VENTURES UR MUDDY AD YO LL A H G U YOU THRO SUPPORTING
5 N/JULY‘16 £4.9 ISSUE #15 JU
LEARN HOW TO CLIMB A ROPE technique Tried and tested top to get you to the
MAKE WALLS YOUR NEW FAVOURITE LE OBSTallsAanC y longer Don’t fear w
INTERVIEW WITH JOE NAof DEunSdeE r and CEO Co fo Spartan Race
15
9 772053 949001
LEARN HOW TOR RECOVE FASTER 10 of the best recovery tips
FEATURE
Y GET READR FOR YOUR FIRST OC see Our guide willugh you thro
S E O D E R E H W T E K C I T R U YO MONEY GO
e Find out where othes muddy money g
SHORTS AND BRAS TESTED S HICH BRAND FIND OUT W P TO N COME OUT O
EDITOR’S LETTER
So what’s been happening since the last issue of ORM Managing Director Kevin Newey kevin@obstacleracemagazine.com 07932 411592
Designed By RAWWW www.rawww.com 0845 371 0993
Editor Carl Wibberley carl@obstacleracemagazine.com 01246 241780
Published By Spuddy Media Ltd, 370 Wheelwright Lane, Ash Green Coventry, CV7 9HL
Subscriptions Caroline Newey caroline@obstacleracemagazine.com 07827 962542
Printed By Warners Midlands Plc The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH 01778 395 111
CONTRIBUTORS Dave Peters (Sept 12th 1962), Kevin Meredith (OCR Training, How to climb a wall, How to climb a rope), Sam Winkworth (The curse of the OCR Comparison), PT EMZ Bootcamp Revolution (I’m not made of sugar), Kevin Stevens (To aid or not to aid)
PHOTOGRAPHY James Appleton (jamesappleton. co.uk) for Toughest, Shaun Wilde, OCR Training Tony Jarvis for Nuclear Races Epic Action Imagery for Dirty Dozen, Toughest, Front cover Phil Drinkwater for How to climb a wall/rope
Every effort is made to ensure that the advertising and editorial content in Obstacle Race Magazine is supplied from reliable and reputable sources and is contributed with integrity and accuracy. However no warranties or claims can be made against Obstacle Race Magazine in respect of the contents OR the views of individuals who do not necessarily represent the views of the Magazine, Spuddy Media Ltd or the Publisher
Lots that’s what! For one, I clocked up my first ever DNF at Red Bull Neptune Steps - I was truly taught a lesson about being prepared there. Next up I tried my hardest to follow Alice down a rabbit hole but unfortunately I didn’t make it to the tea party nor did my ankle, ouch. So I’m off my feet for a little while giving my ankle a chance to heal. But swimming sessions are keeping me busy, even after the waters of Glasgow treated me so cruelly. It does mean however that my running will be back to square one again. I think I can safely say that Airfield Anarchy will hurt a little while doing all three distances this month. This issue is a real mixed bag of tricks but with a strong theme around training for your next race it’ll give you the confidence out on the course you need. There’s an insightful dose of industry news and some cracking race reviews that will transport you right back into the mud whilst having a cup of tea. If you haven’t already seen, we’re planning our first Obstacle Race Magazine Community wave at Rock Solid Race in Milton Keynes on the 29th of October. It’ll be a sea of ORM vests as far as the eye can see. We have a cracking discount for anyone who joins the 10km 12.40 wave with us. For more details, search “Obstacle Race Magazine Community” on Facebook and join the group. See you in the mud
Ca rl
CARL WIBBERLEY (EDITOR)
ISSN 2053-9495
WRITE TO US
Website: obstacleracemagazine.com
Obstacle Race Magazine, 370 Wheelwright Lane Ash Green, Coventry, CV7 9HL
Youtube: youtube.com/obstacleracemagazine
TO SUBSCRIBE
Instagram: @obstacleracemagazine
www.obstacleracemagazine.com
Facebook: obstacleracemagazine
Twitter: @UKORM
CONTENTS FEATURES
8 12TH SEPTEMBER 1962 Dave Peters shares his beliefs with you and hopes it may help you in one of your races in the near future.
16 OCR RACING & TRAINING GUIDE PART ONE Your guide to get you ready for your first race.
22 INTRODUCING TEAM ORM Find out more about the fantastic bunch of ambassadors we chose to represent Obstacle Race Magazines.
30 HOW TO CLIMB A ROPE Your guide to make the rope climb look easy.
34 THE DIRTY SUBJECT Where exactly does your ticket money go.
40 THE CURSE OF THE OCR COMPARISION Don’t worry about what others are doing and stick to your own plan.
48 MUDNIFICENT OCR & EXPO The line up is complete. See why this is the no.1 event to do this summer.
73 RECOVERY TIPS Tips to help you stay on top form for racing and training.
84 TO AID OR NOT TO AID
58 I’M NOT MADE OF SUGAR
Do we help or not? With recent events in OCR, it seems it's a bigger question than we initially thought.
PT Emz's latest thoughts on OCR and training.
94 OCR RACING & TRAINING GUIDE PART TWO Your guide to get you ready for your first race.
100 THE GREAT ESCAPE
PROFILES
Find out what makes The Great Escape different to anything else in the OCR scene right now.
66 TO INSPIRE
102 WALL TRAINING
74 INTERVIEW WITH JOE DE SENA
Scale a wall so smoothly you’ll look like a racing pro.
6 Obstacle Race Magazine
Shaun proves that ages is just a number.
We get an update with the main man himself.
REGULARS
42 MUDDY RACE Find out what happens to your body when you take on an obstacle race.
56 HEALTH HACKS The little pieces of kit and nutrition that can make a huge difference to your racing and training.
62 MUDTREST WALL The pages of the magazine that let you share your muddy adventures.
78 LETTERS PAGE REVIEW
12 MAJOR SERIES NORTH
Share with us your stories and adventures on the letters page.
86 10 SECOND RACE ROUNDUP
Find out just how much fun the major has in store for you.
A quick glimpse of the races we weren’t able to fully review from the past two months.
26 REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS
88 INDUSTRY NEWS
Editor Carl tells us what it felt like to get his first DNF.
44 DIRTY DOZEN RACES
Find out what Grant thought of what Doug Spence AKA The Beard served up on the latest instalment of Dirty Dozen.
80 TOUGHEST - LONDON
We finally get a taste of what the Scandinavians have been raving about.
Delivering you the news from all corners of the industry.
110 EVENTS LISTING All the events coming up over the next few months.
114 BOOTCAMP LISTING Listing of some of the best places to train for your next race challenge.
90 NUCLEAR RACES - RUSH
What did James & the team have in store for 8,000 eager racers
TESTING
38 SHORTS FOR RACING AND TRAINING We try out some of the best choices of twin skinned shorts on the market that will save you a fortune on base layers.
70 BRAS FOR RACING Find out which bra brands can stand up to the demands of OCR.
37 CHIA CHARGE - COMPETITION Win yourself a full case of these delicious bars to fuel your racing and training.
Obstacle Race Magazine 7
FEATURE : SEPT 12 1962
SEPT 12 1962 Written by: DAVE PETERS, Lead Coach of Energise Mud Runners
In 1962 JFK made a speech to the American people in which he referred to the space race and the reasons why America felt it important to conquer space travel.
