my hands just didn’t do what I thought they were able to. I had to use my wrists to pull me up because my hands did not want to close anymore.

“It took me beyond what I thought I was capable of doing and that shows this was just the right challenge.”

Rather than focusing on the full distance ahead, he concentrated on reaching the next marker and maintaining his rhythm.

During one of his upside-down shake-outs, Van Tonder felt his head begin to throb and realised he needed to return upright. He relied on his already fatigued hands to pull himself back into position before continuing across the bars.

The descent presented another challenge. Gravity increased his speed between bars, forcing him to control his momentum while maintaining his grip and securing each bar. As fatigue intensified, the tape protecting his fingers began to wear through, adding to the physical strain as he pushed towards the finish.

Despite the mounting discomfort, Van Tonder continued across the course, completing the crossing in 47 minutes and 37 seconds. The achievement brought an ambitious goal to life, with the South African conquering an extraordinary obstacle beneath one of the country's most iconic landmarks.