OCD FOR OCR

When Marco Bédard informed me, he was going to have his own race series in 2017, I knew I wanted to make sure to make it to at least one of his NorthMan races!

• Registration and Festival:

Registration went fast and easy, I ran two versions of the course, so I had to go up twice for registration and it was fast both times. The festival area was kept in a very small area, which worked well for the venue and race.

• Pre-race MC:

The MC was Philippe Mainville, who I believe, MC’s all the Just Run races/events and this was the second time I got to see him in action and I must say, I am a big fan of Philippe. For the most part, he spoke French (all day) and I couldn’t understand a word he said, but I still enjoyed his energy and it was obvious the French-speaking racers and spectators loved him all day.

• The Course:

Depending on which version/level of the race you ran, the course was longer for the Elite & Competitive waves than the open. Regardless of which version ran, racers still got to enjoy an amazing course that utilized the small ski mountain and technical trails to their fullest potential. Marco’s experience as both a course designer and one of the best obstacle course racers in the world, has taught him how to design an awesome course when it comes to both the obstacles and terrain. The course included a section that took racers through a running stream and I personally loved this part of the course and wish more races/race designers would do the same in the future.

The course included obstacles experienced racers have seen often, obstacles that were new for me and several logger themed obstacles. Some of the obstacles worth mentioning are, the Platinum Rig (at the end of the course), which offered several different configurations (depending on which lane racers chose), a vertical peg board with hand pegs to climb up & back down, a rope climb that wasn’t very high and was a nice and easy challenge, an easy sand bucket carry, various size logs with a chain attached carry that in the middle of the carry included a hoist obstacle, a hand-saw log cutting challenge, a very low to the ground Platinum Rig to traverse across (being shorter probably made this one easier), a spider crossing where racers had to place their legs on one side and arms on the other and traverse across (I think being shorter on this one made it much harder) and a gauntlet style obstacle that started with a rope wall climb, then had several walls to hop over and finally ended with a rock climbing wall to climb up and back down.

The coolest obstacle, was “La Gaffe du Draveur“ which racers will get to see and attempt at the upcoming OCR World Championships! It required racers to traverse across several moving poles that swung both forward and backwards. I watched a demonstration video of this obstacle and at least for me, it was much harder than Marco made it look in his demonstration video! One of the cooler logger themed obstacles was a log with notches to climb up and then cross a suspended rope net and climb back down.

The course also included what I can only refer to as a cave crossing that had racers climb up onto a huge natural rock structure and maneuver through a very tight fit section. I personally was worried I wouldn’t fit, but I did!

I talked to several other racers (open, competitive, and elite) and everyone agreed that when you combined the obstacles, ski mountain, terrain, running through the stream and an amazing team of staff & volunteers the outcome was an awesome event/race. The competitive and elite versions of the course may have been longer, but the additional distance was fun trails, so it really didn’t feel like I ran a longer course.

• Cool Twists:

Marco has added a few new twists to make the Elite and Competitive waves more exciting and challenging. For starters, the Elite and Competitive waves are the last two waves of the day, so racers are running on a course that had been run on all day and is a little beat up. I have never understood why most of the big races send out the Elite’s first thing in the morning on nice clean trails and obstacles. I think it makes much more sense to have top-flight athletes running on a course that has been run on all day and is more challenging both on the trails and completing the obstacles.

He also doesn’t have the entire Elite or Competitive wave start at once and staggers each racers start time. I talked to some of the Elites and they seemed to like this approach. I personally love to see racers battling each other and not a clock so the delayed start times somewhat takes away that element and excitement.

One other cool thing the NorthMan has implemented, is that only racers that have finished in the top 80% for males and 70% for females at a previous NorthMan race Elite wave, or can provide proof they are qualified for their pro wave at the upcoming OCR Worlds Championships can participate in the Elite wave. This makes the Elite wave a small group of racers, but it also makes qualifying for the OCR Worlds Championships at a NorthMan race Elite wave mean a hell of a lot more than it does at almost any other OCR race in the world.

• The Bling:

The bling included one of the nicest finisher medals I have earned all year, a really nice finisher shirt that is unique depending on what wave (open, competitive or elite) you ran. I have run a few of the Just Run races and my observation is, they always provide a top-flight finisher medal and shirts and clearly don’t go cheap on either.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I went into this race with high expectations and I wasn’t let down, the course rocked, the obstacles were all top-notch and safe, the bling is top-shelf, the MC killed it all day, the staff & volunteers worked hard and were smiles all day, and the DJ played a killer playlist from start to finish. I am rating this event 5 out of 5 stars.

I want to make it clear that is a great race for all levels of OCR racers, from those just starting out to top Elites and I suggest adding The NorthMan Race to your 2018 bucket list. I know I personally will be back in Canada next year to do another one for sure!

I want to give a special thanks to 3-seconds for allowing me to use their photos!

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)