8 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : SEPT 12 1962
In that speech many of the reasons he made stood true not just then but still now in this day. Some of it in the reasons why people take on the challenge of the OCR, the reasons why people train hard and to push on to another level, the reasons that people want to work hard to achieve higher race placings or qualification for international and national races. Many of the reasons he gave outlined the same beliefs I have as a coach and aim to empower people with, so much so that I have chosen it as the motto for my new Rumble Fitness Academy. I’d like to share those beliefs with you today and hopefully it may help you in one of your races in the near future. It may help you in your training or it may just help you to inspire someone else.
call my friend Harry Underwood told me about it. Harry was one of our founding members at Energise Mud Runners back in 2014. He along with seven others decided they would listen to my colleague and I and scupper thoughts of what sounded like madness to join us at The Nuts Challenge for 7km of Mud and mayhem.
You see I was unaware of the apparently famous “Choose to go to the moon speech” until one of my own runners and now a man I am proud to
Having seen our team love every second of the course we readied ourselves from what was already being billed as surely one of the hardest Nuts 4 laps
It was 8 brilliantly fun weeks of training and then off to The Nuts Challenge we went. My newly named colleague CKD (Contract Killer Dave called so for his unforgiving relentless style of coaching) and I supported our team, already expanded to 15 by this stage at the race while preparing ourselves for the brutal 4 laps the next day.
Obstacle Race Magazine 9
FEATURE : SEPT 12 1962
ever. For anyone who was there on that day in March 2014 it was one of the most brutal courses they have ever had with the fewest finishers ever. I was one of the many DNF's. On my way to the car to warm up Harry had rushed back over from a spectating point to see me at the finish line where I had pulled out before finishing. He could see the disappointment in my eyes before giving me a muddy hug and telling me he was proud of me no matter whether I finished or not. He was proud of me for even attempting something that for us at the time seemed almost impossible. In the weeks leading up to the event we were discussing a team motto, one for the back of our shirts. As a group we decided on “How hard can it be?”, a motto we have worn ever since. However, it was in the decision for this that Harry came to me and asked me to go and look up a speech. That speech was the speech by JFK in September 1962. He felt that this may have had more bearing for what we were about to take on. I researched it and I was instantly agreeable with Harry, however I feel many did not research the speech and therefore the meaning was lost. I have chosen to highlight this speech to all of you readers so that you too can feel inspired by it.
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organise and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.” JFK, Sept 12th 1962, Texas. Moons take on many sizes and come in all different types. A little while ago the majority of the Energise Mud Runners were taking on challenges that were smaller. Shorter in distance and lower in difficulty, although not for everyone. In such a short space of time OCR has provided them with the platform for success, the room for taking on board new challenges that will test them mentally and physically normal people doing great things. I have seen mums and dads, Grandads even scale mountains. Harry went from being cautious of doing 7km at The Nuts Challenge to the following year not only taking on 14km but winning his age category. Since then he has worked hard and continued to travel to further
10 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : SEPT 12 1962
moons, Man vs Mountain, trail half marathons, fitness competitions and now is a two time winner of his age group at Nuts. You don’t have to be the top in the country to experience the thrill and enjoyment of reaching the moon. You don’t have to be a full time athlete to take on these things and succeed. Harry, I and many other of our EMR group are normal fun loving people just like the majority of readers of this magazine and yet I see every one of them achieve extraordinary things. Choosing to go to the moon has given us amazing memories. It has given has self-belief beyond so many others limitations. Confidence has grown and our performance has improved beyond recognition because
we believe it can. Our worlds have been opened up to new challenges, at all stages of our lives we are still finding out about ourselves and best of all, we are doing it alongside each other. We are making new friends and bonds with people and sharing experiences. For me choosing to go to the moon is more than just taking on a race. It’s about taking on races that will break me. Force me to dig deep into the depths of my mental toughness and fight to keep going. Races like Nuts 4 laps. Challenges like the one I am taking on with many of my other team mates “The Nutty Challenge”, doing man vs mountain on September 3rd and the 4 laps of Nuts on the 4th raising money for our
local hospital while we do. For you the moon may be different. Yours could be something more like completing 1 lap of nuts just like Harry’s was 2 years ago. It may be doing a 5km park run! The key is that you are not put off by the challenge of going to the moon. You are not afraid to try and take on a challenge that will serve to organise and measure the best of your energies and skills. One you are willing to accept, unwilling to postpone and one you intend to win. Never be afraid to fail when choosing the challenges that will truly measure the best of you because when you succeed at those things there is no better feeling. We’ve all done it, and so can you. Choose to go to the moon.
Obstacle Race Magazine 11
REVIEW : MAJOR SERIES NORTH
MAJOR SERIES NORTH Written by: LOUISE BALLANTYNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY: MAJOR SERIES
12 Obstacle Race Magazine
REVIEW : MAJOR SERIES NORTH
ARRIVAL
ON ARRIVING AT MAJOR SERIES NORTH, AFTER A 5 HOUR DRIVE FROM SCOTLAND, IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE RACE WAS GOING TO BE WELL ORGANISED, AND WITH BRITISH MILITARY FITNESS BEHIND IT, THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NO SURPRISE.
Car parking was slick; we parked up and in minutes had walked over to the event village. The event village was well organised; with no big queues (as registration packs had been sent out in advance), the cleanest OCR toilets I have ever seen, and plenty of food outlets for a pre race bite to eat. The staff were very helpful and were clearly visible, should anyone have any queries or need help, and they soon had us registered via the media tent, ready to race in the 10:45am wave. After a fun and energetic warmup, with the Major in the lead, we headed to the start line on what was an unusually warm and sunny March morning. The course itself was great; a good mix of terrain and obstacles spread out through muddy bogs, thick woods and river crossings. Early on, the BMF zone was a great addition to the warm up. With burpees, press ups and air squats, it really got the heart pumping before leaving the area to move towards the next zone. I feel
this could have done with someone ensuring As we moved through the course, it was that reps were done properly; maybe that’s clear that a lot of thought had gone into the the fitness coach and Spartan Race enthusiast positioning and spacing of obstacles with coming out but there were lots of half reps, each zone challenging you in different ways. which definitely wouldn’t have counted in my The Marine zone was great; lots of water, lots classes or in other races. of mud and taking racers The first woodland over the Vanishing Bridge; THE FIRST WOODLAND section was brutal- mud, essentially, a leap of faith; SECTION WAS BRUTALand lots of it! I was in my moving fast and ultimately MUD, AND LOTS OF IT! element- that’s one of the ending up in the water at reasons we do this, right? some point. However, there were a few people near me Entering into the Land zone, there was a lot who didn’t cope well, a few lost shoes and even more running required between obstacles. Here some needing to be pulled out. A slick pace was it became obvious who the ‘runners’ were and definitely key; otherwise, you weren’t making who the ‘OCR runners’ were, with lots of runners it through. At this stage, it was brilliant to see missing obstacles and sprinting past. I was such great team spirit, with fellow racers and overtaken here by quite a few; whereas, even marshals alike, helping everyone through. This with bottlenecks starting to form, I waited and wasn’t the only mud filled area, but luckily, most completed the obstacles. During these times, I of these sections ended with a stream or pond met some awesome OCR enthusiasts and again, to wash some of it off. spirits were high and team support was great.
