OCD FOR OCR

I have participated in several Spartan stadium sprints over the last few years and other obstacle course races in stadiums, but this was my first race at Citi Field. I am a lifetime die-hard Mets fan (it’s not always been easy) so I was super excited to be doing a race in Citi Field.

• Registration and Festival:

The registration area was set up outside of the stadium and moved fast. Spartan USA has finally adopted the same bar code registration system, Spartan Canada has used for years and that I have been suggesting also be used in America and it was easy to notice how much this registration system helped speed things up for the better. The festival area was set up throughout sections inside the stadium and on a rainy day this was a big plus for the vendors, spectators, racers, and staff & volunteers.

• Pre-race MC:

The pre-race MC wasn’t much to write about, he talked to us for a few minutes and asked if the wave wanted to start a little early (which we all did) and released us onto the course.

• The Course:

With a smaller staging/starting area, the MC released fifteen racers onto the course every sixty seconds, which helped stagger racers and avoid delays at pretty much all of the obstacles. The nature of this type of course (with lots of up and down stairs) helped spread racers out regardless of how many started at a time and made for almost zero delays. The only obstacle I recalled a small delay was second from last, the Box Jump.

The course started with a short sprint and up first was a “Bear Crawl” up two flights of stairs underneath crisscrossed bungee cords, the next obstacle was the “A-Frame Cargo Net”,  and then came “Roller Epic” which had racers place their feet on a small little skateboard like device and then crawl on their hands as they dragged their legs (on the small roller) and body across the floor for a short distance until reaching a red line, the course continued on throughout the stadium, going up and down stairs and then into the stadium seating section and through some of the rows of seats. Up next was “Slam Balls”, which was a medicine ball and racers had to pick up the medicine balls over their head and slam them onto the ground repeating this twenty-five times.

The course continued on and exited the stadium and just outside was the next obstacle, the “Eight-foot Wall”, which even with the wet rain was nice and easy. A short distance ahead came the “Six-foot Wall”, which again wasn’t much of a problem to hop up and over. Up next was “Z-Walls”, which has been updated to the same design that Spartan Canada used last year, with the walls having hollowed out sections, which made it actually less of a challenge even with it raining and the obstacle soaking wet, I thought to myself, at least it’s not covered in mud like it typically would be on a muddy course! Up next was the “Atlas Carry”, which again was not as bad as they used what felt like lighter Atlas Cylinder shaped stones.

Still outside the stadium, up next was the “Spearman Speartoss”, which I was very happy to nail dead center! The course went back into the stadium and up next was a second “Bear Crawl”, which was pretty long and at least for me included some Bear Rolling! A short distance ahead was the ”Seven-foot Wall”, which was nice and easy. After the seven-foot walls, came the always challenging and daunting series of “Three-foot Walls”. After another brief sprint, it was time for the “Sandbag Carry”, which took racers for a longer distance carry up & down stairs and seating rows of the stadium.

Up next, was one of my Spartan favorites, the “Hercules Hoist”, which always boosts my old-man ego, because I destroy this obstacle while just about everyone around me is struggling and/or getting help to lift the hoist, I wish I could say that about more than typically just the hoist and Speartoss! The next obstacle, which seems to be at every stadium race I have done (Spartan or other races), the “Heavy-Rope Jump Rope”, I have always sucked at jump roping so this is always a treat and I pretty much take a little time to complete all the reps. The course went back outside the stadium and up next was the “Monkey Bars Crossing”, which if memory serves me correctly had all the bars at the same level and not staggered (with some higher than others) like they typically are at Spartan races, which even with the heavy rain made for a less challenging obstacle.

The course re-entered the stadium and entered what I am pretty sure were the visitors dressing room and in here racers had to do twenty-five push-ups making sure their chest touched the ground on each push-up or they didn’t count! After exiting the dressing room, the course made its way to one of the highlights of the event, racers got to run through one of the dugouts. The course then went onto the baseball field and up next was the “Rope Climb”, which didn’t seem as high as it typically is at Spartan races.

The course circled the outer ring of the baseball field and came to another always popular stadium obstacle, the “Box Jump” and racers had to do a total of thirty box jumps. I could see the finish line and I was fired up and continued on to the last obstacle the “Gladiator Gauntlet”, which is a boatload of hanging CKO punching bags, I personally always enjoy this obstacle because I always start by high kicking the first bags and then ramming my way through the rest of the hanging bags like a battering ram! Just ahead was the finish line and completion of the course!

According to my GPS watch, the course was 3.34 miles in distance, which because a large portion of the course is indoors and the watch cannot get a lock onto the satellites may not be completely accurate, but I felt the distance was just right for a stadium race.

• The Bling:

The bling is pretty much the same as it was in 2016, a Stadium series finisher medal and the standard Sprint finisher shirt. I like the Stadium series finisher medal and the shirt, but had high hopes they would re-design of the finisher medal for 2017.

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

The course was fun and challenging and the pouring rain actually helped (at least for me) make it a more enjoyable race. It’s always a surreal feeling to get to race in places like Citi Field, Fenway, and Icahn Stadium and adds to the enjoyment and experience.

As I have mentioned a few times in this recap, it rained pretty hard most of the day and was a little cold for some, but the staff and volunteers did an awesome job all day. I would have liked a better performance out of the pre-race MC, but to be fair, he asked if we wanted to take off a little early and when we all said yes, he released us.

Based on the course, being at Citi Field, the amazing job the staff and volunteers did in not so perfect conditions and the fact, Spartan has upgraded to the bar code registration system, I am rating this event 5 out of 5 stars.

Article Written by: Walter F Hendrick (OCRSandy)