The Winter Warrior XRunner in Derbyshire, England was my first of two obstacle course races in the UK. I arrived prepped and ready to run the 10K obstacle race. The first thing that caught my attention was the amount of participants that were at this race, it was a very cold Saturday and the day before one of the premier OCR’s in the entire world in Tough Guy, yet Xrunner had a turnout of over three thousand racers.
Since the beginning of obstacle racing has been more like a chain of islands than a unified sport, each company working independently trying to grab as much of the market as possible. This side of our sport has been chronicled over and over again but this article is not about the infighting or which company is trying to outdo another. This article looks at what is happening at the grassroots level of the sport...
The early buzz may be about the new obstacles (I promise, the details are coming soon), but the real changes on the course alter the dynamic of what it takes to become a Tough Mudder: Teamwork. Many of the new or upgraded obstacles require teamwork to get over, and approximately half of the 2015 Tough Mudder course cannot be completed alone. Remember the days when you ran up Everest solo? No more. Climbing out of Mud Mile pits by yourself? Nope. Hold Your Wood? Bring a team for these telephone poles. "We didn't set out to make it tougher, we decided to deliver new obstacles and challenged for Mudders to overcome - together."
Calling all Texans! Atlas Race just announced it's new Heart of Texas ThrowDown a three race series with some big prizes and awards at all levels.
Find out who won and who fell short on the initial Mud Run Guide "Best of OCR" for 2014. With over 60,000 votes cast the races were often very close and our community proved they are the strongest in sports.
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.
The final stop on the Spartan Race Triple Crown took place outside of Dallas Texas. This year's race came earlier than last year’s “Winter Wonderland” which was considered by many to be the coldest Spartan of 2013. Spartan split the races up by staging the 13.2 mile Beast on Saturday and the 4.8 mile Sprint on Sunday. Many came out to try to claim a piece of the Triple Crown prizes.
Schlachter, commonly referred to as "the most connected person in the sport of OCR" or "center of the OCR universe" takes on the role of Supreme Editor-in-Chief of Mud Run Guide (mudrunguide.com) on top of her duties as host & producer of Obstacle and Adventure Weekly, co-host on OCR Warrior, founder of Dirt in Your Skirt, subject matter expert & columnist for obstacleracing.About.com, and writer for Mud & Obstacle Magazine.
We ran slow. We took a lot of time. We were afraid that we’d miss the cutoff and be removed from the course, but the folks from Tough Mudder assured us that they were there with us until the triumphant end. As we worked our way toward Electroshock Therapy we were dumbfounded to see a vast array of Staff people, volunteers, and fellow racers who hung around and waited on us so that they could cheer us on and encourage us as we crossed that Finish Line. It was a beautiful and moving experience.
In early 2013 I was driving by a local farm that was hosting something called the Rugged Maniac. I didn't really have a clue what this was at the time but the billboard looked cool and I wanted to find out more.