Obstacle Race Magazine 13
REVIEW : MAJOR SERIES NORTH
As we got closer to completion, again, lots of running as we made our way through the Air Zone, but very well spaced out with lots of obstacles in between. It was in this zone that some of my favourite obstacles were; walls, cargo net and cammo net crawls, which all led in nicely to the final section of the course; the Extraction Zone, with the two ‘biggest’ obstacles, the slide and the A Frame, before the sprint to the finish line. Before catching glimpse of the finish line, between the slide and the A Frame, there was a running IT WAS A VERY SLICK section up hill, before joining onto the tarmac PROCESS AT THE path; one thing which FINISH LINE, I feel could’ve been improved on. With trail shoes and after 9.5km, tarmac was the last thing I needed for my run towards the finish line. Probably just a personal thing, but with grass at either side of the path, I'd have much rather followed the course round on the grass instead. It was a very slick process at the finish line, with someone handing medals and finisher packs and someone removing chip timing and someone else taking a note of timing just in case a runner had lost their chip on course. This, in fact, was me; not the most secure chip timing band I have seen, and when moving through mud as fast as you can, I’m sure there were a lot more lost than just mine. The finisher pack was great; I don’t drink Red Bull so gave this away but the t shirt was a good fit and I was happy with the discount code for Blacks. Overall, a great course; 10km measured out almost exactly and perfect for entry level OCR. There were a range of people there from various backgrounds, and nobody should’ve had a problem completing it as there were plenty of BMF instructors and marshals around the course. A great range of obstacles, none overly technical, but enough to challenge all levels of fitness. I would normally race in the first wave to save queuing at obstacles, but due to the long drive down to Scotland, that wasn’t possible this time.
DESPITE THIS, I STILL MANAGED TO FINISH 26TH OUT OF 794 AND IT WAS A FUN EVENT WITH EXCELLENT TEAM SPIRIT AND ORGANISATION.
14 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
16 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES GUIDE Written by: Kevin Meredith of Origin Inspired OCR Centre Photography by: JAMES APPLETON PHOTOGRAPHY
INTRO
PART ONE
FOLLOWING ON FROM OUR PREVIOUS ARTICLE ABOUT PRE-RACE TRAINING, HERE IS PART TWO OF THREE The big day has arrived, you have trained hard in the build up, nerves the night before meant you're a little tired but that knot in your stomach is full of excitement and adrenaline. So how do you stay calm, focus and get your race day plan into action to make sure you achieve the goal you have set yourself and also make the most of all the hard training you have put in during the build up? Like the last article I have some help from friends and the OCR experienced to help you on your way.
COLLABORATORS Conor Hancock (OCR competitor & UK no.1), I've always trained since a young age. As I love a challenge and felt in decent shape, I thought I'd sign up for Man V Mountain in 2013. Placing 5th in this I wanted to see what I could achieve. I signed up for TM in October and then Spartan Beast in November. Unaware I was stood on the start line with some of the best obstacle racers in the UK, I was aiming to win. Finishing 3rd behind Jon Albon 1st, Ross McDonald 2nd, I was happy but not yet content. It got me wanting to race these guys as much as possible to learn and improve. Since then I've had a great time racing all over the place, meeting stacks of OCR people. Freya Martin (OCR competitor & UK no.1 Female), becoming a mum in 2013 made me change my sporting focus from endurance triathlon to OCR and I did my first event at Spartan Beast in 2014. I was immediately hooked (not least because of the prize opportunities that are so poor in most amateur sports). After some success I am now very hungry for more and have my sights firmly set on the World OCR champ’s podium 2016 (well you have to dream big don't you?).
Doug Spence (Race Director of Dirty Dozen Races), Doug ‘The Beard’ Spence lives and breathes obstacles and not content with designing & building behemoth obstacles for Dirty Dozen Races, he has built what is one of the toughest ‘short’ courses in the UK in his garden. He is a keen climber and passionate about sports psychology and a fan of anything that takes him out of his comfort zone. When not designing new obstacles he teaches obstacle technique with a big focus on efficiency and building confidence. James Appleton (OCR competitor & UK no.2), Before OCR, I was a runner and climber who wasn't particularly top-level at either. Discovering that a combination of both was actually pretty handy, I competed in more Tough Guy's than I can remember from 2006 - 2011, winning three. After that, I took a break until a chance meeting with both Scott Keneally and Pete Rees convinced me to have a look back in. I haven't looked back since... Darren Foote (Mountain Fuel), I joined the Royal Military Police in 1986 during which time I qualified as an army P.T. In 2008 I set up Mountain Fuel nutrition. I have worked with many organisations such as the British military expeditionary forces, and walking with the wounded, putting flags on the North, South pole and various places all over the world. In 2009 I qualified in sports nutrition. In 2011 I qualified as a UK athletics coach, specialising in sprinting and strength conditioning. Today, as well as running Mountain Fuel with Rupert Bonington, I also teach at Ebbw Vale College lecturing public services and fitness assessments both civilian and military.
Obstacle Race Magazine 17
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
Joda Quigley (OCR competitor & multiple Spartan winner), My background is in Equestrian Sports. My first OCR experience was a Spartan in 2013. I was still boxing so my fitness was good but I still wasn't sure about competing in OCR. It was my fiancé John and his belief in me that convinced me to do it. I was in the Elite wave not feeling very Elite, but I gave it my best and came in First Female. I have never had to push myself so hard but I loved it so I decided that my future was in OCR. Scott Brown (5th place at World's Toughest Mudder 2015 & multiple WTM competitor) - I’m 33yrs old and an ex-Army P.T then Bodyguard. I’m now a Bootcamp and fitness coach in Ayrshire, Scotland. I've been asked for some input on WTM and endurance race prep due to my successes at these events, one event of which being WTM which I’ve completed 4 times.
