OCD FOR OCR

I was already going to be in Brooklyn for the CMC race, so I figured why not go do the R.O.C. Race Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge as well later in the day.

• Registration and Festival:

I arrived around 2:15 pm so it’s hard to know how good registration moved earlier in the day, but when I was on line to register they have a very sound system and the lines moved fast. The festival area was set up nicely, considering even later in the day for an obstacle course race they still had a massive number of racers and spectators at the venue.

• Pre-race MC:

I actually thought I would remove this portion of the recap, but I have to say pre-race MC Trevor Penick was awesome, his style is more fun than fire racers up, but he did a great job, was fun and racers clearly enjoyed him and responded well. To best describe him, he was MC meets wedding DJ and for this sort of family fun event, he was perfect.

• The Course:

Per my GPS watch, the course was almost exactly 5K, which on such a hot and humid day and set up in an open area with almost no cover from the sun was awesome. The course was almost completely run on black top pavement, but there really wasn’t much the course designer could have changed based on the venue. The course started out with a short sprint and up first was the Leap of Faith, which started with a climb up an inflatable obstacle cliff and then a 10-foot leap/jump onto an inflatable air cushion, this was a fun obstacle, but it did have a little delay, but that is always to be expected at the first obstacle on a course that has large waves and not to mention this was the most intimidating obstacle on the course.

The course continued and up next was The Sweeper, which is a really fun obstacle that you first climb up onto and then run across an inflated balance beam section while a massive arm swings/sweeps around and tries to knock you off the beam! My word of advice for successfully completing this one without having to crawl is do the lane to the far right, so the arm is sweeping at your back side so you can run away from it rather than at the blade. The next obstacle was Barrel Bounce, which is a fun, bouncy obstacle that requires racers to get some air and bounce over multiple barrel rows!

At this point, the course came to Cool Runnings, which started with racers grabbing inner tubes and then climbing up the inflatable and sliding down a fun and fast water slide. I laid stomach first on the tube and got a running start, so I had some good speed and slide all the way down and across the water at the end. After a short sprint, the next obstacle was The Drop which starts with a rope climb up an inflatable obstacle and then a fun slide on your stomach down racing friends and other racers. Up next was Aqua Drag, which starts with a running start and then sliding across your stomach on a wet inflated slip and slide.

The next obstacle was Jump Balls, which was massive big red inflated balls to jump across without falling off, and as R.O.C. Race says, the bigger the balls, the harder the falls, which is exactly what happened to me! I continued on and made my way to Sky High, which started with a climb up some inflatable sections and then a jump down them! Up next was the only non-infallible obstacle on the course, Badger Wall which is a wall climb. After a short distance, the next obstacle was Foam of Fury, which is another obstacle that racers getting a running start and slide across, unfortunately due to state regulations, they could not include foam on this obstacle. Next was a fun chance to get smashed by big red balls, Wrecking Balls, which has swinging big red balls and you have to run across and inflatable balance beam crossing and avoid me knocked by the big balls into the water, my suggestion for this one is again to pick the far right lanes to avoid running right at the big balls! The course continued on a short distance longer and made its way to the last obstacle of the day, The Hippo, which started with a climb up and then a fun and fast slide down and across the finish line!

• The Bling:

The bling included a very cool finisher medal and stylish white finisher shirt. The shirt could be upgraded to an even nicer blue dry-fit type finisher shirt.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I have said this before and I am sure I will say it again, for the sport/hobby of OCR to continue to grow and develop, it’s important that obstacle courses like R.O.C. Race continue to do well as they have an important place in the big picture as not all obstacle course races have to be really hard and taken so serous.  I am no longer shocked to see the massive turnout at these types of races as they attract more family and friends wanting to just have a good fun day with friends and family.

The course was fun and the obstacles were all cool and the majority of them included getting wet, which is always a plus for me, the bling is top-notch, the staff and volunteers were all polite and having a good time. I was going to deduct points due to the delay at several obstacles, but R.O.C. Race had a massive turnout and really couldn’t do much to control that. I am rating the race/event 5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written By: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)