Ramiro Ortiz, an experienced business and sports executive, has been appointed chief executive officer of BattleFrog LLC, the obstacle course race series inspired by Navy SEALs. Ortiz previously served as a business consultant to the BattleFrog board of directors and, in that role, performed a thorough analysis of the organization’s operations.
The BattleFrog Series burst onto the obstacle racing scene in 2014 with big obstacles, great courses, helicopters, Navy SEALS demonstrations. They pulled in some of the brightest minds in obstacle racing from around the industry. Most importantly they had a backer with a deep pocketbook ready to spend what was needed to launch a race on a national scale.
I have been anticipating and looking forward to them for many months. Based on my experience at last year’s Tri-State BattleFrog event/race at the same venue I had lofty expectations for this year’s event/race to be amazing and even better. Unfortunately, the 2015 Tri-State BattleFrog did not deliver.
This past weekend was another busy weekend in obstacle racing and the entire OCR industry. BattleFrog moved north up to New Jersey. Spartan Race was in both Boston and Dallas. Shale Hill celebrated Father's Day with a relay race, and Tough Mudder had participants climbing to new heights in British Columbia.
BattleFrog Carolinas just took the top spot on my Race Resume as the toughest overall Obstacle Course Race I have ever done. I got my butt kicked. Repeatedly. “Misery loves company” may be a popular cliché, but I gained no solace from the fact that many “Elite” racers who seemingly NEVER fail an obstacle were forced to hand in their bracelets after hours of trying to comply with the “Complete all obstacles rule”.
The story of the weekend in OCR was the weather. Torrential rain and high winds in Kansas turned Atlas Race into a soggy battle. At BattleFrog the rain poured down as elements had to be changed mid-race because of rain and cold temperatures. Mother Nature may have thought she had the last laugh but racers battled through the elements. Find out who ended up on top.
The obstacle racing season is officially in full swing! With races happening all over the United States and beyond over the weekend below are the top results from some of the races around the country.
Savage introduces SavagePro Division in Central Florida with a diving finish. BattleFrog puts the beatdown on elites with new format in Houston, Texas and Southeastern Suck tests the most rugged in the 13 hour challenge.
Warrior Dash started their 2015 season over the past weekend in California and Texas. In Canada, Elite racers Claude Godbout, reigning Spartan Race World Champion, and her BattleFrog teammate Marc-André (Marco) Bédard began their OCR season at Polar Hero in Quebec.
This was my second trip to Florida to race at a BattleFrog event in less than a month. I was again running the Xtreme version of the BattleFrog Central Florida event.