1) TRAINING/APPLYING TECHNIQUE Most of the training has now been done but there are still things you can do to improve your chances at success and make the whole experience more enjoyable. A good warm up is the first step to getting the body ready for a race. If the muscles are cold and the cardiovascular system is not ready, the first few kilometres are going to be hard work which can have detrimental effects on results. Plus you have a heightened chance of injury if you don’t so be smart and do a proper warm up. Just like before a workout session get the body warm, stretch the muscles to prepare them for exercise. Spending 10-15 minutes to ready yourself physically and mentally can give you the added focus which will fuel your mental state during the race. Many races do a warm up before the wave sets off but these do not always
18 Obstacle Race Magazine
cover everything so have your routine planned and stick to it. Look at the last ORM magazine to see what pre-race training you could be doing to improve your performance. “I try and be as fluid as possible, but have never been the most agile racer - it doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to someone like Conor Hancock or Thomas Blanc. But I try and be a little more reckless on race day and less "careful" than I normally would be. With my running, I try and stay light and up on my toes, not getting too bogged down and flat-footed which can slow you down in muddy terrain. Also being sensible with how you deal with obstacles - it's all well and good crushing a section of monkey bars at top speed, all biceps, but if you've got a whole load more arm-strength sapping obstacles to come, you'd be better hanging long and being efficient.” James On race day your body is in good condition due to your prior training, so it's time to consider the techniques you will need to apply on the day. Applying those techniques alongside the right fuel and mind set is what will get you through the race and in a position you had been aiming for. There is not time to go over specific obstacle techniques in this article as there are plenty of other articles that do this and ideally you should be going to a clinic or centre to get your technique ready for race day from a coach. Race day is all about the execution of techniques under pressure. “Technique is king but being able to employ technique when are you are blowing is harder than you expect – poor form and brute force seem to edge their way to the forefront - just when you don’t need them. This is where tactics come into play and a key tactic is being patient. As you come up to an obstacle, your inner voice is just screaming ‘get over this any way you can’
but if you take a second just to compose and remind yourself of the key steps needed to complete the obstacle you’ll do 2 things, you’ll quieten down the inner voice and you’ll catch your breath. Raising your chances of completing that obstacle first time” Doug Being physically and mentally ready on the day is what you want. All our training has built to this moment so all that is left is to trust our bodies, race your race, stay mentally focused and concentrate on the techniques you have practiced. So why do we need techniques? In my opinion being able to approach something with a technique in mind can be the difference between failure or success. Being able to approach an obstacle with a polished technique is the difference between average and excellence. Flat speed or pure strength isn't enough - it's also massively down to recovery. With that in mind, I normally allow my legs a few "easy" steps when approaching an obstacle to allow me to gather my composure, and give them a fraction more rest before they have to "go" again once I'm off the obstacle.” James James and Doug are spot on with their advice, many people I teach in OCR training clinics get told over and over again to take a little time before just leaping over an obstacle. Many obstacles are better approached with smooth, fluid technique and not just brute force and power. So when approaching an obstacle allow yourself a second to take a couple of breaths, recover slightly and get focused. With a rope get a good firm footing, look to where you are going, take a breath and then use your foot technique to steady reach the top. With monkey bars, climb onto the starting foot rung, look to see what the bars are like. Are they thick or thin, smooth or textured, wet or dry?
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
IF YOU KNOW YOU CANT DO SOMETHING IT'S A MAJOR MENTAL HURDLE GOING INTO A RACE.
Then whilst taking a few breaths decide on your technique and then commit. This may take 5 or even 10 seconds but it's better than falling off because you rushed or slipping and injuring yourself. For a top racers neck and neck near the finish line this may not always seem like the best option so only experience will make you capable of measuring the risks of speed vs caution. That said I have passed lots of people near the finish line that have rushed and fallen and so have had to restart or take a penalty. “Obstacle technique needs practise so that it is automatic in racing. Adrenaline might give you an edge during a race but if you know you can't do something it is a major mental hurdle going into a race and may put you in a negative frame of mind. I work on hill technique running form on the treadmill and with plyometrics. I am a fairly strong believer in natural running.” Freya “All-in-all, be tactical and efficient, rather than going for the show-boating arms-only rope climb. It pays off over the whole race, and will only do more so until course-designers get over the current trend to try and break people/take wristbands. I'm hopeful this will happen sooner rather than later, but in the meantime all the racer can do is be clever and preserve their energy for the one moment when they'll really need it.” James For me climbing ropes and traversing links into to my Kung Fu and Tai Chi training as they are simple universal principles. When I teach these I tell my students it is fluid, relaxed economical movements that makes a good martial artist. My mantra is “technique over power, a calm mind is a focused mind.” I think this can be applied to most things and OCR is no exception
2) NUTRITION What you put in your body on the morning of the race and during the race will have a huge impact on your race performance. The weeks and months before will have made sure your body is in great shape for race day but choosing the right stuff to eat race day will give you the added edge you may need to attain your goal on the day. Also the distance of the event will determine how to structure your food for the day. A shorter event of say 5-10k will not need fuel during the race as you can fuel before, however a longer event like a 18k or even something as brutal as World's Toughest Mudder (24hr OCR) will require drastically different nutrition plans. Have a food plan for the week which finishes after your recovery meal 24hrs after your race. Then stick to that plan to get the best results.
“As for food is concerned, never take anything on race day you've not tried and tested a few times. The same goes for clothing.” Scott Nutrition is a wide subject and so we can only look at a little part of the big picture but here are some options and ideas. Our build up to race day and what we have on the day of the race can have a huge effect on the outcome of your race. Like a good engine you must power it with the right fuel. So don’t underestimate the importance of good nutrition. “Pre race: I eat bananas and toast 3 hours before racing. Then I have 1 GU gel 20 minutes before. During a race depending on distance I will have a gel at about 6 miles in or 45 minutes in. Then one Gel every 30 or so minutes from then. After racing I will eat something savoury as soon as I can stomach it. This generally includes some sort of carbs and protein.” Freya
HYDRATION brought to you by Darren Drink and be ready! Exercise is thirsty work. Whenever you exercise you lose fluid, not only through sweating but also as water vapour in the air that you breathe out. The harder and longer you exercise, and the hotter and more humid the environment, the more fluid you will lose. Your body’s fluid losses can be very high and, if the fluid is not replaced quickly, dehydration will follow. This will have an adverse effect on your physical performance and health. Exercise will be much harder and you will suffer fatigue sooner.
WHY DO I SWEAT? First, let us consider what happens to your body when you exercise. When your muscles start exercising, they produce extra heat. In fact, about 75% of the energy you put into exercise is converted into heat, and is then lost. This is why exercise makes you feel warmer. Extra heat has to be dissipated to keep your inner body temperature within safe limits around 37-38 C. If your temperature rises too high, normal body functions are upset and eventually heat. The major method of heat dispersal during exercise is sweating. Water from your body is carried to your skin via your blood capillaries and as it evaporates you lose heat. For every litre of sweat that evaporates you will lose around 600 Calories (2,500 kJ) of heat energy from your body. (You can lose some heat through convection and radiation, but it is not very much compared with
sweating). Not surprisingly, fluid losses during exercise can be very high.
HOW MUCH FLUID DO I LOSE? The amount of sweat that you produce and, therefore, the amount of fluid that you lose, depends on: • • • •
how hard you are exercising how long you are exercising for the temperature and humidity of your surroundings you as an individual
The harder and longer you exercise, and the hotter and more humid the environment, the more fluid you will lose. During one hours exercise an average person could expect to lose around one litre (two pints) of fluid - and even more in hot conditions. During more strenuous exercise in warm or humid conditions (e.g. marathon running) you could be losing as much as two litres (four pints) an hour. Some people sweat more profusely than others, even when they are doing the same exercise in the same surroundings. This depends partly on body weight and size (a smaller body produces less sweat), your fitness level (the fitter and better acclimatized to warm conditions you are, the more readily you sweat due to better thermoregulation), and individual factors (some people simply sweat more than others!). In general, women tend to produce less sweat than men, due to their smaller body size and their greater economy in fluid loss. The more you sweat, the more care you should take to avoid dehydration. You can estimate your sweat loss, and therefore how much fluid you should drink by weighing yourself before and after exercise. Every 1kg (2.2lb) decrease in weight should be replaced with 1 litre (1.76 pints) of fluid.
WHAT ARE THE DANGERS OF DEHYDRATION? An excessive loss of fluid (dehydration) impairs performance and has an adverse effect on health. It places extra strain on the heart, lungs and circulatory system, which means the heart has to work harder to pump blood around your body. Exercise becomes much harder as volume decreases and the loss of just 2% in your weight will affect your ability to exercise, and performance will deteriorate by 10-20% (i.e. your running time would fall by that amount). If you lose 4%, you may experience nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. At 5% your performance will decrease by 30%, while an 8% drop will cause dizziness, laboured breathing, weakness and confusion.
