Mud Hero was part two of a recent trip north to Canada. I figured I was already the country for Xman Race and decided to get as much Canadian racing experience possible in one trip. I researched Mud Hero and knew it would be a course that is designed for all levels of racers and happy to have a second race with such long distance travel involved in a weekend.
This is the third year that the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office has opened up their state of the art Law Enforcement Obstacle Training Course to the general public, and this little Local event keeps getting better. While not a traditional OCR where you run for short distances in between obstacles that are spread out, this is more like a 5k trail run around the jail with a nicely challenging obstacle course bunched up at the end.
MuckFest MS is a family event, so the festival area was loaded with lots of families, friends, and couples all having a good time. Music played throughout the event and this only helped make for fun times and smiles.
Community is what most point to as the best thing about obstacle racing. Meeting old and new friends is often the highlight of race weekends. Even so, the community has evolved from the earliest days. A recent article in Men’s Fitness Magazine hinted at the evolution: “Before it was a slick, Reebok-sponsored international obstacle-racing phenomenon, the Spartan Race was a quirky, little-known adventure race in Vermont’s Green Mountains”.
Generally, when people think about the frog in the World of OCR, their thoughts are about the flashier, highly marketed Battlefrog. I admit, I was guilty of these same thoughts. There is no doubt that it is a respectable race and I was all in on that frog, until now. The lesser known race called Bone Frog, founded by Brian Carney (33) born and raised in Western Massachusetts, 13 year Navy and 9 year Seal veteran, is an absolute power house in obstacle course racing.
The 4 mile, over 30+ obstacle course race, Conquer the Gauntlet (CTG) returned to KC at the Grain Valley Speed Way to put on another great race for their second year in a row. Instead of racing this particular event I went behind the scenes of Mainprize Industries and experienced the hard work this family puts into each and every race they promote.
Saturday and Sunday was a truly a tale of two days, Saturday was sunny and a beautiful day from start to finish, but Sunday was the exact opposite with it starting to rain around 9:20 am with the sounds of thunder off in the distance.
When Hobie Call went back to work last Thursday in the world of HVAC he had no idea that by the time he got home he would be the talk of the OCR community. It is no secret that over the last couple of years Call has played a balancing act as a professional obstacle racer as well as supporting himself and his wife and five kids from race winnings and sponsorship deals with race organizations.
The Samurai Sprint Mud Run takes place at Westport Rivers Vineyard on June 13th. I wanted to learn more about this #RACELOCAL event and reached out to Samurai Sprint Mud Run Event Coordinator, Stephen Ferreira and requested a quick interview, which he was gracious to provide.
The Bonefrog Challenge recently returned for the third year to the New England area and I had the privilege to attend the event for the first time. The regional race, created by Navy SEALs and appropriately held on Armed Forces Day each year, was developed to test athletes to move beyond their comfort zones and push themselves both physically and mentally. With a course that boasts over 50 obstacles and 10 miles of rugged, mountainous terrain, it definitely accomplishes this goal in spades. The aptly named race is truly a challenge and requires athletes to be functionally fit to complete the course.
