OCD FOR OCR

This was my first time racing in Georgia and I was looking forward to it. I had this expectation that the weather in Georgia was going to be warm and I actually was concerned about it being too hot considering my last few races have all been in colder weather and my body has adjusted to the colder temperatures.  However, I was wrong and it turned out to be on the cold side both days and almost perfect racing temperatures for me.

• Registration and Festival:

Registration was fast both days and the volunteers did a great job keeping the lines moving. On Sunday, my registration line even had a volunteer checking the waivers and driver’s licenses on the line and letting the staff at the registration tables know that everything was checked and completed correctly.

The festival area was one of the larger ones and they took advantage of this by placing some of the vendor booths in more than one area. Due to the cold weather both days and the pouring rain on Sunday, most racers and spectators didn’t hang out that long. It was more a group of Spartan regulars that I have gotten to know well and enjoy seeing and spending time with.

• Pre-race MC:

The pre-race MC for the race weekend was Jean-Edward Demery and he was awesome both days. Even with it being on the cold side and pouring rain all day Sunday, he was high energy and in good spirits the entire weekend. I personally liked how he added some of his own unique spin to the Spartan pre-race canned speech and it was clear both days that racers enjoyed him and were sent out on the course inspired.

• The Course:

The Super course started out with a sprint and turned and went up a short hill and the first obstacle on the course was two Hurdles to hop over. The course continued on and up next was a nice and easy Hay bales obstacle to again hop up and over. A short distance ahead came the 7-foot wall to climb up and over and then up ahead was a second Hay bale obstacle to hurdle over. The course continued for a brief sprint and up next was an over the wall and then the under wall to first climb over and under and then a short distance ahead came the Monkey Bars obstacles.

At this point the course went a very short distance and came to the Thru obstacle and then just right ahead was the Atlas Carry. The course continued on back towards the festival area and made a left turn and looped around back in the other direction and up next was the Barbed-wire crawl, which was a nice and flat and easy crawl compared to some of the other Spartan races I have done this year. The course now went on a longer distance sprint and the next obstacle was another high wall to climb up and over. After another good distance sprint, it was time for the Bucket Brigade, which was flat and easy.  I have gotten so used to difficult versions of this obstacle that I was able to fill the bucket to the very top on both days and jog through the loop pretty easy which boosted my old man’s ego passing many racers both days.

The course continued on through some pretty muddy trails and made its way to Cliff Climb, which was a climb up a short (especially slippery and muddy on Sunday) hill with first ropes and then a cargo net for assistance. Up next came the Spearman spear throw and then a very short distance ahead was the mud mounds to go through and ended with the Dip Wall, which wasn’t popular and skipped by most of the racers (at least both days while I was near it). I personally love the dip wall and enjoyed going under the water and under the wall!

The course made its way over to near the festival area and up next was the Herc Hoist, which was on the lighter side this weekend. Just ahead was the Rope Climb and just after the rope came the Slip Wall to climb up with the assistance of a rope and back down the other side. Up next was the Sandbag carry, which went for a nice distance loop and even took racers through a section of running water streams that was deeper on Sunday than it had been on Saturday.

This was the point in the course where the Sprint and Super Split off so the next several obstacles spanned over about a four-mile distance of the race course.  After a long-distance sprint, the next obstacle was the Tyrolean Traverse and then came another long sprint and up next was the eight-foot wall to climb up and over. It was time again for a long sprint and the next two obstacles were the Z-Walls and Stairway to Sparta, which meant it was time for more sprinting before the course reached the Inverted Walls and then a second Barbed-wire crawl that this time went up a short hill and wasn’t so bad either.

At this point, the course merged back with what included the Sunday Sprint and If my memory serves me correctly (lol) it was around here they asked for the answer to the memory challenge that was asked many miles prior. The course made its way over to the festival area again and it was time for the home stretch and up next was the Plate Drag and just after that came the Multi-Rig and just after the Rig was the A-Frame Cargo Net to climb up and back down. The course then came to the finish which did not include a Fire Jump on either day, but for the Saturday Super, I got to jump over volunteers laying down on the ground in place of the fire!

• The Bling:

Not much to report here, the bling is the same it has been for all of 2016 and I am super excited that the new medals and, I assume, finisher shirts are just around the corner for 2017!

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

The course was very flat, but after all the races I have done this year and traveling, I was happy to not be on the side of a mountain for hours doing death marches. I really enjoyed how they used the venue and the trails, which made for an awesome and fun course both days. I would go back to this venue for another Spartan race in the future.

Both the Super and Sprint courses were great, the volunteers and staff did an awesome job all weekend.  The MC killed it both days, and the DJ played a great playlist of music all weekend long, so I am rating this event a 5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)