Obstacle Race Magazine 19
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
Greater drops have very serious consequences. Ironically, the more dehydrated you become, the less able your body is to sweat. This is because dehydration results in a smaller blood volume (due to excessive loss of fluid), and so a compromise has to be made between maintaining the blood flow to muscles and maintaining the blood to the surface of the skin to carry away heat. Usually the blood flow to the skin is reduced, causing your body temperature to rise. If you carry on exercising without replacing fluids you become more and more dehydrated. Your body temperature will increase more and more, and a vicious circle will be set up, resulting eventually in fatigue or heat stroke.
WHEN SHOULD I DRINK? Obviously, prevention is better than cure; make sure you are well hydrated before you start to exercise by drinking plenty of fluids, especially in hot and humid weather. If you train in the evening, make sure you have had enough fluids during the day. If you train in the morning, make sure you have plenty to drink first thing before you set out. As a guide, you should be producing a dilute, pale coloured urine. If it looks deep yellow and concentrated, you may be dehydrated and therefore need to drink more. As soon as you start exercising, you will start to lose fluid, so try to offset this by drinking at suitable intervals whenever possible. The more you sweat, the more you need to drink. Drink as much as you comfortably can aim for about a quarter to half a pint every 15 minutes. This may take some getting used to if you do not normally drink anything. If you have found in the past that drinking during exercise makes you feel nauseous, take just the occasional sip to start with. Then get into the habit of taking a few mouthfuls until you become accustomed
20 Obstacle Race Magazine
to taking more fluid. A little is better than none at all. If you exercise for less than 30 minutes there is less danger of dehydration, and drinking during exercise is probably less important. Make sure, though, that you are well hydrated to start with and that you drink plenty afterwards. Drink freely after exercise to replace your fluid losses. Do not wait until you feel thirsty, as this means you are already dehydrated. It is virtually impossible to drink too much - drinking too little is much more
WHY DO I FEEL NAUSEOUS WHEN DRINKING DURING EXERCISE? If you feel nauseous or experience other gastrointestinal symptoms when you drink, the chances are you are already dehydrated! Even a fairly small degree of dehydration (around 2% of body weight) slows down stomach emptying and upsets the normal rhythmical movement of your gut. This can result in feelings of bloatedness, nausea and vomiting. Avoid this by drinking as much as you comfortably can before exercise and then continue drinking early on in your workout. Do not wait until you feel thirsty or save your drink until the latter stages of your workout! “For me, I normally try and eat a couple of hours in advance and then leave it at that - a good breakfast with plenty of fibre and a cup of coffee - recently I've started using Mountain Fuel's "Morning Fuel" and finding it works well for me, so I'm going to stick with that. During the race what I take depends on distance. If it's shorter than 90 minutes, I'll run on my tanks and not need to take anything else on board. Longer than that and I might take a few gels, normally up to a four hour race, and take one gel every 45 minutes. For even longer events, you need solid food and for this I'll take CLIF products, Shotblocks
and Bars that give you more sustained energy.” James “I would recommend bananas & clif bars. Coke is a favourite of mine; I drink this on ultramarathons late on the race to give me that final push. Please stay clear of the crazy stay awake bottles from your garages. My personal favourite is rice pudding it's easy enough to digest and it's thick enough to keep the hunger at bay. Stay away from caffeine the week before the event so the effect of these bars are better on the day and don't take them too early, wait a few hours so it has a better effect later in the race when you need them most. Everyone carries crash kit this means pick me ups for when you're tired i.e. red bull or Pro Plus as this will damage you and could prevent you from finishing or throwing up. Eat something every lap even before you feel hungry as if you wait to your hungry it is probably too late.” Scott Nutrition can seem very complicated. So keep it simple follow the advice of an experienced athlete or even better, a nutritionist like Darren. Don’t follow fads and stay away from advice from forums or blogs etc. on the whole as the information can be very misleading. As Scott suggests try out different things whilst training so when you come to race day you have a sound plan that is tried and tested and stick to it. Remember if you train to have a specialist engine you need to use special wholesome food. Practice does not make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect!
CONTINUED ON PAGE 98
DIVIDEBUY ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE PARTNERED WITH FITNESS TREE TO ENABLE THEIR CUSTOMERS TO
SPREAD THE COST ON THEIR PURCHASE
TOTALLY INTEREST FREE
Spread the cost on the Fitness Tree Primitive
3
Instalments of
£99.99
6
Instalments of
£49.99
Total Price £299.99
9
Instalments of
£33.33
Add the Fitness Tree Suspension Trainer to your order from £4.44
VISIT: FITNESSTREE.CO.UK
and look for the DivideBuy button
Order and credit processed and provided by DivideBuy.co.uk. DivideBuy is the trading name of Rematch Credit Limited.
FEATURE : INTRODUCING TEAM ORM
TEAM
ORM Written by: CARL WIBBERLEY
Ever since starting the magazine, it's always been a goal of mine to have a team of representatives running in the magazine colours at races. Fast forward a few years and it was decided that the time was right. In step Team ORM, a group of ladies whose enthusiasm and love for the sport of obstacle racing knows no limits. In this issue I’m going to let them
take the stage and let you know a little bit about themselves and what their plans are within the sport. Before letting them take over I just want to say in the short time they’ve been together, they have formed an extremely strong and supportive team who have made me incredibly proud to see them wearing our logo.
Louise Ballantyne #ORMLouBal How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I only got into it last year. I'm a fitness instructor and my friends (who are also instructors) decided that Spartan was a great idea. We trained our clients the best we could and we had an almost 50 strong team at the Edinburgh Sprint followed by 12 of us taking on the Super the next day. I had a serious injury in my foot as a result of my Ninja Warrior UK audition and I can't say I enjoyed any moment of that weekend, although something must’ve clicked, because now I'm addicted! What hobbies do you have outside OCR? To be honest my
22 Obstacle Race Magazine
life kind of revolves around OCR and fitness. Sad as it sounds, my job as a coach and PT is also a hobby. The reward of seeing someone else achieving is fab. I also love keeping fit myself and CrossFit or HIIT are my favourite ways to train. I love food, in fact, my day revolves around when my next meal is, so eating out is a hobby too. Finally, I love to travel and I want to see more of the world, although just now most of my travels are for races! What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? I'm proud that I've qualified for the UK, European and World Championships, but even happier that I've qualified in the Elite category. When I
first started this amazing sport I didn't ever think it would become competitive. I'm also proud of my friends and clients during races. They too have become hooked on the sport and seeing them achieve is the best feeling ever! What goals do you have for the future within OCR? One of my main goals is to improve my running generally, and learn to love it. It's my downfall. Generally, I can do the obstacles with no problems, but a long stretch of running slows me down. Now I've qualified, my goal is to compete in the championships. It'll be great to see where I place on a national and international level.
