OCD FOR OCR

They say you always remember your first time. This is especially true for me with obstacle course racing. When you have raced over 100 times, details of individual races will undoubtedly blur together, but I remember my first Spartan Race at Tuxedo in 2013 like it happened last week. It was not my first OCR overall and I already enjoyed the sport every time I got to participate, but that first experience with Spartan had a lasting impression on me that multiplied the intensity of my passion for the sport and my desire to be the best OCR athlete I can be. Because of this watershed moment in my OCR career, I always look forward to taking on Tuxedo as a benchmark and a touchstone of sorts, especially as it comes at the beginning of summer when my season really starts to hit full steam.

• Registration and Festival:

Registration was entirely quick and mostly uneventful Spartan Race style. However, my timing chip band proved defective when I went to gird up for the battle ahead. I asked the volunteer who signed me in, if I could get another and he directed me over to the spot at the end where people who don’t have their IDs have to register, but another racer overheard my plight and gave me his explaining that he just stores his timing chip in a zipped pocket.

The festival area was different that the previous Tuxedo years, as I noticed at the previous Spartan Race, I attended (NJ Beast in April), the merchandise tent is now set up so you walk through it, strategically placed at the entrance/exit to the festival area. Some may find it a sign of over commercialization, but it doesn’t bother me all that much. The tent is a more pleasant environment to browse over the various wares and if you’re going to buy something, why not do it as you are about to leave so you don’t have to worry about carrying it around. 

It was a wet day and I had traveled to the race with a friend from my area who raced with me (kudos to John Trombley II on your first Age Group division heat) and had one of his kids competing in the kids race with John‘s wife and daughter looking on. So, I honestly didn’t spend all that much time looking over the rest of the goings on in the festival area. 

• Pre-race MC:

Pre-race emcee duties were handled by Mark Bryant, who delivered the standard Spartan speech with vigor and a good presence. I know I sound like a broken record, but I wish they would allow the start line emcees to do a little more ad-libbing, but that again will probably never happen, so I better get used to it. Also sharing emceeing duties through the festival and awards ceremony was none other than Justin T. Manning, who was larger than life in his presentation of key points of festival area activities. He especially shone in the Age Group awards ceremony, with some clever plays on the names and hometowns of the winners.

• The Course:

Since I only raced on Sunday, I got a lot of intel from friends who raced Saturday about the course.  The consensus was that it was a shorter, faster course than previous years. When I completed my lap on Sunday, my Garmin watch showed 3.77 miles, so just a little shy of the average 4 miles, I have experienced here historically, but still within the ballpark of the other installments of this venue.

The terrain was plenty technical, but it seemed times among competitive racers were certainly faster overall than last year, which I chalk up to Spartan removing the hardest obstacles from Sprints this year, in the name of “standardization.” I posted my overall fastest time ever at this venue yet did not place as well as I have in past age group competition at this course.  I would say that if you did not run a perfect or near perfect race obstacles-wise, you were not a contender in any of the age groups. 

Many open runners also claimed “clean” races as well. This is in my opinion more proof that the obstacles are altogether too easy. If I were in charge, there would be one or two higher technical difficulty, obstacles in each Sprint, ideally making perfectly clean races unheard of in open waves, a unicorn in Age Group and even somewhat of an anomaly in Elite.

Conspicuously absent, were Twister and Olympus, two obstacles that have been at Tuxedo the past two years, but have been nixed thanks to Spartan’s aforementioned, standardization scheme which keeps the perceived “harder” obstacles out of the shorter (entry level) races. While I can understand why Spartan wants to make the shorter races accessible and less intimidating to new racers, I think having one or two obstacles that are almost impossible for an inexperienced racer is a good practice as it gives them something to aspire to conquering in future events and also allows participants to feel they took on something well outside their comfort zones. Obstacle difficulty is really in the eyes of the beholder. I, for one, rarely fail Olympus yet I often struggle with Spartan’s fat and far apart monkey bars, especially on wet courses like what we had on Sunday. 

One thing I particularly enjoy about Spartan Race, is the balance of athletic challenges. Other series have intense grip strength and coordination obstacles, but then have fairly easy (light) carry obstacles and more moderate terrain. I feel like Spartan neither favors the Ninja Warrior aspiring gymnast nor the collegiate cross-country champion, but an all-around athlete who is proficient at both and can carry heavy stuff when called upon.

This is where I note that each Spartan Race usually features a bucket carry and a sandbag carry.  Of these, you usually get one that is longer, but with less challenging terrain and one that is shorter, but where the racer is expected to carry the object over steep and/or treacherous (ankle breaking potential) ground. I really found both carries to be somewhat moderate this time around. After I got through the bucket carry without much difficulty, I was mentally preparing myself for the sandbag to be a bear and it was a letdown to blast through it much as I did on the loop with the bucket.

• The Bling:

Standard Spartan Sprint medal for this year. Spartan medals are always of solid construction and never overly gaudy.  Some years I like better than others, and while this is not my favorite design of all time, but it’s not a bad look at all.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

Like I said before, I will always have a soft spot for Tuxedo. It was the site of my first Spartan Race, it was my first race that qualified me to participate in a world championship. I also like it as a course to introduce friends to the sport. Being a Sprint, it is an accessible distance, but still showcases the type of terrain that Spartan is known for in their races. Additionally, while it is proximate enough to New York City to get a strong following from that metro, it is still close enough to the area I live in so I have a chance to coax my local friends into a day trip to experience it for themselves.

Despite my disappointment in my performance, I had a very enjoyable time. However, my hesitation in giving a perfect score is that I think Spartan owes it to itself, its fan base and its heritage at Tuxedo to provide a more challenging Sprint experience at this venue. 

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Brian Kellogg, OCR Aficionado