Mount Snow, Vermont has been the location of Tough Mudder New England for the past several years and this year showcased perfect weather and a beautiful backdrop for the event. The setup for mudder village was at the base of the mountain and drew a large crowd for the weekend. Along the course, there were more than a handful of rainbow flags carried by mudders in support and recognition of the victims of the recent Orlando shooting.
For the past three years I have been trying to get to a Rugged Maniac and finally, this year, I was able to make that a reality. The race was held at the Chicopee Ski Resort in Kitchener, Ontario. This resort is steeped in history dating back to 1805. With multiple ski runs available, it provided racers with a variety of elevations that were well marked and evenly cleared.
Years ago, Warrior Dash was my first dip into OCR, I felt obliged to try it again four years and 92 races later. It was a super-hot day and in hindsight, perhaps, I should have postponed participating but as we continue to race our obsession sometimes takes over our better judgement. The race was held at the Mohawk Racetrack outside of Toronto, Canada and provided a flat, fast course.
I recently attended BattleFrog Kansas City and much to my surprise I saw a familiar face on the starting line. Team Cellucor Athlete Eric Jenkins the 100x+ Tough Mudder Century veteran was there standing next to me getting ready for his first BattleFrog. “Are you lost?” I said, “Shouldn’t you have a Tough Mudder this weekend?” He responded with a “No, I actually only have one Tough Mudder on my schedule this year....but I have seven BFX events.”
We decided to register for the XMan series and see what all the hype was about. We had heard that they provided a well-organized event with some creative obstacles to challenge us in the three key areas: strength, agility and speed. This would be their first time in Ontario and we had wanted to give it a try for quite some time.
Overall this is one of the best races around, aside from a great race, the proceeds go to providing clean drinking water to areas of the world that are in need. Aside from a few waits at obstacles, and with selling out 1,000 racers that can be expected, really can’t say anything negative about this race.
OCRTUBE continues to capture the action from Europe this spring with Arnel Banawa stopping at Nuclear Rush over the weekend for Nuclear Rush Weekend. The event hosted a 6-kilometer race with about 50 obstacles, a 12-Kilometer race with over 96 obstacles, and the Oblivion 48-Kilometer race with over 384 obstacles which was four laps on the 12K course. In addition to the adult races Nuclear also hosted an entertaining Kid's Race.
Arnel Banawa of OCRTUBE is spending the rest of the spring and early summer in Europe along the way capturing all the action that they European obstacle race series have to offer. Last weekend he was in Malmo, Sweden for the latest Toughest Race. Toughest is a European obstacle race company that has quickly become a European staple. Their obstacle Dragons Back was a favorite at the OCR World Championships in 2015.
BattleFrog continued their action packed 2016 with a regional qualifying event in Charlotte, North Carolina on April 23rd. On par with BattleFrog standard, they came through with a memorable experience for competitors of all levels.
The Nevarest Team were at The Jeep Warrior Race in force! The race was hosted in Krugersdorp, about an hour away from the capital, Pretoria. We were a large crowd from Nevarest Team with Greg Avierinos, Michael Joubert, Michelle Meyer, Joshua de Jager, Kirsten Avierinos, Ruth Avierinos and Calen Hastie all competing. Greg, Michael, and Michelle did the Black Ops Elite, 15 km with 32 obstacles. This is the most difficult category with the biggest prize.