FEATURE : INTRODUCING TEAM ORM
Becky Lockwood #ORMBex How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I have been into OCR for just over a year now. 3 years ago I decided I wasn't happy with how I looked so I joined a local fitness group to lose weight and get fitter. I lost 3 stone! I wanted to up my game so I joined Mibootcamp where my trainer suggested I might like to take part in an obstacle race. Me having little fear and being daring thought it would be fun, so I signed up for a small local event which I enjoyed, I then decided to up my game and try Nuclear Races in May 2015 and wow!!! I fell in love! I also found out I was kind of OK at it as I finished 12th female! From this point I was
signing up for more and more races, now I think I'm addicted. What hobbies do you have outside OCR? I spend most of my time training for my races doing running, boot camp and obstacle training, but in my "free" time I do bake cakes and I even made my sister’s wedding cake last year! If you want a cake, now you know who to come to... ‘Bex the Baker’. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? My proudest racing achievement has to be qualifying for the World Championships this year at Nuclear Rush. I had a slight set back with a race the month
before Nuclear so I really focused and trained hard for Nuclear as I was determined to qualify for the Worlds and all my hard work helped as Nuclear was by far my best race to date. I flew across the obstacles feeling strong, I enjoyed every second of the race and to top it off I came 7th female. For the first time I really felt proud of what I had achieved. What goals do you have for the future within OCR? This year I have qualified for the UK, European and World Championships. This was my goal for 2016 but now I have achieved them my new goal is to try and keep my wristband on at all three races.
Chloe Fairburn #ORMChloe How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I have been racing for 3 years and the reason I started was that I needed a new fitness challenge. Since starting it's been a series of goals and achievements over the years to where I am now. What hobbies do you have outside OCR? My other hobby is Tae kwon do. I'm a third
degree black belt and have been training for over 10 years. I regularly teach at a local club in Gloucester. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? There have been many emotional proud moments during my time racingcompleting my first OCR, first monkey bars, first rope climb, first Rat Race Dirty Weekend,
first podium win. Most recently though, was my World Championship qualification. What goals do you have for the future within OCR? My future goals are to train hard for the World and UK championships and give it my all. My aspiration is to compete in a few OCR’s in Europe during 2017.
Kerrie Fisher #ORMKez How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I’ve been racing since October 2013. I heard about a local race through friends who all said it would be right up my street. So I took part with a guy as our second date!! What hobbies do you have outside OCR? I play netball when I have a race free weekend (what’s one of those
right?) and when I’m home I love to cook and read. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? My greatest achievement from racing is without a doubt both keeping my wristband and achieving a podium spot with my International Mud Chicks team mates at the 2015 OCR World Championships.
What goals do you have for the future within OCR? I set myself targets per race and generally if it’s a race I’ve attended before then I aim to do better than the last time. If it’s a new race, then I like to set myself positional targets. I would be incredibly proud to achieve a podium spot at some point in the near future and am working hard on my running to achieve it.
Obstacle Race Magazine 23
FEATURE : INTRODUCING TEAM ORM
Samantha Doughty #ORMSammyD How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? My first OCR was The Gauntlet at Spain's Hall in 2013. I joined a 6 week boot camp which trained to complete the OCR at the end. It was a 5k event and I had the biggest grin on my face the whole way around. I now take part in and marshal at as many events as I can‌So can take part in even more!
What hobbies do you have outside OCR? My hobbies are training for OCR's :-) After looking after my 3 children & working, it's hard to fit anything extra in. I train for OCR's by running, weight training and doing gym HIIT classes. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? I want to learn new techniques, bring down my
times and just make my team proud. Anything that happens as a result of that will just be a bonus. What goals do you have for the future within OCR? I want to learn new techniques, bring down my times and just make my team proud. Anything that happens as a result of that will just be a bonus.
Alexandra Duesbury #ORMAlexa How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I entered my first Tough Mudder in 2012, instantly caught the bug and bought a season pass! I then completed all the UK Tough Mudder courses in 2013, where I was offered the opportunity to work as the Tough Mudder warm-up girl - soon, notching up the laps and miles, Tough Mudder just wasn't enough! I met ORM editor Carl, and Kevin, who kindly took me to my first Spartan race in 2015. Since then it's been non-stop races!
What hobbies do you have outside OCR? I love weight training, which takes up the majority of my spare time, but when I'm not at races you'll find me competing in my other sport - dog showing! I've been showing dogs and competing in many dog sports since I was young - it's my main love outside of OCR and fitness! What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? The mileage! Nothing makes me prouder than when I complete more laps than
before, or when I manage a longer distance. Alongside this, it definitely has to be finding my love of rigs and monkey bars, and completing them for the first time! Sometimes the smallest successes are the most special. What goals do you have for the future within OCR? World's Toughest Mudder is top of my agenda right now. After that, I'm aiming towards the World Championships and whilst not strictly OCR, then the Marathon des Sables and the Everest Marathon are on my to-do list.
Louise Clifford #ORMLouise How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? My first OCR was Tough Mudder London in April '14, just over two years ago. I split up with my husband over Christmas 2013 and decided I wanted to challenge myself. A few girls at my boot camp had mentioned doing a Tough Mudder so they put the idea in my head. I spoke to school friends who had done it the year before and signed up with them. I hadn't run more
24 Obstacle Race Magazine
than a mile before signing up so it was definitely a challenge. I bought a season pass the week after Henley and that was it, I was hooked. What hobbies do you have outside OCR? Outside of OCR I like boxing, martial arts, cooking and I have recently gone back to Synchronised Swimming. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? I guess it has
to be coming second girl at the Eliminator 24hr race. I completed 57.5 miles of Pippingford hills. That hurt! What goals do you have for the future within OCR? I'd like to get more miles in at Worlds Toughest Mudder. I would love to come home with the 50-mile brown bib this year. Would also love to be quick enough to complete 4 laps of Tough Mudder in one day. So far I've only completed three in a day.
FEATURE : INTRODUCING TEAM ORM
Becky Frostick #ORMBecky How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I have been doing OCR since 2013. The suffering 5k was my first ever race and I signed up for it as a new challenge, as I had just completed my first (and only) marathon, so I wanted something else to work towards to keep me motivated to train. I really enjoyed it and signed up for the next one but the
10k version. These were the only two races in 2013 and I increased it by a few more races in 2014 and a huge increase last year and now this. What hobbies do you have outside OCR? Outside of OCR, I do pole fitness and boxing. What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? The achievement I
am proudest of is qualifying for all 3 championships for this year, especially as I was really worried about the mandatory obstacles as I have a massive fear of some obstacles that I am still working on. What goals do you have for the future within OCR? My goals for the future are just to improve on techniques and ability with obstacles.
Jordan Foster #ORMJordan How long have you been Obstacle Racing and what got you into the sport? I did my first OCR back in April '14, it was only a small local one but it instantly got me hooked! I went from doing 3 events that year, to over 20 in 2015! I love challenging myself, and getting into OCR definitely did that! Whether it was running longer distances, facing fears or mastering obstacles I would have never believed I could have managed. I've also met so many amazing people since I started racing; I have made lots of friends, met my other half and of course all the lovely #TeamORM girls. What hobbies do you have
outside OCR? When I am not racing, I'm training, and when I'm not training, I'm eating! OCR, running & food are three words that would sum me up perfectly! I'm also excited to say that I recently qualified as a Personal Trainer and I am now taking the first steps into my career, so my hobby will also now be my job, and I can't wait! What's been the achivement you've been proudest of while racing? My goal for 2015 was to complete at least one OCR a race a month. I ended the year completing over 20 races! I was so proud of what I achieved, from the beginning of the year struggling to run a 10k race to
then taking part in some of the toughest events in the OCR calendar! But for me my greatest achievement actually falls outside of OCR. This year I was lucky enough to take part in the London Marathon. I trained hard and really gave it my all, I was so happy with my result and can't wait to do it again next year! What goals do you have for the future within OCR? My goal for 2016 is to qualify for the OCR World Championships. Due to training for the London Marathon I missed out on a few of the qualification races so now I'm ready to really push myself and hopefully get myself over to Canada in October!
