OCD FOR OCR

Leading up to the weekend of August 24th & 25th, the Internets and Facebook’s were abuzz with excitement surrounding the Spartan Race Trifecta weekend in West Virginia, especially as it hosted the Spartan North American Championship race. While I was honored to have qualified to compete in this major event, several factors prevented me from making the trip to partake in the competition. Luckily for me, much of the FOMO, I experienced was relieved by the availability of an Honor Series Spartan Sprint at the Lake Frederick Recreation Area, part of the campus of the United States Military Academy. And honestly, I probably had the most in-race fun of any Spartan Race, I have done so far this season. 

• Getting to the venue:

The worst part of this whole event, and honestly the only real negative for most participants, would be getting to and from the venue. The property where the race is held has very little room for on-site parking and thus only staff, vendors and volunteers could park there. No VIP parking was offered to the general public and most people had to take a school bus shuttle from a general parking area several miles away.

At most Spartan venues, I do not find this to be a big deal (although I always appreciate on-site parking whenever I can get it), but in this instance the parking is somewhat further away than normal and the buses must travel through a high traffic area. Further exacerbating the situation was some construction nearby.

Since I was working course sweep later in the day, I had a volunteer parking pass and only had to contend with traffic driving to the venue, which was enough of a hardship. My heart  later went out to the lines of people waiting for shuttle buses, of which it never seems like there are enough at this venue to ferry racers back to their parking. Even as I worked course sweep, I overheard radio communications about staff vehicles being impressed into service to chauffeur participants back to general parking. 

• Registration and Festival:

However, once you got past the formidable obstacle of the parking and traffic logistics (West Point’s own version of the “Death March”, I suppose) you encountered the breeze easy registration lines Spartan continues to impress me with. I got there nice and early so there was a lineup, as registration had not yet opened, but as soon as the volunteers manned their stations and got the green light, the line moved along almost in real time.

For one of the smaller venues, the Festival area had a lot to offer, and this being one of the Honor Series races (a series of races that showcase the military and their service to the country). Military vehicles were on display and there were other perks as well, namely a kiosk for 5.11 Tactical Weight Vests. Those of you who are involved in CrossFit are likely aware that this is the official weight vest used in the CrossFit Games. The company has also partnered with the Spartan Honor Series this year, offering the opportunity to run the race while they lend you one of their weight vests to wear. Had I not pledged my post-race time to working course sweep, I would have loved to give it a try. You would also get a special dog-tag along with your finisher medal for completing the course with the vest.

Several of my friends did, and it was impressive what they were still able to do even with the extra 20 lbs. of weight. Another festival activity of note was a practice spear throw, where you could receive a photo via text message of yourself throwing the spear. Sadly, this was the one I made, rather than the one I really was hoping for, but more about that later.

• Pre-race MC:

I’ve made my peace with the Spartan Race start line emcee being the same old script. Maybe it would be more special if I hadn’t run Spartan Races as frequently as I do, but it is what it is. However, Spartan wisely employed Justin T. Manning as a festival emcee and his energy truly permeated the small venue. 

• The Course:

Most Northeastern US Spartan races are held at ski mountain venues and have all the elevation gain that goes with that kind of territory. It was nice to have something different and West Point did not disappoint. Not that the course was entirely flat, but it’s fun to go fast all race and a it provides different kinds of struggle to have very little area where you drop below running speed, if you wish to be competitive. In addition, what the course lacked in elevation, it made up for, in technical trail running, that really forced you to pay attention to your steps, challenged your agility and again works different muscles than a straight up mountain slog. 

Being a Sprint, the obstacle count was predictable and as such, I was really pushing for a perfect race.  Also, with the smaller field of competition, due to the West Virginia Trifecta/Championships, I was scrapping for a possible first-time podium appearance. Of course the spear throw thwarted those dreams (despite having good success with the spear throw as of late), but it was fun to push harder, to try, and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of competition that also stayed back from West Virginia and took on this course.

I wish some of the other more unique and more technically challenging obstacles, like Twister and Olympus, possibly even newer ones, like Beater and the Box, were still being rotated into some of the Sprints, but even without them, I still managed to have a blast racing here.  Also, of note, this weekend, was the new rule changes promulgated by Spartan, the week prior, went into effect. It was a definite paradigm shift to be able to carry the bucket carry on the shoulder as well as to not have to put down the atlas stone to do 5 burpees. It made a fast race, even faster for sure, and it will be interesting to see how these rules affect my performance in longer races, later this Fall at Killington and Vernon.

• The Bling:

The finisher shirt was the Standard Sprint one, nothing denoting the Honor Series. However, we were treated to a specially marked Honor Series medal that is characteristically solid for a Spartan Race medal and has a apropos design for the military theme of this event. 

• Overall Feelings and Event Rating:

This race historically is the same weekend as the West Virginia Trifecta/Championship Weekend so many of the most dedicated Spartan Race fans will rarely experience it.  Also, there are other race options regionally in mid-August. But if you can’t make a bigger ticket trip, this is a great place to scratch the Spartan Race itch. As a Sprint and without the mountainous elevation, I think it is also one of the more beginner friendly Spartan Race offerings and it is a great one to take a friend who hasn’t raced before or is still getting their feet wet with OCR. 

Lastly, I also want to close with, that as I did course sweep later in the day, I was impressed with how little litter I found on the course. I picked up no more than 5 items in 4 miles that may have been dropped by racers. This is a far cry from my last time, I worked course sweep where I picked up more discarded items in the barbed wire crawl alone. Spartan’s efforts in educating athletes about littering on course, enforcing penalties against those who do, as well as efforts among OCR Facebook groups, seem to be paying off dividends. 

I give it 4.75 stars, only withholding 5 because they apparently haven’t figured out the logistics of getting in and out of this venue, even after three years here.

Article Written by: Brian Kellogg, OCR Aficionado.