OCD FOR OCR

This was Spartan’s first time in Kissimmee, FL and also, I think Spartan’s first hybrid city race that took place for a large part of the course on pavement.

• Registration and Festival:

I always consider the first obstacle of any race day as parking, sometimes the lines are long to get in or the parking is a good hike away from the actual race. At this event parking was smooth and close enough to the event so you could run out to your car, if needed, after checking in and not feel like it was your warm up. Plus, the parking is now included in the price of registration, as is bag check which really puts a better taste in your mouth, to not have to shell out more money for just showing up to participate in the event you already paid to participate in. 

The festival area was well laid out with food tents and vendor booths. Most noticeable was the Harley Davidson tent where you could sit on and rev up a Harley. Double dose of adrenaline on race day! FitBar had a great mini rig set up as well to challenge yourself on some upper body strength rig holds.

• Pre-race MC:

I will be honest. I have zero clue who the race MC was. In the corral, I was mentally in race mode, and since it wasn’t Coach Pain bellowing out, motivational golden nuggets, well frankly scarlet, I didn’t give a damn. I even blurted out the wrong answer to the “What’s your profession” question before I zoned out the banter.

Apparently Social Worker, is not the hard-core answer. Ha!  Listen ladies, that should be your first indication anyone one is a threat to your placement. You have no idea the amount of stress we have to fuel us on that course. Sorry, got way off course here, so the remainder of what I remember from the corral, It was the usual AROO, AROO battle cry as we waited to just get the go sign to conduct our business. Hmmm, that sounds familiar, from an MC of old maybe.

• The Course:

The course took us on grass and pavement. It was a clean course fast course. Obstacle’s consisted of what you would expect from most races, walls, low crawl, rings, monkey bars, cargo net and rope climb.

Of course, there was the spear throw/burpee pit that Spartan is known for as well as strength tasks like the heavy bag and hoist. The placement of the spear throw/burpee pit, box jumps, and ram burpees at the end really were a test of conditioning.

The last obstacle felt nostalgic to the race days when the gladiators used to be the last line of defense before crossing the finish line as they had multiple heavy bags hanging that you ran through.

• The Bling:

The bling consisted of the typical Spartan finisher medal plus the piece of the trifecta pie. Age Group awards were larger and colored for each placement. The finisher shirt was also the typical 2019 dry-fit type shirt.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

It has been seven years, since I ran my last Spartan and earned my Trifecta so some of the changes, I noticed may have been implemented long before this race. I did find it entertaining that I was considered a “newbie” when I picked up my packet and I was given a special rubber Spartan newbie band.

Now, those that run competitive waves have all have heard the “bands over burpees” battle cry, so, Spartan handing out rubber wrist bands, well the irony was real, BUT that’s none of my business. (Insert Kermit drinking the Kool-Aid here).

Overall, I personally enjoyed the course. I loved the mix of strength, functional fitness and obstacles. In my opinion, the combination of the above, leveled the playing field. You couldn’t just be a fast runner, obstacle proficient, or a Cross-Fit athlete and expect to podium, at least on this day, on this hybrid city style course, it required being a well-rounded athlete to compete against the athletes that showed up and ran the elite or AG waves. I personally would like to of course; see mandatory obstacle completion and I did find it interesting that you were not able to attempt an obstacle more than once.

I was, however, disappointed at the lack of difficulty of the obstacles. I have seen some of Spartans newer obstacles, that test upper body strength and I would have liked to have tackled a few more of those mixed into this race. However, for a starter race to get someone interested in the sport this fits the bill and I suspect that is the main goal(s) for this new hybrid city race Spartan has added to the stable of options.

My biggest complaint, was the amount of time between the competitive waves and the actual awards ceremony. Running at 8:15 AM on a fast course and not leaving until after 1:00 PM, is an excessive amount of time, that I would like to see cut down. At least have the age group awards directly following the elite awards. I guess that’s what get for making the AG podium (lol)!

Overall, I enjoyed the race, the venue, the course and props to the amazing volunteers. It was a family friendly atmosphere and of course the knowledge that you will always run into OCR family at any race!

I rate the event/course 4 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Joy Moody