Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Adventure 2015....continued....

It's hard to believe that the Summer of OCR ended only a few weeks ago.  Even harder to believe that it was only six weeks long.  Seemed a lot longer!  So many things happened during those weeks and it was a whirlwind of traveling, course building and racing.  As with anything I do, I always try to learn from the experience to make the next time even better...it's an engineer thing I guess...just have to try and improve everything!

The first thing I found was that a race each week was a grueling schedule.  Not just the fact that between traveling to the next event, working the builds and then racing, there was almost no time to write!!  Add on to that injuries...illness...general wear and tear...no recuperation time/rest/training time and I suddenly had a whole new appreciation for professional athletes.  And props to the elite racers who go at this regularly...even doing multiple laps or back to back days of racing.  Obviously I'm still doing something seriously wrong, besides just being old!

Compounding that, most of the places I camped had no Internet service or very limited service.  One didn't even have cell service.  Hence, every week seemed to put me more in the hole with my writing as well as normal communications.  And just staying on top of OCR activity proved to be difficult.

What I did want to continue was the incredible experience of meeting so many different people and having some truly life changing experiences.  Nor did I want to lose the insights and 'schooling' I was getting on what it really takes to put on a worthwhile OCR event.  Anyone can slap a few obstacles together, mark a trail and charge a lot of money to get in.  But it takes special people to make it exciting, challenging...and safe at the same time.  Meeting and working with these people...that is my mission!!

My initial plans had been to head out west for the Spartan Race World Championship, along with the World's Toughest Mudder and several other Spartan races and Tough Mudders.  In the end though, I had to ratchet that back a bit and stay on the east coast.  Nagging injuries, the final stages of 'swamp fever' and unexpectedly (but not surprisingly) having to give up my place all contributed to the decision.  Gives a whole new meaning to the lyrics from that old Janis Joplin song..."freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose".  But I digress...

So, my new plans will be concentrated in the greater Atlanta and Nashville areas for a couple of Spartans, another BattleFrog and my first Savage Race.  With the scheduling of these races I was also able to not only space them out every other week, but because of this generally centralized area, I'm able to stay in a 'normal' house during the off weeks...yeehaa!!  Provided of course that I behave myself....no promises there but I'll do my best.

After these I should be heading back towards Florida again for a few more races...where the weather should be more conductive to OCR'ing than skiing.  Then...well...who knows exactly.  One thing for certain...in the coming weeks and months there will be change...the one constant in this universe!!  That should make for some interesting reading I'm sure....to be continued...

Summer of OCR Review 2015 - Spartan Race, Tough Mudder and BattleFrog

Race schedule

As Lombardi Once Said "What the Hell's Going On Out Here?"....And How Does That Relate To The World Of Obstacle Course Racing

2013 has been another interesting year in the world of Obstacle Course Racing (OCR).   The phenomenal growth continued and looks to be off to a great start for 2014.  Although the industry has seen a number of new races come and go.  With some never getting past the announcement phase, while other races managed to collect entry money without ever actually putting on a race.  This past year also saw the first filming of a race by a major sports network.  That was NBC Sports filming the Spartan Race Championship in VT last September.  Although the resulting TV program was not quite a thrill-a-minute [Obstacle Course Racing on TV...well, it's a start!] it was a big step towards building a fan base for this emerging sport.

Speaking of championship races, there was another trend developing late in 2013.  Where last year saw new races growing like weeds, the new trend seems to be for Championship races.  So far, besides the already established Spartan Race Championship, there were announcements from Warrior Dash, OCR World Championship and well, another race called OCR World Championship.  Strangely enough, neither OCR World Championship race actually exists right now and don't seem to have the OCR racing community support at the moment.  Go figure!....growing pains I guess.

Then there was the announcement of a new OCR sanctioning body [USOCR].  Interestingly, this sanctioning body seems to have come to being by self-proclamation...kinda like the big-bang.  Not that I have any objections to this or questions about the qualifications or motives of these individuals.  It's probably a good and necessary step in the growth of the sport.  Just seems like this should grow (as my son might say) organically as OCR matures.  A coming together of the major competitors.......to bring order from chaos, so to speak.  But again, what do I know.  Some are born great, some have greatness thrust upon them and some just declare themselves great and leave the proof as a class assignment.

There's an interesting dilemma here too.  One of the major OCR promoters isn't even a race!  That being Tough Mudder.  It's not a race...it isn't timed...so how do you have a champion when you don't even have a winner!! [Although there is a "World's Toughest Mudder" competition, which is run in a different manner than their other races].  This could actually get sticky (no pun intended...no really!) at some point for Tough Mudder.  Without timed events, they can't be used as qualifying races for any of the so-called championship races.  So they may be left as the only major competitor with a "let's just have fun" attitude.

