OCD FOR OCR

This was OCR # 2 of 3 on the day and my first-time racing at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

• Registration and Festival:

I arrived later in the afternoon, so registration was light, but it did move nice and fast. With all the stadium series races, the festival areas are set up differently and it’s not the same as the outdoor races/venues. The positive part about stadium races are spectators and racers can hang out in the seats and just enjoy soaking in the stadium and atmosphere.

• Pre-Race MC:

The MC wasn’t bad, the fast pace used to release racers onto the course doesn’t allow for him to say much, so he kept it short and simple, but was high energy the whole time.

• The Course:

The course wasn’t much different than the other stadium races, it started in a staging area and a limited number of racers were released on the course every few minutes. The course was under 3-miles total in distance and it took racers up and down the stadium seating areas many times while also exiting using the outer sections for walking and traveling around all levels of the stadium. We also had a chance to enter one of the team locker rooms and do push-ups on the nice floors.

I have done Spartan races in Citi Field (NY Mets), Fenway (Boston Red Sox’s), and now Citizens Bank Park the home of the Philadelphia Phillies and I even though I am a diehard Mets fan, I think the best and coolest experience of the three is by far Fenway. With that said, it was still fun to run around a stadium I have never visited and get to run on the baseball field. I am not really a huge fan of the stadium races because after a while it just all looks the same to me, but I do love the shorter distances and chances to visit new places.

This stadium race wasn’t much different than the others, it included many of the standard Sprint obstacles and several obstacles unique to the stadium series. The course included several carry obstacles, like the sandbag, water jug and Atlas carries which were all placed in good spots throughout the course. The challenges/obstacles unique to the stadium races included a heavy rope jump rope, a medicine ball slams, box jumps, and the Rolling Epic, which is a short distance crawl with your feet on a little rolling device.

Some of the other obstacles on the course included: Z-Walls, Rope Climb, Cargo Net, the typical various height walls, the always fun Multi-Rig, a heavy hanging bag obstacle called Gladiator to ram/run through, the spear toss, the Herc hoist, and some hurdles set up on the baseball field not that far from the finish!

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I enjoyed the course and loved being able to look out over the city and see other stadiums, which also helped me not get bored with the endless sets of stairs to go both up and down (lol). As always, the majority of the volunteers & staff were awesome and worked hard the entire time. I am rating this event 4.9 out of stars. I won’t be going to Fenway this year, so this was my last Spartan stadium race of the year. I hope to do a few more next year and hopefully visit a new stadium. I didn’t get to stay long after finishing this race, because I had to jump back in the car and hustle to NJ to make the last wave of the day at the Tri-State NJ Tough Mudder (full course).

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)