OCD FOR OCR

I started out at 5:30 AM, a little late for my liking. The travel to the event went smooth. Getting into the parking lot was great, there were no traffic backups at all. After the long drive I was disappointed to see that there were no port-o-lets near the parking lot. Parking at Little Everglades Ranch is easily a 20-minute walk to registration, I needed those port-o-lets! 

• Registration and Festival:

Registration flowed smoothly.  They had a designated check-in area for RMX, Rugged Maniac X. However, I did have to ask where this lane was located. Since my partner in crime was at home sick with a stomach virus, I made sure to check in with registration to find out about deferring her race to next year.  Everyone was helpful and made it an easy process.

I ended up doing five laps of the course. I stopped after five because I wanted to take in some of their festival area. Cigar City Brewing, a good local brewery was there, a nice touch. Everything was served in a can which meant I didn’t have to walk around risking the spill. The DJ/MC in the festival (Vince Bracy) area was great. They had pull-up contests, beer stein holding contests, and numerous other challenges to get the participants and family members involved in the festival.

There were several vendors handing out free samples of things. The festival area really is one of the best in the business and both spectators and racers have a good time. Once again, Little Everglades Ranch has attendees purchase tickets for food or beverage purchase. I’m saving all of mine up hoping I remember to take them back to this venue. 

• Pre-race MC:

The start corral was great. The MC (Christopher Calandro) definitely knew what he was doing! It was not his first rodeo, for sure.  He wore a kilt (those guys are always smart) and was very informative. He got the crowd motivated to start the race. He explained course markings, specific obstacles, rules, etc.

• The Course: 

Layout of the course clocked exactly in at 3.4 miles.  It had everything from mud crawls, barbed-wire mud crawls, to tunnels, climbs, and upper body Ninja Warrior style obstacles.  It was a great course for a beginner getting into obstacle course racing.  It was not extremely difficult, more fun than anything. 

There were a lot of inflatable obstacles, making it different than other races. The obstacles were well-placed throughout the course.  One of the most popular obstacles was a new one that had you slide a rope across an eye beam, over water.  I made it a point to get to that obstacle in each of the five laps I ran.

As I mentioned earlier, I did Rugged Maniac X, which is running as many laps as possible from the start of the elite wave at 9 A.M. until the last wave starts around 2 P.M. It had been 4 years since my last multi-lap race at an obstacle course, RIP BattleFrog. I feel as though Rugged could draw more participants to this type of event if they took a few minor steps to cater to these racers. One idea is a transition area where multi-lappers could stop to fuel up. Another item they could add to this would be a different medal for the RMX participants. At this race, we were just given a special headband.

There are tons of racers who are drawn to these multi-lap events, and I think if it was marketed correctly, it would be a big hit. The bling was good, but I do feel if they offered the multi-lappers a unique medal it would add to the draw.  Also, adding awards for this category would have made it more competitive, if you are looking for that type of thing.

• The Bling:

The medal was nice. It’s much bigger and bolder than the last one I received back in 2015. That is one thing that is a must in these races, good looking bling!!!

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

To sum it up, Rugged Maniac, Florida 2019 was absolutely fantastic. It has been since 2015 since I have participated in one of their events and they have come a long way in improving at every aspect of the event. I  score this event/race five out of five stars. If you are looking for an event that is a lot of fun, you need to get there. They are well-organized, it is an exceptional event, it’s fun, and overall a fantastic experience.

Article Written by: Andy Sneller and Lori Danko.