Going into Tough Mudder Whistler I was scared. This was the biggest event I was going to take on, and of course you always hear horror stories and those that freak out when you mention its name. I had only done a few smaller races (Spartan Sprint and the Dirty Dash), and I had no idea what to expect.
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.
What better place to hold a Spartan race than in the gorgeous mountains of Breckenridge, CO? The Beaver Run Lodge was the host site of this Beast and Sprint weekend. With elevation reaching 11, 238 ft. and temperatures that vary by 30 degrees from night to day, runners were challenged not only by the course, but by Mother Nature. T
I anxiously jump out of bed early and check to see what the weather has in store for us; this is one of the first challenges when racing outdoors in a Canadian climate. The ideal weather is one that is not too cool so we can reduce our layers and not too hot so we can push through without the worry of dehydration. We were in luck, warm and overcast with the risk of showers later in the evening. We loaded the car and headed off to Commando Paintball in Ottawa.
The Mogollon Monster Mudder a 5k race with over 30+ man-made and natural obstacles returns to town of Payson, Arizona at the rodeo grounds for another great race for a third year in a row. Last year in only their second year they had 345 participants. This year was proof this race is definitely growing in the OCR Arizona community.
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.
Since Warrior Dash runs races about every other weekend, I hold them to a higher standard. As an established race series with so many events nationwide, Warrior Dash should have most of their problems fixed through trial and error. Chances are if you are reading this, you have done at least one Warrior Dash before, so I will spare some of the details normally associated with a race review instead focusing on aspects specific to the Illinois race, planned for both Saturday and Sunday. Of note, I ran in the competitive wave, so my comments reflect the experience around the first half of Saturday’s race.
Mad River Mountain is probably one of the few locations in the country where you can run up ski slopes, through the woods, and on rolling hills in the middle of a cornfield all while running a route just over 10km. That alone was going to make the venue worth the cost of registration but the way Savage Race utilized the area made it an event to remember. If anyone was weary of the series’ recent spotlight, being considered as a one of the up-and-coming contenders to the big three of Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, and Tough Mudder, all doubts should now be shattered.
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.
When deciding my 2015 schedule, I researched races in England, Canada, and America and set a goal of trying to do almost every OCR race that looked amazing. When I researched the Xman Race and watched the videos I found, I could tell it was a great race and I decided right away I wanted to do an Xman Race. I drove from New York to Canada on Friday night.
