OCD FOR OCR

For the second year in a row, I raced the Hoboken, NJ City Challenge Race and this also was the front end of three obstacle course race day that spanned back and forth from NJ to PA and back to NJ to finish the day running the Tri-State New Jersey Tough Mudder full course.

• Registration and Festival:

Pre-packet pick-up/registration was offered the night before so that helped speed up registration on race day morning. From what I could see (while I was at the venue), registration appeared to move smoothly. The festival area was in a tight area and for this event with the turnout they had, it worked well.

• Pre-race MC: 

The pre-race MC was Justin T. Manning who I have seen at many racers, but this was the first time I got to see him as a master of ceremonies. He clearly has his own style and is high energy the entire time and even created a catchy chant that he has racers and spectators take part in. He reminded me of a boxer ring announcer at times, which for City Challenge worked well.

• The Course:

According to my GPS, the course was 3.15 miles and it started at pier A in Hoboken and looped around a several city blocks on the waterfront and another pier which was just about the half-way point. The course started out with a short sprint and the first obstacle was a waste high barricade to hurdle/hop over. The course included at least three if not four 8-foot walls to climb up and over, the City Challenge signature obstacle, Police/Taxi cars to slide/jump over, a new for 2017 balance beam obstacle (which I always struggle with), an inverted ladder wall, a cinder block carry that was a nice and short loop and just near the half-way point on the second pier was a rope climb.

Other obstacles on the course included a City Challenge Rig, a 30-feet high cargo net climb, a short crawl, a sand-bag carry, the Stacy Williams carry, which has two racers taking turns carrying each other for a short distance, a kettle bell swing, and near the end of the course, hanging CKO heavy punching/kick boxing bags to run/ram through.

The course for the most part was not much different from the year before, they added the above-mentioned balance beam obstacle and the high walls were modified from ladder walls to complete walls, making them a much harder challenge to climb up and over. I also do not recall having the Stacy Williams carry previously, so that is new as well.

Races like City Challenge that are set up on city streets and require the cities/towns to shut down and/or block access to public roads face many more challenges than races using a private venue or private property of land. They are limited in the areas they can utilize and the biggest obstacle they must overcome is time constraints, they typically are not provided days to set up the course and obstacles, but rather hours and in this scenario with the Hoboken waterfront, they couldn’t set up some of the obstacles until the very early AM just hours prior to the race. This limits some of the obstacles and course design they can use.

• The Bling:

One of the reasons I keep coming back and doing more City Challenge races is the finisher medal, not only have I had input in designing several of the medals, but they always provide a top-shelf medal with several colors that is a nice size. This year’s medal is a spinner medal, which is nice, but I will warn that you handle it with care, because spinner medals can and will break easily! The shirt as always is a nice dry-fit type shirt as well.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

The course was fun and it’s always awesome to run a race with the NYC view next to you and in your race photos. I understand the challenges that City Challenge faces when setting up many of its courses, but I said it last year and am saying again this year, it’s time for them to build/design some new obstacles for 2018 and keep the course fresh.

Based on the MC, the course, the as always, amazing group of staff & volunteers, and the bling, I am rating this one 4.8 out of 5 stars. Not everyone wants to get muddy or wet at obstacle course races so a race like City Challenge clearly has a place in this business/hobby/sport.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)