Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge obstacle races, mud run, and OCR information, distance, cost, dates, calendar, discounts, obstacles, reviews, and more

Designed for Non-Athletic People

PARKING = A
Parking was free and on-site. The walk to the race area was pretty brief.

FESTIVAL = D
There wasn’t really a festival. They had a Marine Corps tent, race merchandise for sale. The 2 best things was probably a foam area and the venue contains an arcade which is normally open (the arcade was not part of the race).

BAG CHECK = C
Bag check was large, secure, and they wanted you to pay for it.

STARTING LINE = F
You wait in line with thousands of people with waves every 30 minutes. The waves went off late (about 30 minutes late). The lines were filtered down into smaller groups by security that pulled out anyone who wasn’t scheduled to run in your wave (even though it was already time for the next wave). Then you get to wait in another area. When the time comes, they filter you down even more into mini-waves. So a 10:30 am wave (where you get in line about 10:15 am), has you wait until 11 am, then filters you down into another group (where you wait for about 10-15 more minutes), then filters you down into a smaller wave (of about 75 people) which releases runners about every 3 minutes. There was a start flag and a DJ but you couldn’t hear him until you reached the mini-wave.

COURSE LAYOUT = B
The terrain was completely flat and on pavement. The obstacle spacing was perfect. This was billed as a 5K (3.1 miles) but felt less than 2 miles. I mapped it after. It was about 2.3-2.8 miles.

OBSTACLES = B
Only 12 obstacles but they were easy and fun. There wasn’t a lot of backlog (at 1 obstacle, we waited 10 minutes while others had no wait). You spend about 10-30 seconds on each obstacle. 11 of the 12 obstacles were inflatable. Obstacles usually involved slip and slides, bounce castles, slides, dodging swinging objects, Tarzan swing, monkey bars, walls, balance beam.

Best Obstacle = Sweeper
Worst Obstacle = Moon Bounce

WATER STATIONS = B
There had to be at least 6 water stations (water only) on this course (and this wasn’t really 3.1 miles).

FINISH LINE = D
When I went down the final slide, I got out looking for the finish line. The staff directed me to go left but still no finish line. When I looked back, it was above the slide. As you slide down, you actually crossed the finish.

SHOWERING/CHANGING = F
No showering area (this course had no mud), no changing area. People were changing in the bathroom. There was an hour wait for the women’s bathroom.

SWAG = D
You got a t-shirt and it was given to you before the race. The shirts were different as were the bibs based on start times.

CONCLUSION:
This race is designed for non-athletic people. The fees nickel and dime you (registration fee, processing fee, insurance fee, packet pick up fee, etc.). Due to the out of shape competitors, it was billed as 5K but was clearly less. Tons of water stations were needed for the non-runners. But they still had the race sold out. I’ve never seen more people dressed up in costumes than this race and everyone was having a great time. If you are not a runner/athlete, then this race is for you. If you are a mud runner and want something different, try this race but only if you get a really good deal.

Lot's of Fun... but a little disorganized

I went with a group of friends, and we had a BLAST! The obstacles were fun....really fun! (More fun than challenging) it was just a silly
~ fun day with friends.

Only drawback was the long lines at some of the obstacles and not enough water and foam in the belly slide....I would DEFINITELY DO THIS ONE AGAIN! Just for the silly, fun aspect of it :)

OH! I forgot to mention ~ the Dr. Bonners Peppermint Foam post race 'shower' was a blast too!

