World OCR, the Fédération Internationale de Sport d’Obstacles (FISO), recently announced the founding of its legal home in Switzerland. World OCR (FISO) is the recently renamed IOSF (International Obstacle Sports Federation) which has been working for years to establish itself as the governing body for the sport of obstacle course racing.
The organization has the aim of getting obstacle racing into the Olympics and is currently working toward meeting the requirements for recognition as specified by the Global Association of International Sport Federations (GAISF) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). We are an independent association composed of national member federations worldwide.
For year's the organization's president, Ian Adamson has been working towards this goal. He was first brought in to work on the idea of getting obstacle racing in the Olympics by Joe De Sena and Spartan Race. Soon after due to International Olympic Committee rules and regulations Spartan Race and Adamson cut business ties so that the future World OCR could be a completely autonomous entity working with various obstacle racing brands.
Over the years, the organization has had various names and acronyms. However, with the recent announcement the name and home are now set and the organization can get to work continuing to grow national member federations and work towards Olympic inclusion.
Lausanne, Switzerland: World OCR, the Fédération Internationale de Sport d’Obstacles (FISO), announced today the founding of its legal domicile in Switzerland and confirmation of the Hungarian OCR Association as its 75th national member federation. Obstacle Course Racing (OCR), with over 20 million active participants, is the fastest growing mass participation sport globally and includes brands such as Spartan Race and Tough Mudder.
Formerly known as the International Obstacle Sports Federation, World OCR’s move to Lausanne places its world headquarters close to the home of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA.) The City of Lausanne has been known as the Olympic Capital since 1994 and is home to 40 international sporting organizations.
FISO President, Mr. Ian Adamson from Australia said that “The decision to establish the Swiss domicile was agreed at the federation’s 4th international congress held in Manila, Philippines on January 28th.” The Congress is the General Assembly of the member National Federations (NFs) and is the highest authority of FISO.
World OCR produces and collaborates on international events, including the Shardana World Team Challenge (Italy, April 14th), OCR World University & World Youth Championships (Philippines November 13th) and continental championships in the Americas (USA, summer), Asia (Philippines, January 28th), and Europe (Denmark, June 30th – July 2nd.)
World OCR facilitates safety, fairness, and opportunities for athletes to compete at every level. This includes international results and rankings, officials, training, rule enforcement, insurance services, coaching, training camps, event information, event services, news, education, adjudication and more.
In support of the above goals, World OCR is a member of the ASTM International working group on obstacle safety and will be attending the inaugural Safe Sport International conference in Madrid on April 6-7th.