High Rock Challenge in it's third year offered a solo version of the course this year. They are the state of New York’s oldest obstacle course race and have been putting the team event on for thirteen years. This also is another great event put on In memory of NYC Police Officer John Kelly who was killed in the line of duty, so being retired law enforcement, I was honored and excited to be running in this race.
This was definitely a changing event with mental challenges and obstacles mixed together. This combination was a change of pace. Grit 'N Wit tested me in more ways than one.
The drive to Binghamton was long and after the day before of racing two races, I expected the day and race to be a challenge both physically and mentally. As soon as I arrived, I was impressed by the obstacles visible from the entrance of the course and parking area, these were not obstacles made out of cheap building materials or someone that was building an obstacle course for the first time. They were all designed perfect and built just as well as any obstacles you see at the big name OCR’s.
I started the last wave of the day at 2pm for the Spartan Race Tri-State Beast with mostly volunteers as this was the volunteer wave. It may have been the end of the day, but Spartan pre-race announcer Dustin Dorough was able to recite his pre-race speech without missing a beat and faster than ever.
ABF was my first race of the weekend. ABF’s owner Chad Mason knew I was also racing the NJ Beast on the same day and that I had a three plus hour drive ahead of me, so he allowed me to start the course about ten minutes before the elite heat. Even though it was around 8:20 am it was already an amazing morning with the sun out and temperatures almost perfect for an OCR race.
Grit ‘N Wit hits the nail on the head, a unique event combining brains and brawn. It’s only in its second year of putting on an event and it’s very unique in the fact that half of the obstacles/challenges are mental challenges and not just based on physical talent. Co-creator/race director James Moher and he was gracious enough to answer some questions about his upcoming event.
OCRSandy continues his quest to complete all the OCRUNITED Series races as he takes on F.I.T. Epic Challenge.
BoldrDash kicks off their season with their Beach race in Narragansett, Rhode Island on May 2nd. BoldrDash’s President Lynn Hall spilled the beans on the upcoming event.
Chad Mason is extremely busy getting ready for his event this weekend, so I am very grateful for the answers he provided about his event this weekend. An obstacle race with a cause.
Mud Gauntlet will be putting on an OCR race/event for the second year and the reviews from last year’s event were positive. We reached out to Mary Kaminsky at Mud Gauntlet to answer some questions about the upcoming event.