Expensive and tedious

This was my 2nd obstacle race, I've also completed the Warrior Dash- which I loved. This on the other hand, not so much. It was incredibly disorganized. Our team registered for the race to start during Wave 2 at 12:30. We received an email several days before saying our time would be 2:00 PM. We arrived before 1 as it said to get there an hour early or risk not running. Okay, so we did, but when did we run? 2:30! We were waiting at the gates for almost an hour. There is an obnoxious hype man to entertain you while you wait forever and ever to participate in this challenge that you've paid too much money for. I feel like any event that needs a hype man, is clearly not any fun to begin with or you wouldn't be paying someone to amp people up, just saying. The time issue might be forgivable if the challenges were fun. They're not- well, they might be if they lasted longer than 2 second each, otherwise you're just running around in weird laps in a parking lot waiting to get wet again. I have to say it could have been fun if there would have been several changes- instead of a 'race' style set up, they should have just had water challenges and dry challenges and you should be able to complete them as many times as you wanted instead of a once and done. They should have used better quality materials for creating the obstacles and had at least a few paid staff members instead of a ton of confused volunteers. I'm saying this because at multiple obstacles there were EMT's taking people away on stretchers- I don't think that the obstacles were inherently dangerous but clearly the volunteers did not properly enforce the rules or they wouldn't have had so many issues. The water/dry challenges being mixed together also made all of the dry challenges sort of wet because people were soaked and then on the moon bounce, tarzan swing, etc. This could have also contributed to the injuries. Might I add, water slides are not 'obstacles' there is nothing to overcome but stairs- and there were 2 water slides. There was one challenge which a tiny bit of foam and water were supposed to make you slide across on your belly to the other side. There was no where near enough foam/water so you didn't slide, you had to just get up and walk through. Lame. You also couldn't try the obstacles more than once, so if you wanted to do the wrecking ball, jump balls or sweeper again- which you probably would if you fell the first time, or just because it's fun, you can't. This is why I don't like the 'race' set up, it is untimed so the time is irrelevant but all of the useless trekking around the parking lot when you would rather be doing obstacles. There is no award for anything other than largest team and that award is just some of your registration money back. If you could win an award for your time, I would understand the running part but it's just running around a parking lot, you're not even going anywhere, the space that the course is held on is not large, there are just cones set up to wrap you around. The event would have been a lot of fun if it was just obstacles and you could try them again, more like an amusement park with rides. Spending more than 2 seconds on each challenge would have also been fun. I paid much less for this even than most people, I had a living social deal, and had 10% off the deal so my $53 was much less than most people paying $80. I feel ripped off at $53, and we even picked up our packets the day before to avoid the $5 packet pick up fee. There were all sorts of other fees added in for non Living Social participants. Do not waste your money.

Great if you like waiting and added fees

So this is my third obstacle race -- I've done the Warrior Dash and Savage Race before. Before I get to my gripes (which are major), first let me say that the obstacles themselves were really fun. It's like a playground for adults, and they were a blast. With that said...

First, their prices are misleading. I bought a ticket for the advertised price of $61, only to have another $20 in fees (including a $5 on-site pick-up fee) tacked on afterwards. This race is NOT worth $81.

Second, you're actuall start time could vary by up to 25 minutes. Your start time consists of waves -- so for example the 2:00 start time would run until 2:25, with waves every five minutes -- so get their early!

Even with these waves dispersed, there was still a lot of waiting at obstacles. I feel like they over-booked the event, especially considering how much money people paid for this. And unlike other races, the t-shirt is of flimsy quality, and there are no medals given afterwards.

I'm really not that much of a griper, but the organization of it all and the added fees rubbed me the wrong way. If it weren't so expensive, this would be a great entry race into the world of "mud running", but as it is I won't be attending anymore.

I'm really not that much of a griper

This is a must do event,if you haven't done it I recommend it 100% percent.If you want have fun,do obstacle,get wet,do it with someone or bye yourself no matter what you will enjoy it.When I did this race I didn't think I was going to have fun,but I did.This course has little bet of everything.If you have seen wipe out that is included.You will have fun,your family and friends will enjoy seeing you.

Loved it!

I had a wonderful time at this race. Water would have been nice at the beginning of the race, but there was plenty set up throughout it. I didn't run into many lines but when I did, I enjoyed the quick break. My husband and son came to watch and enjoyed themselves while I ran. I will be doing this one again if it returns!

Would not do again

Pros:
- the water-related obstacles were fun, especially the slides
- race started on time; small waves, and good crowd energizing at the beginning
- music was fun

Cons:
- no water near the start of the race (and it was HOT)
- safety was lacking at some obstacles (tarzan swing ropes were short and you were pushed to go through fast because of the bottleneck; I saw several people with minor injuries from this obstacle)
- lines formed at several obstacles; insufficient obstacle lanes for number of participants
- no sponsors; nothing but water offered at the end of the race; vendors sold beer and soda and fried stuff
- tech t-shirts uncomfortable - neck too small
- no representation of charity group; proceeds supposedly went to disabled athletes, but there was no information on the organization, no booth or spokesperson or participation from that group