OCD FOR OCR

I recall hearing about an event in Ohio, called “Indian Mud Run” a few years ago. By then, I was an experienced obstacle course racer who had enjoyed nearly fifty races. Judging from the name and knowing it was a once a year standalone event, I assumed it was nothing I needed to drive 7 hours to attend. The term “Mud Run” tends to conjure images of milquetoast low crawls, short walls with soccer moms flexing for photos on top, no timing or competitive infrastructure provided and just a good time for charity. The “Indian head” logo similarly reminded me of my high school’s hokey “Warrior” mascot that has since gone by the wayside.

Then Sandy kept putting a bug in my ear about paying Hubie Cushman and his marvelous brainchild a visit. Last year wasn’t in the cards for me, but I finally got an open mind and a free weekend to make the trip and let me just say, all serious OCR enthusiasts must go at least once!

• Registration and Festival:

There was plenty of parking at the bottom of the park venue. Preferred parking close to the festival was available, but I had no problem with the general parking. It still wasn’t really off site. Shuttle vans were provided, likely because you had to go up a decent hill road to get to the festival/registration/start line. I might have just hoofed it up had the shuttle not been right there for me. When I left for the day, I did walk as there was a long wait for the shuttle back and I felt like the downhill walk was a good cool down from the race anyhow.

Registration lines weren’t bad at all. A little confusion at front when I walked past what I thought were same day registration forms but were in fact the obligatory waivers to be signed by all participants. I enjoyed filling it out, as it gave me a chance to cheerfully “blame” Sandy for getting me into this when they asked, “How did you hear about us?” on the form.

For an independent, nonprofit race there was a lot to be offered in the festival, in terms of merchandise. Among the wares for sale were the Indian head holds from Indian Valley (a fun and challenging rig obstacle found later in the course). I wish I had a place to hang them so I could practice for next year, as well as the upcoming NorAm Championships where I will likely face a similar obstacle.

The finisher beer was provided by a local brewery (Wooley Pig Brewer) that offered a couple tasty choices.  There was one main food provider from what I saw. Lines seemed long and slow for each, which I think is a byproduct of the increased buzz and sharply increasing attendance numbers for this unique event. I think the time might be coming where IMR can accommodate an even bigger festival area and more vendors to ease the influx of new fans. 

• Pre-race MC:

I had heard there was a “special guest” emcee. I had my hunches and I was happily right, It was none other than the legendary Dewayne “Coach Pain” Montgomery, whose distinct charisma and voice boomed from the start line throughout the festival area. 

Those of you who are veterans of many race series will not need to read any further to know what I have to say, but if you haven’t experienced a pep talk from Coach Pain, be advised he is the real deal.  Nothing he does is scripted or perfunctory. No two pre-race speeches were the same over the three or four heats (I overheard while I warmed up and awaited my turn to embark on the course). And his emcee duties didn’t stop him from embracing his many fans throughout the festival area with his electric personality, never appearing too tired or busy for a photo op.   

• The Course:

The main course is billed at 10 km (6.2 mi.) but my Garmin clocked in at about 7.2 miles. Despite what seems like a moderate distance for a race, it nevertheless packed in over 60 unique obstacles. If this sounds insane to you as a seasoned OCR athlete, trust me it is! Just for a frame of reference, a certain major race series (not naming names, LOL) has a mid-distance race that is about a mile or two longer yet typically gives you about 25 obstacles over the distance. To get anywhere near these many obstacles with them, you have to opt for their 30-mile distance, which then achieves this obstacle count largely by running their loop of typically 30ish obstacles twice.  But Indian Mud Run gives its participants 70 UNIQUE obstacles to enjoy. 

Some are your old standards, such as walls, A-frame cargo nets and the like. There were a couple of carry obstacles, one was a sandbag using the same Wreck Bags used at the NorAm and World Championships, but many of the obstacles are among the most challenging and unique you will see in North America, the likes of which you would likely only encounter at the NorAm Championships. This includes the aforementioned, “Indian Valley” as well as the Floating Walls, which are a signature of Indian Mud Run (created by Hubie Cushman).