Last April I was prognosticating on the future of OCR [see The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing (Part1) and The present and future of Obstacle Course Racing - Part Deux)] and a major shortcoming of the races is that virtually no one could see them. At the time, there were a few obstacles visible to spectators, but the vast majority of the race was out of sight.   At the Spartan Championship in Vermont, there was definitely a huge improvement in fan viewing. Quite a number of obstacles were near the festival area, including Barbed-Wire-lite...so named (by me) because of it's shorter length, 2 foot clearance and relatively dry condition. Looks impressive, but not too scary to the non-racer (read: parents, non-racing spouses, kids, etc) and barely an inconvenience for the experienced racers.

So fans were able to get a view of their racers although most of the race, even this one, still takes place off stage. And how do you know when your racer would come through that area?  Go grab some food and you may have missed them...and not even know! That's double tough when you're talking about a course where the WINNING times were near 4 hours.

Another thing that hasn't changed noticeably from last year is that you still can't really track the "elite" racers at the event. At Vermont, most everyone racing was out on the course anyway as the winners were coming in.  Unavoidable in this particular instance I guess.  There really should be a separate day for the elites to run this Championship race...maybe...someday [note to self - see multiple new championship races announced recently].  But I suppose, one thing at a time.  First, they need to figure out how to cover a race and make it exciting.  Someone out there has to know how to do that!

The Present and Future of Obstacle Course Racing...and other secrets of the universe (Part deux)

[continuation from part one (the present and future of obstacle course racing - part one)]

In part one, I talked about the need for fans...and to have fans, the need to be able to watch a good portion of the races in real time...whether at the race or from somewhere else.

The fact is, that the only fans of the sport you have right now are the very racers attending the events. I would be surprised if many others (outside of some family and friends) were following any of these races at all.  Even if anyone wanted to watch or follow them, there's no practical way of doing it.

So what you have right now is the typical OCR racer paying to race and indirectly providing whatever prize money the elite racers receive (with some corporate sponsors of course). However, most of the racers don't know even a quarter of these elite racers and the ones they do know, they rarely get to see other than a few Facebook pictures. Many may not even care...the focus of these events so far has been primarily on the racing itself and the competition/teamwork.  Neither the NFL, the NBA or any other professional sport is like this...why would one expect OCR to somehow become successful in this strange fan arrangement...or in the absence of any fan base to speak of?

[Editor's note: in the time between part one and part deux, a blog was written on the definition of "elite"...(Ekaterina Solovieva - "Are You Elite?" blog)...so, in all likelihood, the elite racer is actually a figment of the author's deranged imagination anyway]

There are also other factors in the sport that vary greatly from promoter to promoter.  Some events don't even keep times...they consider the challenge to finish and value teamwork over times.  Race lengths vary from 3 miles to over 26 miles...and that isn't even considering the World's Toughest Mudder or Spartan Death Race.  Not only do the race lengths vary, but so do the number of obstacles and density (obstacles per mile).  Some people feel there should be a balance between the running and obstacle challenges.  That will be another aspect that will play itself out in the competition between the events themselves.

The greatest efforts will likely have to be made in the area of viewing the races.  Initially it will be the families and friends of the racers and the racers themselves that want to see.  Spartan Race has recently started using their chip technology for tracking the racers to identify their personal videos.  What if you used that same technology to track a racer over the course.  A smartphone app could be developed for their fans to monitor their progress.  Maybe even use this tracking to notify their fans that the racer is approaching a particular obstacle.  Then they could watch a monitor at the event that was live broadcasting the obstacle and actually watch...or even watch remotely.  I'm sure there are many other ways to bring this about, and some may already be in some stage of  planning.

Coincidentally, another blog post came out since yesterday after part one of this blog.  It seems like the changing of the "sport" has been on a lot of people's minds.  It's another perspective on the growing trend towards the reality of professional obstacle racers. (Amelia Boone - "Walking a tightrope")  Certainly, money will change things...some things for the better, some for the worse.  And which is which depends on who you ask.  But there will be opportunities for people in all types of ancillary areas...training, equipment, health products too.  It might be a few years from now, but make no mistake big changes are coming to OCR.

However, as with any change, there are always those that feel it's the wrong direction.  Sometimes it's because they just like the way things are and have no interest in seeing anything change at all.  Sometimes it's just about the way it will change the sport for the racers themselves.  Personally, I like the idea of each race course being unique...and changing from year to year.  I really believe that not knowing what's ahead is one of the greatest challenges these races offer.  Others think course standardization is the way to go.

What motivated me to finally write about this was a post I saw on Facebook...actually a link on another racers timeline to this post (Ekaterina Solovieva post).  Whatever you think about the future of OCR, the only certainty is that the sport will change...that is guaranteed.  It may grow into the Olympic sport that some want to see.  It may peak soon then fade back to what it is now...a weekend challenge for people that enjoy the feeling of accomplishment by simply finishing.

The one thing all the OCR powers-that-be should remember is that the golden geese are the racers.  Whatever lofty plans they have and whatever changes they make to reach their particular goals, they'd better make sure the hordes are with them.  Because once you lose them, getting them back is like herding chickens...or maybe geese!  Now that would be a real challenge....