By Romy Stephens
Upon reflection on this year’s Ninja Warrior competition, there’s one thing all three Yarra Ranges’ contestants have in common – they are all raring to give the course another crack.
Daniel Mason (Healesville), Dee Thompson (Mount Evelyn) and Harry Cole (Monbulk) all competed in this year’s Australian Ninja Warrior competition.
Harry was the most successful local ninja this year, making it through to the Grand Final.
He finished seventh in the heats, sixth in the semi-final and then during the Grand Final, fell off on the Ferris Wheel.
Despite making the final run in only his first year competing, Harry said he was still disappointed to have had a few falls.
“It’s pretty frustrating because all the obstacles you can do in training but as soon as you’re under the lights and the pressure of everyone watching it completely changes everything.”
Harry said he had already built a course at home so he could continue training for next year.
“I’ve got seven powerline posts and dug them into the ground and 100m of steel pipe,” he said.
“I think I could lose a few kilos and just practice my grip strength. My arms pretty much gave way so I just need to get stronger.”
After finishing runner-up last year, it was a shock for Daniel, also known as the Barefoot Ninja, to have bowed out during the semi-final.
“The heats went really well. I managed to make it onto the Power Tower which was pretty awesome, there were only a handful of us that got to compete on that,” Daniel said.
“In the semi-final I was feeling pretty comfortable through the course and I made a little mistake.
“I wasn’t feeling too tired and I was feeling pretty capable but that’s the nature of the sport, one foot wrong and you’re out.”
Daniel attributed his uncharacteristic fall on the Spider Wall to self-imposed pressure.
“Because I was expecting to get through to the Grand Final I suppose there was that added pressure,” he said.
“It was more the height of my own expectations this year that played a bit of a part.”
However, the Barefoot Ninja had something to smile about after being selected to represent the country in Ninja Warrior Australia vs The World.
Daniel was part of the winning Australian team that travelled to compete on one of the world’s most advanced Ninja Warrior courses in Las Vegas.
“The course in Vegas is five times bigger than anything we had here,” Daniel said.
“All the obstacles are like the Power Tower, it was pretty incredible to get some experience on those obstacles.”
After also falling off on the Butterfly Wall – during the heats – Mount Evelyn’s Dee is determined to learn from her mistakes and go a step forward next year.
“The experience was amazing. It was like nothing I had ever done before so I was really grateful and happy that I got to that point and got to have a go,” Dee said.
“But I didn’t do anywhere near as well as I was expecting.
“It was a tramp to butterfly wall and I wasn’t heavy enough to make an impact. I hit the butterfly but couldn’t hold on.
“I remember hitting the water and thinking this wasn’t supposed to happen.
“Even now I think about it everyday and it crushes me, but it’s going to give me more motivation to get back to season five…I’m going to train harder and nail it next year.”
