OCD FOR OCR

This was my third year participating in the OCR World Championships and like everyone else I was mega excited and couldn’t wait. For me it’s not just a weekend about racing, but also seeing the massive number of amazing friends I have made over the past two plus year’s and a chance to make more friends and connections.

• Registration and Festival:

Registration was available for multiple days for the four races being conducted over three days and the lines did at times get really long which was to be expected with the massive turnout. My only complaint was no one made it clear to us we needed to complete a second venue waiver while we waited on line, so I waited and had to leave my spot in the line to go fill out the second waiver. I then got back on line and waited again and then was told I needed to know my bib numbers that were on a wall a very short distance away, so I again had to give up my spot on line and go find the two bib numbers on the board. I made sure to let others on line know about the second waiver and bib numbers so they wouldn’t have the same thing happen.

The festival area was awesome because they did a great job setting it up and they also had an amazing venue that was already set up for big numbers with lots of great shops and restaurants. It really made for a whole extra experience this year compared to both years Ohio.

• Pre-race MC:

Coach Pain was amazing all weekend and he never stopped. He gave his all from the first wave Friday and to the very last Make-a-Wish® wave on Sunday and he put every bit of his heart and soul into the weekend. I can guarantee that as time passes, racers will forget about the obstacles and the course, but they will never forget Dewayne’s amazing words and inspiration.

• Finish Line MC’s:

The finish line was a two-man team of UK MC Mark Leinster and Toughest MC Brian K. Jordan. I have seen video of Mark doing his thing, so I knew he was awesome and unique at being a fun and entertaining guy, but I didn’t know anything about Brian and have to say I was really impressed with him and how the two of them worked together. I spent hours hanging out at the finish line on Friday and volunteered (they were short staffed) handing out water for about four hours on Saturday, before I ran my wave and really enjoyed listening and watching the two of them kill it all three days.

• The Course:

• 3K Course – Friday:

The first course was the 3K course on Friday and per my GPS watch, it was almost exactly 3K and it consisted of 15 obstacles. The first obstacle was a series of very low walls to hop/jump over and then up next was two side by side low vertical walls to frog hop or spider across with both your arms and legs. The course went down the mountain a short distance and came to the Toughest Dragons Back, which other than the first obstacle was the second easiest obstacle on the course and is almost all mental and very little physical challenge.

The course continued on and up next was the Platinum Rig Samurai, which I have seen at several Canadian OCR races and Savage Race has a version as well, but it was very challenging and had such a high failure rate on Friday, it was removed for the rest of the race weekend. The course made its way to the festival area and up next was the Platinum Rig and then just after was a nice and easy natural rock climb that was considered one of the 15 obstacles. The course looped around to the Wreck Bag and half-way up the ski mountain and across a staircase both up and shortly back down the mountain while carrying the bag.

Up next came an eight-foot wall to climb up and over and then after a short distance ahead came, the Dead End Race Series Monkey bars that segued to a straight bar monkey traverse. After a short loop, it was time for the Platinum Rig Irish Table to climb up and over. Just a short sprint ahead came the Indian Mud Run floating wall obstacle that pretty much was one of the very few unique obstacles on the course all weekend. Crossing the floating walls is no joke when racers are running for time and podium finishes. The course went a short distance and up next was another unique and very cool obstacle, the Force 5 Skyline, which I actually enjoyed and look forward to seeing at other future Canadian OCR races!

The last two obstacles were the Urban Sky, which started with a series of spinning wheel sections and then had a section to climb and ended with rotating monkey rings to monkey traverse across and then last but not least, came the finish line high wall with a hanging rope to climb up and over just prior to a short sprint to the finish line!

I enjoyed the short course, but I personally was expecting a very obstacle loaded short course that would have a minimum of thirty obstacles, so I am sure most won’t agree, but I was a little disappointed with a course that included only 15 obstacles.