Another unique set of obstacles, was a gauntlet in a pond where you go down a water-slide (the smaller of two in the race, (there was a huge fast one about a mile beforehand!) then a swim to a slip wall which you must get onto while treading water (Walter’s Wall, created by our editor). Once you got to the top, it was a fun jump back into the water, followed by more swimming over to a floating in the water, cargo net to climb up and climb back down or jump back into the water before a short swim to shore. This portion of the course looked easy on paper but sucked a ton of energy out of me when I did it.

The terrain was heavy duty as well. Several obstacles were incorporated into the bluffs on the course, where you felt like your strength and skill were crucial to avoid injury much less obstacle success. A lot of parts of the trails were highly technical and there were surprises all along the way, including a portion submerged in water with monkey bars, which I later learned was not planned but an after effect of recent flooding in the area. I think mother nature wanted to add her little additions to the course to reward Hubie and his amazing staff for such an amazing course.

Obstacle completion is enforced in the competitive heats with a band system. However, unlike most band system races where you cannot fail or give up on any obstacle to be eligible to place, you are allowed up to 5 failures, but with 70 obstacles, of which at least 15 to 20 are real possibilities for most racers to fail, you will probably need your 5 “get out of jail free cards”, especially toward the last mile and final set of 10 obstacles when your body and grip will just not be the same. I’ve never been so sore in my upper body the day after a race. Even when I went back to CrossFit the Monday after, I still felt like my pull-ups were a bit “off.”

• The Bling:

Racers received a comfortable finisher’s shirt with a 50/50 blend (I worked out in it the Monday after and it felt great) the shirt also lists the top finishers in each division from the prior year, giving athletes more incentive to perform their best. The finisher medal looks familiar to those of you who have participated in OCR Worlds in 2017, except you have an Indian head where the spinning maple leaf was. However, the Indian head appears to not spin as freely and fortunately appears to be sturdier than the maple leaf had been in Canada two years ago. The medal also may be the only one in the business that is made in the USA!

• Editors comments:

No one has more respect for Hubie than I do, but it would be a crime if we didn’t mention the other amazing people that help(ed) make IMR possible. Keep in mind, they do not have the budget of the big-box race series, yet they put on a race and product that is second to none throughout the entire OCR world. Each and every year, not only does the race course continue to get better, but so has all the other aspects of putting on a great event (festival, MC, bling, registration, etc). 

Amy Taylor, Christina Humphreys and Alyssa (Hubie’s amazing daughter) are responsible for the festival area, timing, merchandise, volunteers and photos. Gabe Whittington assisting Hubie with course set up and Nathan Thiel for nailing the course markings. Many other amazing people helped, but the above mentioned were the main crew.

• Next years registration is alive:

IMR already has next years registration up and running (it’s always the first weekend after Father’s Day). If you can afford it, click here and register ASAP and mark it down on your calendar! In addition, we would love to have all of you on our team next year, so please consider joining team: “OCD for OCR” during the registration process! 

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I’ve run and finished over 100 OCR’s, ranging from a two-mile charity mud run, right up to 30 plus miles Spartan Ultras. Sometimes I walk the course and enjoy the views, the social aspect of the sport and play on the obstacles to my content. Other times, I’m pushing for my best time and it’s all-out war against a rival, even if it makes me puke. But nothing has come to the same level of mental and/or physical challenge that IMR did, especially when it came to the obstacles.

The terrain was nothing to be trifled with either, If you consider yourself an OCR enthusiast, a serious athlete in the sport or anything more than a beginner or casual participant, you owe it to yourself to make the trek to central Ohio next June. Hubie and company were wonderful hosts and show an unparalleled passion to their craft. 

I give IMR six out of five stars without hesitation!

Article Written by: Brian Kellogg, OCR Aficionado