OCR News Weekly

This week, Spartan Race Kicks off U.S. Championship Series and makes volunteer policy changes, DICK’S Sporting Goods Enters the OCR Apparel Game, Tough Mudder adds Team Relay to World's Toughest Mudder, and finally, MuckFest MS announces new National Sponsor.

Welcome to OCR News Weekly

This week, Spartan Race Kicks off U.S. Championship Series and makes volunteer policy changes, DICK’S Sporting Goods Enters the OCR Apparel Game, Tough Mudder adds Team Relay to World's Toughest Mudder, and finally, MuckFest MS announces new National Sponsor.

Today is Thursday, April 20, 2017 – I’m Margaret Schlachter, and this is OCR News Weekly brought to you by Mud Run Guide.

Spartan Race

This weekend Spartan Race kicks off their U.S. Championship series outside of Seattle, Washington. The U.S. Championship Series is part of the road to the Reebok Spartan Race World Championships in Lake Tahoe, California this fall. This year in addition to filmed for NBC Sports, Spartan Race will be hosting live coverage of the event on their Facebook, YouTube, and Spartan.com website during the race Saturday.

Top athletes in obstacle racing will be racing for glory this weekend as many, at least in the Spartan circuit, will be kicking off their competitive season outside of Seattle. All eyes will be on Hobie Call who recently officially joined the Spartan Race Pro-Team and proclaimed in a recent interview with Mud Run Guide that he intends to win all the U.S. Championship races this year. On the women’s side, anything could happen with new athletes joining the pro-team and a strong women’s field this year. Below are all the details regarding the first stop of the Spartan Race U.S. Championships.

Spartan Race also made news today with the announcement of a shift in volunteer policy.

The announcement came from a Spartan Race staff member on social media this week and caught fire among the largest community groups online. The announcement was a shift in policy for volunteers. Historically, volunteers have signed up for a shift and in return received a free race entry to be used is all heats. Over time the policies have shifted as the company has grown.  The new policy states that volunteering wanting to use their free race for volunteering will be limited to afternoon heats if used at a later date. For those wanting an earlier start time, they can pay a small upgrade fee. From Spartan:

The new policy is a result of a combination of factors including the sport’s growth and high-demand for morning races, people selling their codes and racers registering for morning heats and not showing up – so we needed to adapt to accommodate as many racers that would like to compete as possible. Volunteers are a critical part of Spartan’s success, and we are thankful for all of their hard work.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Launches Second Skin Compression Gear

DICK'S Sporting Goods is getting into the obstacle racing game with new compression brand Second Skin. Second Skin designed for high-intensity athletes including obstacle course racer. The brand will be exclusively available at online and in-store at DICK'S Sporting Goods. Additionally, Hunter McIntyre and Corinna Coffin have signed on as an athlete with Second Skin to promote this new line of gear.

“We saw an opportunity to better serve our customers by designing and building products for a specific type of athlete who participates in sports with unique demands like obstacle course racing and functional fitness and puts incredible pressure on his or her body to perform at its peak,” said Ryan Eckel, Vice President of Brand at DICK’S Sporting Goods. “We created Second Skin to provide these athletes with gear constructed to support them every step of the way.”

Tough Mudder

Tough Mudder announced yesterday some new additions and changes for the 2017 World’s Toughest Mudder. The latest announcement includes an additional 4-person relay option, and extended prize pursing for teams. Wesley Kerr, today on Mud Run Guide, wrote a detailed breakdown of the new announcement and what to expect.

MUCKFEST MS

MuckFest MS announced a new national sponsor for 2017 with AbbVie signing onto the national mud run series. AbbVie is a global, research-based biopharmaceutical company formed in 2013 following separation from Abbott Laboratories. The company’s mission is to use its expertise, dedicated people and unique approach to innovation to develop and market advanced therapies that address some of the world’s most complex and serious diseases. MuckFest MS helps support the strive to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis and works directly with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

RESULTS

Toughest Series

Toughest Series headed to Amsterdam for the first time this past weekend. With the Albons sweeping top spot on the podium. Here is your podium from Toughest…

Warrior Dash

Warrior Dash headed to Georgia for the weekend. Top Results

Rugged Maniac

Rugged Maniac was in Arizona

Green Beret Challenge

Green Beret Challenge headed to Georgia to put on their Urban Operators Course. Below are the results. 

This weekend, as we said at the top of the podcast Spartan Race heads to Washington State for the first U.S. Championship Series Race, Rugged Maniac is in Florida, Warrior Dash heads to Tennessee, City Challenge Obstacle Race heads to New Jersey, and Timber Challenge is in Kansas.

Outside the US, – In the UK we have PUKKA Races heads to Beds and Warrior Adrenaline Race in Woodhall Park. Ireland hosts Run Mucker Run, and finally, Nordic Race heads to Denmark to name just a few of the events this weekend around the world.

For all the race listings this weekend check out the race calendar on Mud Run Guide.

Those are your headlines this week from around the obstacle racing world.

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