OCD FOR OCR

If you live in Upstate New York (or much of the Northeast for that matter) and are serious about obstacle course racing, you undoubtedly know about Jarrett and Ali Newby’s Newbsanity permanent obstacle course and team or have been exposed to their influence on the sport. You may have noticed a good portion of the podium and medal ceremony inhabitants wearing a red tank top with their logo. It is no accident. This permanent obstacle course training facility located in the hills overlooking Binghamton, NY attracts and further hones some of the top talent in the region in our sport, through regular training sessions as well as various racing opportunities held on site throughout the year.

They also travel as a team to most of the major series events in this part of the country and really do make their mark. Among these events, Newbsanity offers the “Mud Gauntlet” each May which is their flagship race. Mud Gauntlet showcases the course and obstacles to all comers, ranging from the elite athletes (wearing the red Newbsanity tank tops) to beginners taking on their first OCR ever. No matter where you are on the spectrum, it’s a course that offers so much to its participants. In my opinion, if you are somewhat local and love OCR, but haven’t gotten to Newbsanity yet, you either are uninformed of its greatness or just not dealing with a full deck!

• Registration and Festival:

Registration was a snap. There were plenty of volunteers shepherding the packet pickup line, providing your bib and tickets for post-race food and swag. Many of them are likely affiliated with the Southern Tier Aids Program, the charity beneficiary of the race each year. The only qualm I really have with the festival area, is that I wish there were a car key check if not a bag check. I hide my key fob (a chain attached to your keys) under one of my car wheels, but it makes me somewhat nervous when I must do this at a race. I usually have a zipped pocket, when I do a road race, but I feel leery of having it on me during OCR races with water and mud that might damage my fob and render my car inaccessible or undriveable, or where there is greater danger of losing it on the course. 

Since it is a small race and the festival area is basically Newbsanity owner/director Jarrett Newby‘s driveway and front yard, you might not expect a lot of big sideshows happening. Compared to a big-name race, that is true, but the atmosphere is festive with music playing over a speaker, a food truck (racers get a free meal included with their race) and plenty of free snacks for the taking from the nearby Frito Lay factory which also sponsors the event. Monster energy drink was also on site providing free cans of their beverages. 

• Pre-race MC:

No sappy speech, no oath, no rituals (not that those are bad things). It was just Jarrett going over the rules and some of the key points on how to not get lost on course. Jarrett also pointed out that there would be a Burpee penalty for one of the obstacles and he also alluded to how some of the obstacles have different difficulty (some with up to three versions) levels/versions that they refer to The Risk and Reward paths or the Tried and True paths, based on what version you ultimately choose to negotiate.

Mind you, this was in the first heat, geared toward competitive runners, so he could have been more talkative for the latter open heats, but I have a feeling it was more or less the same. During the awards, Jarrett did acknowledge the volunteers and the Southern Tier Aids Program and there was more time to be sentimental, especially when awarding spirit awards to worthy recipients.

• The Course:

The course continues to grow and expand in number of obstacles and in the challenge, it provides over the years since I have been coming there for races and for training events. While it originally was a 5k course on the nose and it is still advertised as such, the addition of new obstacles has necessitated that the course uses up more of the Newby’s homestead and this year’s course clocked in at just over 5.6 km as per my Garmin Forerunner 35.

I am in no way unhappy about this, needless to say. Jarrett really tries to follow the trends in OCR and adds obstacles that will help regular attendees be acclimated to what they will face at other races elsewhere and it shows. You have plenty of the staple walls and other obstacles that might not be anything special by themselves, but there are plenty of those and coupled with the technical trail running that abounds here, through plenty of deep mud, running against the current in creeks you will find you stamina challenged as much as an otherwise short and flat course can and it doesn’t stop there.

There are plenty of obstacles you would never expect to see outside a big-name race series, such as the famous Indian Mud Run floating walls, a bona fide warped wall and the newest addition, Peg Leg. Peg Leg is a low rig that will surely test your muscular endurance, require you to strategize and also test your coordination at the same time. Fortunately for me, this was also one of the obstacles with three difficulty settings, so I was able to take the middle lane and get across without incurring the Burpee penalty. Because I did not finish on the hardest setting, I had to roll under a couple low hurdles that slowed me down a negligible amount, (I took less risk, so my reward was less and added the additional delay to the obstacles completion) if at all. 

• The Bling:

The finisher medal was just as solid, detailed and heavy as those I received for finishing Spartan Races as well as major road races in my area that attract several thousand participants. When I crossed the finish line and it as bestowed upon me, I couldn’t help but comment to Jarrett himself that the medal was the best one yet! The medal is provided by the Southern Tier Aids Program and they have continued to step up their bling game each and every year!

Then there is the ever-obligatory finisher shirt. The material doesn’t seem to lend itself to becoming a part of my regular gym wear, but in a unique move, participants are able to “order” a custom shirt with one of four designs to choose from and have their chosen shirt design screen printed on site.  Shirts were prepared with about a 5-minute turnaround, which is just enough time to grab your finisher meal (yes, your finisher meal, that’s not a typo!) from the food truck then come back and collect your new shirt. This is one of very few OCR’s I have done that include a free meal and It cannot ever go unmentioned, because that is just awesome! This is another awesome bling perk provided by the Southern Tier Aids Program!

• Charity:

Editor’s note: Mud Gauntlet has been taking place for several years and is a non-profit race to raise money for comprehensive HIV/AIDS services in the Southern Tier of New York. The event is put on by the amazing non-profit organization STAP (Southern Tier Aids Program) and just from this one event each year, they have raised a massive amount of money!

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

This is a chock-full course that was designed to train top OCR athletes to go out and crush major events and it definitely serves its original purpose. I know that I am gassed every time I run the loop/course for time more than I would expect to be for a Sub 4-mile course with only moderate elevation. It’s just a testament to the amount of care that has been put into the course design. With that said, the Newby’s have not forgotten the first-timer or the intermediate level OCR participant with the options of “risk and reward” and “tried and true.” Sometimes the difficulty options, even provide a strategic element, causing you to have to think about what you’re doing and not just do the hardest obstacle that your level of brawn can handle.

Honestly, I have to say, I get better at some aspect of OCR just about every time I visit. Whether I come to Newbsanity to participate in a race or to train at one of their weekly Wednesday night workout sessions, I am never disappointed. If this course were close enough to home that I could go there every week and justify the Newbsanity annual membership, I’d do it in a heartbeat. I, however, am fortunate to be close enough that I can get there on a semi-regular basis so I can learn, grow and develop relationships with a great group of people who share the passion for a sport I love. 

Are Five Stars all I can spare, because this race/event was easily 5 out of 5 stars!