TO FOLLOW MORE OF THE LADIES ADVENTURES YOU CAN FIND THEM ON THE FACEBOOK PAGE AT:
facebook.com/teamormladies OR BY FOLLOWING THE HASHTAG
#TeamORM
Obstacle Race Magazine 25
REVIEW : REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS
REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS Written by: CARL WIBBERLEY
26 Obstacle Race Magazine
REVIEW : REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS
INTRO
"FAILING TO PREPARE, IS LIKE PREPARING TO FAIL”, THAT’S WHAT THEY SAY ISN’T IT? If you don’t put the time into your preparation for a race or challenge, then you can only expect one outcome… simple really. The above phrase is literally etched into my conscious at the moment. I turned up to an event unprepared, and to make matters worse, one in which I already
knew deep down would be a huge test for me. This event had me literally floundering around like a fish out of water for a week before the big day with nerves. It’s been a long time since I got pre-race nerves before a race. The event am I talking about is the one and only Red Bull Neptune Steps (RBNS).
RBNS is sold as the UK’s toughest open water swimming event and from what I’d been told about their inaugural event, it was going to be tough going in the freezing cold locks of Glasgow. This unique challenge of swimming uphill for 420m whist incorporating eight climbs over lock gates over a total of 10.5m assent.
Obstacle Race Magazine 27
REVIEW : REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS
The Open Water swim season doesn’t usually start for a good few weeks after the date which is set for RBNS. This is because most locations/events set a lower limit of the water temperature to be 12 degrees, and even then it’s only the hardcore swimmers who go out that early in the season. So April 9th was well before anyone would consider usually taking a dip in open water. The first obstacle was getting signed up for the event, as this year the tickets sold out in a lightening fast 9 minutes for the male categories. This has to be a record even by Red Bulls unique event standards. The next few weeks that followed this should have been made up of structured swim training in open water and the pool. Being a purely self taught swimmer, I probably shouldn’t have skipped the open water swim experience part, and should have left a little more time than getting my wet suit a week before the event. Turning up on race day with just pool kilometres under my belt and having never swam in my wet suit, was probably not the best preparation I could have wished for. Registration was smooth and before I knew it I was pulling my wetsuit on for only the second time since it was newly unwrapped a
28 Obstacle Race Magazine
week before. I had been placed in wave two with some on the best open water swimmers and triathletes from Ireland, Sweden, The Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Canada……. talk about feeling out of my depth. After walking the course numerous times checking out the obstacles, I felt confident that none of them should cause me too much hassle. Little did I know that the obstacles would be the least of my worries. Being led down to the start line after the safety briefing was like being slowly cooked like a boil in the bag human. The sun was beating down on us and the choice of a 4mm wetsuit with gloves, hood and neoprene socks was already feeling like it could be too much, as conditions were much better than the year before. One by one we all took the leap and dived in the water, the first bit of icy water to hit your face was a real shock to the system, but it was nearly time to go. I’m not ashamed to say at this point, as the cold water was slowly starting to make its way into my wetsuit, I gave in to the call of nature and pee’d into the wet suit! Which was a nice little bit of central heating while bobbing on the start line.
REVIEW : REDBULL NEPTUNE STEPS
READY, STEADY GO! We were off, and I have to say the shoulder to shoulder washing machine effect of the start line was absolutely nothing at all like swimming in the lanes with the old people I was used to at my local swimming pool. Wow, I’m not going anywhere, was my first thought. Everyone else was racing off like torpedoes, why wasn’t I moving as fast as I was when I was in the pool? My swimming position was so alien in the water; next mistake was that I hadn’t taken into consideration what the extra floatation which my wetsuit was going to provide in the water. First swim was a 165m stretch before hitting the first obstacle, this was brutal and energy sapping. As I came to the first lock, I remember thinking, ‘Yes, I can take a breather on the obstacle’, take a minute and get my breath back and recover from swallowing so much water’. How wrong could I have been! I swam up to the obstacle and the flow of the water was throwing me backwards, there was no way you could swim into them by breast stroke alone! It was front crawl all out into the obstacle. As I reached for the obstacle I thought to myself let’s get some breaths in now and recover. Ha, fat chance of that! On the way up the obstacle the water was hitting you in the face until around half way up the lock, this makes it impossible to get those much needed breaths in, until you reach the top. I have never been so hot in all my life, but before I knew it I looked around me at all the spectators and thought “I’d better get cracking”,
Why was I so tired already? I had swum double, triple even 10 times this distance in training. I got to the next lock and was only getting hotter still, I think the only thing that stopped me quitting at this lock was the amount of crowd support, which was amazing! In I dived. I got the next swim done and once I hit the next lock I knew I was done for sure. Standing at the top of the lock I knew I couldn’t swim another metre. The safety divers who were all amazing throughout the day came over and asked me was I done, it was an easy yes from me. He did something I saw him do a lot more times throughout the day, he undid the zip on the back of my wetsuit and it was like immediate release! My chest could open up and my breaths were full again. Pulling off my goggles and hood…Wow, what a sense of relief. I was convinced I was miles behind at the back, but while I was stood there on the top of the lock recovering, two swimmers both climbed up beside me and dived in to make their way to the next obstacle. So that was me done! My first ever DNF!! But I have to say, it’s done me a world of good, as I now know I need to balance my writing a little better with my training. Red Bull Neptune Steps I'll be back next year to finish what I started.
Obstacle Race Magazine 29
FEATURE : HOW TO CLIMB A ROPE
HOW TO
CLIMB A ROPE 30 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : HOW TO CLIMB A ROPE
CONQUER
CONQUERING THE ROPE CLIMB CAN BE EXTREMELY DAUNTING FOR ANYONE ON AN OCR COURSE. it's seen as one of the most technically challenging obstacles of any course. It very often explained in an overly complicated manner confusing the racer rather than helping
1.
2.
WHERE TO START: -
-
Check the back of the magazine for training centres who specialise in OCR, all of which are listed have a climbing rope and the correct equipment you’ll need. TIP Try to practice without using gloves to increase your grip strength, this will pay dividends come race day when the rope is going to be potentially wet.
1. 2. 3.
Stand with the rope in front of you with it running down the centre of your body. Reach your arms up just above your head and take a firm grip of the rope, make sure you have nice straight arms. For the first cycle of the movement this is your main point of contact so make sure your grip is held strong. This is now where your legs come in. Lift your knees towards your chest/elbows
them. In the race environment whether you are new or experienced, efficiency and energy conservation are paramount. Energy conservation There is no doubt there are many
ways climb rope, however this is the ‘How To’ on climbing with your feet using a J hook technique. In my view it is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to climb.
3. while hanging from the rope with your arms. Quickly lock the rope into the J hook(as shown in the picture, see below for explanation) with your feet. When done correctly this will easily hold your weight thus taking the strain from your hands.
