OCD FOR OCR

This was the back-end of one of my favorite race weekends and my last #OCRPassport race weekend scheduled for 2016 so I was excited to be back at the New England Rugged Maniac for the second race year in a row.

• Registration and Festival:

Rugged Maniac had lots of registration lines and they all moved fast and easy. The festival area was set up well and much like it was last year with everything easy to find and lots of fun vendors. I like how Rugged Maniac doesn’t try to re-create the wheel and pretty much sticks with the same tried and true set up at each venue.

• Pre-race MC:

The pre-race MC Christopher Calandro did a great job all day and was high energy and fun from start to finish. I can tell you because I did four laps and had a lot of opportunity to see him hard at work. His style is more fun and getting people laughing, but for a race like Rugged Maniac that is perfect.

• The Course:

The course was pretty much designed the exact same as last year, but when races use a motorcycle dirt bike track its limited in ways they can design the course. The course started out with a sprint away from the festival area and the first obstacle up was an ankle-deep water crossing. The next obstacle was a motocross dirt bike themed obstacle and was two dirt mounds to climb up and back down. After a brief trail run that looped around and went up one of the more aggressive climbs on the course came to the obstacle Barricades, which was a series of two 4-foot walls with rolling pipes on the top to hurdle/climb over. The rolling pipes are new for 2016 and I liked the addition. The course continued on for a short distance and into a wooded section of the venue and made its way to the next obstacle Jacobs Ladder which is a ladder wall climb up and back down.

At this point the course had a brief sprint and looped around to the next obstacle Napoleon Complex, which was an 8-foot wall with wooden notches to assist racers climb up and back down a ladder wall. A short distance ahead was The Trenches which was trenched to jump across or climb through. Just after was the next obstacle Claustrophobia which is a nice and dark underground crawl. The course turned to the right and pretty quickly up next was The Gauntlet which is has been updated for 2016 to be more challenging and now has floating pads on the water, which are much harder to cross while avoiding huge swinging hanging airbags and being knocked in the water and ended with climbing up and down a dirt mound. The course again turned to the right and came to Tipping Point, which was two see-saws to balance across. Only a few feet away was the next obstacle, Ninja Escape which is a Ninja Warrior inspired series of low vertical slanted walls to frog-hop across.

The course had another brief sprint section and made its way back towards the main motocross dirt track and after going down a hill and looping around came to “Beam Me Up!” which is a 15-foot ladder wall climb. The course snaked around and made its way to The Dragnet, which was a fun crawl under a rope fish net. After a short sprint on the dirt track the course came to Frog Hop which was a series of heavy-duty plastic floating pads to run/hop across without falling in the water and again ended with a dirt mound to climb up and over. At this point, the course came to the two miles completed banner and up next was Pipe Dream which started with a crawl/slide down a black plastic drainage pipe and then had a low barbed wire crawl in muddy water and then ended with a second black plastic drainage pipe with a rope inside it to climb up.

Now with less than a mile left of the course the obstacle came often and up next was Leap of Faith which was a fun leap into four-foot deep water and then climbing out a small vertical wall with notches for assistance. The course snaked around and came to Head Scratcher which was a short, low barbed wire crawl through muddy water. The course now came to my favorite obstacle of the day, The Accelerator, which was a 50-foot water slide that I got a fun running leap onto my stomach for all four laps and was pure enjoyment all day. After more snaking around the dirt track the course came to Commando Crawl which was another barbed wire crawl. Just ahead was the next obstacle, Pack Mule which was a choice of 25 or 50-pound Wreck Bags to carry up a short hill and back down.

At this point, the course snaked around one more time and made its way to a new for 2016 obstacle, “Bang The Gong!” which were hanging gong plates and racers had to get a running start and leap/jump up and try to smack/bang the plates and land in three-feet water. This may sound like a silly obstacle, but the plates were hung pretty high and this wasn’t easy for everyone. A short distance ahead came The Blobstacle which was a huge inflatable blob covered/draped with a black nylon net and racers had to climb up, across and back down it. Immediately up next came Antigravity which started with two trampoline sections to jump across and ended with a vertical padded wall covered with a cargo net to climb up and back down a ladder wall ending.

For the last time, the course snaked away from the dirt track and up a small hill and up next was Let’s Cargo! which was a cargo rope net A-frame obstacle climb up and back down. After a quick hard right turn and then a left, the next obstacle was The Ringer which was hanging monkey rings over a nice body of water to monkey across. Just past the rings were Rugged Maniac’s version of a fire jump which was a series of three fires to jump over. The course had one last short sprint down and then up a small hill and came to the Rugged Maniac Warped Wall and then last but no least finished with Mount Maniac which was a suspended cargo net traverse hung between two towers of shipping containers just before the finish line!

• The Bling:

The bling included a new for 2016 finisher medal that I love because it includes both a male and female racer on it and a gender specific finisher shirt. Funny story, in error the volunteer gave me the female finisher shirt. I actually like the shirt and don’t mind the V-neck, but it’s a wee bit tight on me.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

This was the back-end of what was yet again one of my favorite #OCRPassport race weekends for the second year in a row, starting with XMAN Race in Quebec, Canada on Saturday and finishing in Massachusetts with Rugged Maniac and I had a great race weekend yet again.

Races like Rugged Maniac are very important for the OCR business/hobby and I was happy to see the massive turnout they had on Sunday and how good a product they provided for racers and spectators. The course was fun and challenging and although I think I only saw one new obstacle for 2016, they have updated/modified several of the older obstacles.

The course, event, festival area, MC & DJ, vendors, and most of all, the staff and volunteers did a great job all day and the bling is top-notch so I am rating this Rugged Maniac event/race 5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)