Getting a significant other or friend who’s new the Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) excited about a run is sometimes a hard process. Before you’ve done it, understanding just why you would pay someone to be subjected to the elements, mud, pain, bruises, cuts, exhaustion, and possible serious injury can be challenging, to say the least - as I am sure someone must have said, “You can lead a person to mud, but you can’t make ‘em race”.
Pro teamers race hard and inspire us all with their performances but what if their presence at an event meant much more to building a brand and making the race experience that much more memorable for those out there participating?
With the announcement of Tough Mudder jumping into the OCR TV world, it's time to take a step back and see what the networks are missing when it comes to obstacle competition shows, and we've uncovered a game-changer: Wonder Women.
This year has been exciting for the endurance OCR community with the expansion of BFX, the first BFX24, the promotion of Spartan Endurance, the beginning of the Spartan Agoge, and now Tough Mudder’s new event type that was just announced: Toughest! (Not to be confused with the European Obstacle Race Series) So what is this new thing and when can you get involved? Well, that’s what I’m here for.
Recently, a training run provided some thought-provoking questions as my run took me past a local golf course. I’ve run this exact route hundreds of times over the years, but during this particular jaunt, it occurred to me how empty the parking lot seemed. At first, I wondered why a beautiful Saturday morning during the summer wouldn’t be their busiest time. Then suddenly I thought, “Yikes. Maybe this is their busiest time?” I was only about two miles into a ten-mile run, so for the next eight miles my mind twisted and turned over this question.
For BattleFrog Xtreme and other multi-lap events, nutrition can make or break your performance. Unlike a short 5k or 5-mile race where nutritional mistakes can easily be overcome, the effects of nutrition on race day are crucial. Furthermore, a mistake early on can have a compounding effect as your body depletes muscle glycogen and desperately tries to refill your fuel tank faster than you are emptying it.
I saw a post recently from a writer I've been following since I first began Obstacle Course Racing (OCR)...back when all obstacles were wood and rigs were just a futuristic nightmare of someone's imagination. At first, I made the mistake (which I just warned everyone NOT to make in my own post the day before) and assumed I knew where the writer was going here. Wrong! It was a relatively short post and I read it several times before finally putting it aside to let the concept rattle around for a while.
Besides the elites, which I covered in last article, there are always stories of open wave competitors getting injured. The two “high profile” examples are the viral stories of that person that got some rare eye disease from one of the mud pits and the women that is suing the sponsors of Spartan for her falling off a volunteers shoulders, it naturally raises the question of how safe this sport is?
Amelia Boone, Claude Godbout, Corinna Coffin, Sarah Watson, Brenna Calvert and Nikki Call. No, I did not just name the top six elite females from a recent race. Besides being members of Pro Teams representing race companies (Spartan Race, BattleFrog Series, and Conquer The Gauntlet), these athletes have something else in common, they have had serious injuries requiring medical appointments (surgery and/or casts in some cases) and weeks of recovery. With so many injuries from so many high-level athletes, the question of safety comes to mind and if we are asking too much of our top level athletes.
Pokemon Go has hit the internets and social medias in a huge way - and as a parent of a 7-year-old boy, and a general all around geek, I’ve been as exposed to it, and yes, sucked into it, as many of you have too. It is also making it's mark on the obstacle racing community already.
