Yesterday I did something that was new to me. Sunday, September 11th was the Gladiator run Combat edition, 11km, in Diest Belgium. The event featured a competition wave which was monitored by the Ocra Benelux. This competition wave also has a sweeper and I had the privilege to be that sweeper!
Every now and again we have to participate in the ‘fun’ events to find our inner child. We decided to head to the south shore a few hours from our home to 5K Foam Fest Canada to bring in the fun for the holiday weekend. While the US version of the event has come and gone the Canada series continues to hold strong. 5K Foam Fest was held at the St. Bruno Ski Resort in St. Bruno de Montarville, Quebec. This resort has easy access to the local highway and has an elevation of approx. 525 feet spread out over 50 acres.
The night prior to my second Iron Viking of 2016 was a typical pre-run night of mainly running up and bouncing off the walls. So the early drive was part of the first obstacle of the day. September 3rd 2016, Strong Viking Flanders Edition, Iron Viking #2. The toughest marathon, 42KM with 100+ obstacles. I knew the drill, I knew the pain. It had to be repeated.
Gladiator Rock'n Run is in the books, and as was the case last year, it was a really good time. I originally was just going to spectate and cheer on the masses and catch up with my OCR family. But when #MRG needed someone to step up and run the race, I said why not!! [...]
While the news of Battlefrog closing down its races midseason was a hard note to swallow, Bonefrog Challenge made its first, and hopefully not last appearance in GA this last weekend. Bonefrog found a great venue that has not been used by the OCR companies often, last big OCR event there was in 2011, when one of the big two made its first appearance in GA.
Coming into the Green Beret Challenge (GBC) the only thing I knew about it was that there were a lot of heavy carries. I read up on it a bit, and it sounded like a fun event where the owner, Mark Ballas, and his band of merry men would try to give you a taste of team building; Special Forces style. This particular race took part deep in the backwoods of south central Missouri just on the outskirts of Ozark mountain country. As with a lot of the OCR event’s these days the venue itself was one of the biggest obstacles for the organizers who ended up spending much more time than planned prepping the trails.
Tough Mudder made its annual return to the Kent family farm in Andover, New York. This year surely did not disappoint as the weather was perfect and all of the new obstacles for 2016 were on display. The weather for the weekend was mostly sunny with temperatures in the upper 80’s. The Army Golden Knights put on a parachuting display several times throughout the weekend. The Mudder Village was a celebratory scene with Shock Top beer all around.
I believe that any OCR held at the King’s Domain site just north of Cincinnati has the potential to be an epic event. It has everything an obstacle race should include; lots of woods, a mix of dirt and rocky trails, crazy steep inclines, and obstacles, oh so many awesome obstacles. BattleFrog utilized this course to put on what many believe, myself included, the toughest regular OCR ever put on in August of 2015.
Rugged Maniac took the path of some of the other big name events and used the International Horsepark in Conyers, GA for their location. Unlike the other events Rugged Maniac sticks to their distance. This was an actual 5K loaded with some really great obstacles. Besides having some really good obstacles, I will get to those in a minute. Rugged Maniac set up a great festival area with things for adults and kids; and adult kids. They even allow teams to set up tents to be able to hang out it. If you are planning on doing a Rugged Maniac, be smart and plan it as an all-day event. The party is worth it.
A few months after their first foray into Southern California, BattleFrog returned this weekend to put on a race at Lake Elsinore in Riverside County. I have been to several events now at the Lake Elsinore venue (Survivor Mud Run x2 and the Terrain Race earlier this year), and I make no excuse for the fact that it's one of my least favorite race venues - it's a very flat property with sandy trails and almost no shade, and in the last couple of years the drought has meant no access to the rapidly dwindling lake.
