his past weekend the world of OCR was buzzing from coast-to-coast with the relaunch of Atlas Race, the season opener for BattleFrog Race Series as well as the new extreme endurance event The Brutality making it's debut. In case you missed any of the action we have it all here in our recap.
The Winter Warrior XRunner in Derbyshire, England was my first of two obstacle course races in the UK. I arrived prepped and ready to run the 10K obstacle race. The first thing that caught my attention was the amount of participants that were at this race, it was a very cold Saturday and the day before one of the premier OCR’s in the entire world in Tough Guy, yet Xrunner had a turnout of over three thousand racers.
Spartan Race once again staged a Stadium Event in Tampa that had tie-ins with Special Operations and the Military, and this year’s event was even better than last year’s. They took a race that was considered to be a favorite among many people who ran multiple Spartans and they added obstacles, made the race more challenging, and it was greater fun.
Once I learned about Tough Guy, and it being the first and original obstacle course race ever created, I knew I had to go and do the winter race. I was originally going to stay at a hotel in town, but was invited to stay at Tough Guy HQ and Mr. Mouse’s home. I arrived on Thursday to give myself some time to recoup from the travel and time change. From the moment I arrived I was welcomed with open arms into the Mouse family home by both the Tough Guy staff and Mr. Mouse and his entire family.
I've been testing the Icebug Zeal since December 3, and after a month or so of only seeing photos I was really excited to get my feet into 'em. I'll use the term "into" quite literally, as the radical midsole design envelops most of your foot, designed for lateral stability and an overall low 6mm drop from heel to toe.
I can hear the walls creak from the quick drop in temperature (-28C) outside. I roll over and it’s almost time to get up. It is so warm in bed and I have to force myself to venture from underneath the covers. Today’s adventure will take us to Ottawa, Ontario. The plan is to rendezvous at a common area and carpool to save on parking costs. We are registered for the Polar Hero Race and have about a 2 hour drive before our heat at 1000 hrs.
I was excited to finally get back into the flow with Blizzard Blast, the winter-inspired obstacle race created by SmithFest Events. Now in its third year, the race series has quickly become an annual tradition marking the beginning of the new OCR season in New England.
Mother Nature was a good sport and provided an amazing day for this event, the temperatures ranged from the start (11:00 AM) to the end (4:30 PM) from about 36 °F to 34 °F. The area also had a snow storm only a day earlier, which dropped about three to four inches of fresh snow on the course which made for some nice soft snow and more of a challenge.
Participants can qualify for the Warrior Dash World Championship by signing up for a competitive wave at any of the 30+ events internationally and placing in the top 25 of their gender. “Since Warrior Dash’s inception in 2009, the obstacle racing industry has seen tremendous change and growth, and is becoming an internationally recognized sport,” says VP of Marketing at Warrior Dash, Tad Jenkins. “After a remarkably successful first Warrior Dash World Championship, we’re pleased to bring back the premier 5K competition for a second year in Tennessee and continue the challenge for our elite Warrior athletes.”
I saw a Facebook post about the Cahoots race to be held on 06/28/2014, and knew I had to do it. I was so very excited that day to do my first OCR! I was just as excited about doing my this, as I was the day I graduated college! I could barely contain my excitement!
