The course had your typical Sprint obstacles: monkey bars, Herculean hoist, rope climb, water jug carry, cargo net climb, sandbag carry, spear throw, a new version of the traverse wall, and the atlas stone carry. It also included some obstacles I think are unique to the stadium Sprints, such as a heavy rope jump rope, slam balls, pushups (in the visitors' locker room), box jumps, and a hanging punching bags obstacle.
Taking a page from the 80’s, former American Gladiators star; Dan “NITRO” Clark has created a race series! I can still remember as a kid watching these gladiators taking on the everyday Joe in a series of challenges. Looking back on it, I can now see the clear correlation between what those competitors encountered back then to what we were about to experience in Dan’s vision.
The course offered two options, a 3.5 mile course and a 1.5 mile course. I decided to run the 3.5 mile version. I was impressed to see how many of the families opted to take the 3.5 mile version with younger children and it was funny to watch the parents trying to keep up with the little kids that were running full speed and not slowing down.
Thank you Sir, may I have another? This statement referring to the downed trees crossing the course, and I mean LOTS of downed trees. Swampfoot 4 mile is an event held on a full-time farm, with most of the obstacles remaining on the grounds throughout the year.
The third annual “Panic in the Dark” run was held recently in Lowell, MA. The “zombie” obstacle course race is produced by SmithFest Events, a local company known for its creative and original events. Recently named as one of the eight best Halloween races in the country by Runners World, Panic in the Dark far exceeded expectations last year and we were excited to see what awaited us in the darkened woods!
The course started out with trail running for what seemed to be about a mile and I then came to the first obstacle of the course, Shriveled Richard. This was my second Savage Race and I recalled the Pennsylvania race also started with this same obstacle, but that was in June on a very nice sunny day and this time it was cold!
But still how many of these obstacles are truly unique? Sometimes it feels like there aren't any other obstacles than what we already see. However, at the recent OCR World Championships speaking with racers from around the globe we have only hit the tip of the obstacle iceberg.
The course was both amazing and brutal and beat me up but I was glad I went. It’s not often that I have completed a course and felt like I did after Shale Hill, if you can dominate the Shale Hill course, then you can probably conquer almost any other OCR course in America! The course is the best I have run to date.
The hype and buzz within the World’s Toughest Community (WTM) has been crazy since the date and location was announced back in May. Tough Mudder decided with its fourth WTM to really change things up and step away from the home venue of Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey, and take the show out to Las Vegas. I can say I am glad I raced last year so that I did one at Raceway, but I am very happy for a change of venue. While no two events are the same, even if at the same location, the change will keep everyone guessing. Personally I think this change will have an impact on the final standings, while it will likely still be the same few ultra-elites in the top 10, I think we may see a new winner for both the male and female.
OCR Sandy continues his 2014 OCR journey with another double race weekend. I could tell right away, the day was going to be much sunnier and hotter than the previous day in Ohio at OCR World Championships and I knew hydration would be a key for this race. I opted to wear my CamelBak hydration backpack and carried extra GU gels with me. I started the last wave of the day.
