OCD FOR OCR

I have participated/run two previous City Challenge Races both at the same venue and was looking forward to running this Hoboken venue because it was held in an actual major city.

• Registration and Festival:

I was able to get through registration fast and easy. The festival area consisted of the registration tent, a small out of sponsors/vendors and a tent for the DJ/MC.

• Pre-race MC:

The pre-race MC really wasn’t much to mention and I typically remove this section from my City Challenge Race recaps, but I decided to keep it because the Mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer came and spoke prior to the elite wave. Considering that only a few days earlier Hoboken had a tragic train station accident, I was impressed Mayor Zimmer came to say a few kind words about the event and City Challenge Race.

• The Course:

The course started on the Hoboken Piers and primarily was run on Pier A and the city street that was just to the left of the piers. The course started with a sprint down a section of the pier that was extended out with an amazing view of NYC and made its way to the city street. The first obstacle up was on the street section and it was one nice and easy metal barricade to hop/hurdle over. After another short sprint the course came to the City Challenge Race signature obstacle, the dual Police cars to climb/crawl/hurdle over. The next two obstacles up were the 8-foot Ladder Wall climb and then the Bear Crawl.

At this point the course continued on the city streets, a short distance ahead was another 8-foot Ladder Wall Climb and just a short distance after that was Reverse/Inverted Wall climb. The course then pretty quickly turned right and back onto the pier and up next was a Rope Climb obstacle. Then just a short sprint ahead came a Kettle Bells Swing which always gives a nice burn to the shoulders. If memory serves me correctly, the course had another sprint on the on the piers and up next was a Sandbag Carry and followed up by a Monkey Bars Crossing and then I if I recall correctly, another 8-foot Ladder Wall Climb.

The course continued on the piers and made its way to Cinder-Block carry that went for a nice and short loop. We then went for a short sprint and came to a Heavy-Rope Jump Rope challenge, which I always suck at and pretty much do more of a Heavy-Rope Walk than jump. At this point the course tuned back to the city street and sprinted a short distance to another series of two easy metal barricades to hop/hurdle over and then shortly after taking a hard left turn back on the section of Pier the course started on and up next was one of the staple obstacles for City Challenge Races which consisted of a lot of hanging heavy=bag punching bags that racers have to ram/run through. Last, but not least, was a Cargo Net climb right before coming to the finish. Per my GPS watch. the course was about 2.7 miles in distance.

• The Bling:

The bling includes one of the best finisher medals in OCR and I don’t just say that because I helped design the Medal the last two years, but because the medal has multiple colors and a quote on the back. Also included is a nice dri-fit type material black finisher shirt.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

This was my third City Challenge Race in the last two years and I do enjoy them, but I really wish they would add some new obstacles and challenges as it’s pretty much been the exact same obstacles each time that include a lot of Ladder Wall climbs. I would like to see new obstacles and challenges added for 2017 which would help keep the race fresh and fun.

The volunteers as always, were great, the course was short, but that isn’t a bad thing, the NYC view was cloudy, but still awesome, and the bling is top-notch. The course was patrolled and kept secure by the Hoboken Police Department and I for one made sure to thank each and every one of them. The only downside of the event/course was the lack of new obstacles, so I am rating the event a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)