• 15K Course – Saturday:

The 15k version of the course included all the above noted obstacles minus the Samurai and took advantage of the ski mountain by including multiple climbs up and back down it. For the pro/elite racers it didn’t take long to get to the Quarter Pipe Warped Wall obstacle that early in the morning was wet and very slippery and many of the top racers had problems getting up and over it. The course included the same Wreck Bag carry as the 3K and a very light and easy Hoist obstacle. Some of the must mention obstacles on the course included the Conquer the Gauntlet Stairway to Heaven, the Dead End Race Series Warped Wall, Savage Race Pipe Dreams, a second Platinum Rig, that was low to the ground and perfect for dwarfs, a Weaver built by Eagle’s Nest Racing, and a new an improved version of Skull Valley!

The course included two barbed-wire crawls, two inverted wall climb, a second z-wall type wall traverse with hollowed out walls, several high wall climbs, a high rope climb, two more angled/slanted wall climbs, a log hop balance crossing, and some really awesome technical terrain to run through both going up and down the mountain.

I enjoyed the combination of obstacles and the use of the mountain and terrain and would have to say this was one of the best courses I have run to date. When you combined the mountain, terrain, obstacles and just overall amazing experience, it made for an amazing course.

• Team Relay – Sunday:

The team relay was around 8K in distance and the running leg of the course (I didn’t do it) was clearly the longest section of the course and because it started to rain really hard about an hour prior to the first waves, the combination of distance and muddy terrain conditions made for a challenging first leg of the course. The runner leg had to complete the following obstacles: Hurdles, Quarter Pipe, Savage Race Pipe Dreams, Vert, Traction, Q-Steps and Toughest Dragons Back, the exchange was just prior to the Platinum Rig and the obstacle leg completed the Rig and the Natural Rock Wall climb. Just after the climb was the next exchange to the strength leg, who took over and traveled a short distance and then picked up the Wreck bag and carried it almost to the very top of the ski mountain and back down. The rain made this part of the mountain really sketchy and slippery. While I was doing this part of the course, they moved the course tape on to grass and a way less slippery descent down the mountain.

Once down the mountain, the obstacle leg participant took over again and completed: Eight-foot walls, Dead End Race monkey crossing, Platinum Rig Irish Table, Indian Mud Run Suspended Walls, Force 5 Skyline, and last the Urban Sky. At this point the only obstacle left was the high vertical wall with the rope now hanging much higher up and harder to reach. With the rain, the wall was even more of a challenge and required the combined team work of all three team members to complete it and then finish the course.

I enjoyed the team race and my only disappointment was that the strength leg (me) only had the one wreck bag obstacle carry, I wish they could have at least moved the Hoist obstacle down to the end of the Wreck Bag Carry for us to complete.

• Make-a-Wish® Race – Sunday:

The Make-a-Wish® race was basically the above described Relay course, with racers having to run the entire course. The rain let up, but the damage was done and the course was sketchy and slippery throughout, I have gotten pretty good at running down mountains so I personally enjoyed the wet course and ran down all the descents on the course. I finished covered head to toe in mud and had a blast. The only obstacle they shut down was the Quarter Pipe, but many of us attempted it anyway.

• The Bling:

The bling is awesome, it included a different color finisher medal for each race, an awesome black finisher shirt for the 3K and 15K races and a nice blue finisher’s shirt for the Make-a-Wish® race. The medals are big, heavy, and sexy and I am super happy to add all four to my bling collection.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

I have attended and raced all three years of the OCR World Championships and it continues to grow and improve each year. The experience is not like any other I have been part of with obstacle course racing and it only continues to even get better with age and more participation. The combination of the Worlds very best obstacle course racers, the not so elite racers like myself, and other amazing athletes like the American Ninja Warrior crew all bonding and spending an amazing weekend together is like nothing else I have been part of.

The course was awesome, the obstacles were all top notch and some I have never seen before, the staff and volunteers worked hard all weekend, the bling was amazing, the combination of Coach Pain at the starting line and Mark Leinster & Brian K. Jordan at the finish line made for an amazing start and completion of the race, and the venue was tailor made for an event like this, I am rating the event/race 5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)