In the last couple of years, the rise of the reality competition show has inched closer and closer to the obstacle racing world. The new show American Grit premieres soon on Fox. The Spartan Race - Ultimate Team Challenge premieres in June on NBC. Now a new show from the pioneer reality show production company Bunim/Murray Productions - The Selection- is casting.
When you boil it down, what we’re discussing is a matter of semantics. Is it a sport? Yes, it is. At least…it is in the most common understanding of the word. Let me elaborate…
Thick, soupy mud crawls under barbed wire were spread out on several parts of the course; just when you got the mud out of... wherever, you were crawling or swimming in the mud again. Once again, good show Rugged Maniac, there were a lot of water pits dug (and some were lined with plastic too) all over the damn course. Lots? Yes. Gratuitous use of mud pits in lieu of "real" obstacles? No.
This week’s interviewee is one of our community’s greatest treasures. If you know him, you now that just being around him makes everything more fun. If you just know him through social media, you have without a question enjoyed his brash, humorous and dead honest responses to people when faced with negativity, and his own positive outlook on the state of our sport in general.
After nearly an entire community of athletes traded their muddy shoes in for colored eggs last week, OCR came back all fired up. Columbia and Belgium and gave it everything they had with Desafio de Guerreros Warrior Challenge and Run for our Lives, respectively, while Spartan Race went down under and made Australia even more rugged and impressive than it already was.
Tyler Markley if this week's featured athlete on Faces at the Races. From Markley, OCR was initially just a "fit goal" that I set to keep motivated when I first began training. After my first race (Savage Pro), I realized that I had stumbled upon something that I not only enjoyed but also something that I was quite good at.
Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge The highly anticipated NBC competition series "Spartan Ultimate Team Challenge" officially has an airdate. Be sure to set your DVR's for June 13 at 10pm eastern daylight time. The obstacle racing team competition show based on the Spartan Race Series will follow up the popular "American Ninja Warrior" on June 13 and 20 then shift to a Thursday 9:00pm spot.
Recently, I was asked why I didn't participate in the SoCal Warrior Dash a couple of weeks ago as I have for the past consecutive years. My response was that of silence. I shrugged my shoulders and carried on with my day. The truth is I know why I didn't participate, but I couldn't bring myself to admit the reason until now. As an Obstacle Course Racer Enthusiasts, I was baffled by my reasoning. Have I outgrown Warrior Dash? Am I an OCR snob? Even more disturbing is the realization that more and more traditional Mud Runs are becoming in Disconnect from The OCR Community.
In some areas, the wall is beautiful; the stones you walk on and virtually every surface you touch is made out of bricks that were fired in a kiln. The structural ones were quarried, and the base is basically mounds of packed earth, but the wall becomes a sculpture on the surface. In other areas, the Great Wall is nothing more than a pile of rubble. Some parts have completely disintegrated and you'd never even know the wall was there.
TPK was a multi-stage Adventure Race with elements from Obstacle Races and the Death Race, held about an hour east of Phoenix. Most racers competed in two-person teams (mandatory male/female) but there were individual competitors as well. Tasks ranged from running to rock climbing and rappelling, to heavy rucking, orienteering, balance, grit, strength, and critical thinking. The terrain was a factor as well, the trails had solid elevation change and were pretty rocky.