J HOOK EXPLAINED. To grip the rope in the J hook technique, firstly you need to work out which foot is your dominant foot as this needs to have the rope running down the outside of it when raising your feet (for example this is usually the foot you lead with, so the one you’d kick a ball with) if you aren’t sure then have a go either way to see which feels the most comfortable. Next up as you bring your feet up with the rope on the outside of your dominant foot at the same time bring your opposite foot up to hook round and bring up the rope underneath your lead/dominant foot. This will cause a friction point between the two feet and should easily lock you in place.
4. 4. 5. 6.
Check the grip on your feet by attempting to to extend your legs, if it holds tight then loosen your grip with your hands whilst extending your legs fully to a standing position. This will return you back to the fully upright position. Re-engage your grip on the rope with your hands like in step two then follow the rest of the steps again to continue up the rope. Now you find yourself at the top of the rope and need to come back down in a controlled manner. A fast, uncontrolled decent can really take it out of your quads or worse, could end your race. So the next step needs to be followed closely. To come down simply loosen the hook you have on the rope and release the grip of your hands a little. Hand under hand grip with your arms will also keep your decent controlled. As you gain speed use your feet to grip the rope to slow yourself and control the descent, don’t use your hands as you’ll only risk getting rope burns.
Obstacle Race Magazine 31
FEATURE : HOW TO CLIMB A ROPE
3.1
3.2
PRACTICE
HOW TO PRACTICE IN A GYM ENVIRONMENT rope and cross your legs with the rope hanging between your feet. Now repeat steps 1 & 2 with the climbing rope because to climb effectively the rope must always stay between the feet.
Equipment required to practice the technique in the gym:
-
A length of rope about 1.5 meters longer or more Long socks or calf sleaves to protect your legs from rope burn while practicing Bench, chair or a box
1. 2.
3.
Sit on the floor with legs stretched out and the feet crossed. Place the 1.5 meter rope in-between your feet holding onto the top.
Bring the bottom foot around under the top foot and place it on top. If you have done this correctly, the rope will be locked in between the two feet. Now practice the action with your eyes closed as you will not be able to look at your feet whilst climbing.
Time to use your bench, chair or box. Sit on your bench in front of your climbing
4. 5.
6.
as you did in practice. The rope should sit in-between the feet as before so all you need to do is bring the bottom foot around and lock it in on top as before. If done correctly the rope will run down under the bottom foot and be locked in-between the top of one foot and the bottom of the other. Now stand up, it does not matter which foot is on the bottom, which-ever is most comfortable for you.
Whilst sitting on the bench, lock your feet into the rope and attempt to stand up. If your foot lock is correct then you should not move or slip down the rope.
Gripping the rope tight above your head is the next key to moving up the rope. In order to climb up the rope one must be able to hold their body weight using grip only for 5 seconds as that is the average time in between the lock and unlock of the feet on each climb up the rope.
Put away your bench and stand in front of your rope, reaching up high and gripping tightly. Bring the knees up as high as you can with the feet crossed
7.
Now you’ve completed the initial footlock and stood up, you need to repeat to move up the rope. Again gripping high with both hands and holding your body weight, release the foot-lock and bring the knees up as high as they can go. Keeping the rope in-between the feet, repeat the sequence of bringing the bottom foot around and locking it into the top foot then stand up. If done correctly you should have moved another meter or so up the rope. Reach high, grip tight and repeat again.
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR YOU TUBE CHANNEL FOR A RUN THROUGH OF THESE TECHNIQUES AND MANY MORE SEARCH OBSTACLE RACEMAGAZINE FOR MORE INFORMATION
32 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : THE DIRTY SUBJECT
THE DIRTY SUBJECT
RACE DIRECTORS COME CLEAN Written by : MARK PETROU
It’s been said that Money is the root of all evil – it feeds jealousy and promotes resentment – especially when not given enough consideration. There’s another age old saying – “Where there’s muck, there’s brass”, but in 2016 - has the internet and the sheer number of races going on literally left profit with nowhere to hide? Here at Obstacle Race Magazine, we thought it was about time we shed some light on where your hard earned pounds go to when you sign up for a dirty day of mud and mayhem, so we asked several Race Directors to dish the dirt on numbers… No one would blame you for thinking that putting on an OCR is a license to print money. Neither can it be denied that if you get it right, there’s the potential to roll out your brand to all four corners of the globe and franchise your way to the big time – but at the risk of using my best pun early, the obstacles you have to overcome to achieve long term financial success may simply be too much for most aspiring race directors to even get their events off the start line. It’s not just about building a great course. It’s not about having an inspiring, stand out and kick arse brand. It’s not even about the T shirt, the medal or the memories. To be commercially viable, it’s all about the sign ups, the hidden costs and the bottom line. It all starts with a dream, a concept or vision of a race. A race that hasn’t been run - on a course that hasn’t been thought of - in a place that everyone hasn’t been to before but wants
34 Obstacle Race Magazine
to go to. Most race directors start here and have no idea how big the mountain is that they have to climb to find their own pot of gold. To carve out a juicy little profit, an entrepreneurial RD will need to consider costs and sales and force these two numbers as far apart as possible… ORM asked over a dozen successful race directors what they build into their ticket price per racer for all the various elements in the costs of putting on a race. The figures were obviously not going to be the same as some events attracted hundreds of racers and others had thousands. This in itself creates the opportunity of greater profitability for some through economies of scale and bargaining power. Here is the average cost per racer sign up across the board… Venue hire
£5
T shirt and Medal
£12
Obstacles
£17
Insurance
£2
Build team
£9
Advertising, marketing and Social Media
£8
Once these numbers are chased down and worked out, the cost of putting on an OCR
starts to become real. It’s usually at this stage that some race concepts DNF. Others with rich uncles, an interesting past or small lottery win will work out how many tickets they need to sell to break even and then either build in a profit to the ticket price OR assume that they can sell more tickets to create their profit that way.
THIS IS THE FIRST FATAL ERROR… On rough costings then, it became quite obvious to us that a race of less than 250 sign ups with a ticket price of £50 or less just wasn’t going to make money and in fact many of the RD’s we spoke to revealed something else extraordinary in that they did not make a single penny until putting on race 3 or 4 despite hitting the numbers that they hoped for. Here then is the next list of things that they told us they didn’t consider about their event until after they’ve decided on what their entry fee was going to be… Medical team Marshals Photography Security Registration and bag drop Water stations P/A system Festival area Start and finish lines Chip timing Marquee hire Bins Clean team Course tape Signs M.C. & warm up. Legals Power Fencing
FEATURE : THE DIRTY SUBJECT
WHY MAKE A SALE WHEN YOU CAN MAKE A CUSTOMER? Each one of those important additions to a well organised and professional event can become a new tin of wormy costs and it’s easy to see how any hope of making money can very quickly evaporate. With the sheer number of events and race brands out there these days, it’s getting harder and harder for race directors to stand out from the crowd and convince racers that they offer value for money. It’s getting harder too for the racer to figure it out as well. The core OCR community knows most of the established brands and what their events are like but after the explosion of the scene, are we all about to see some contraction or is it going to keep going? Where are the next generation of obstacles, courses and racers going to come from? Experience is something you gain – about 10 seconds after you needed it and being a quick learner and a forward thinker are
essential skills to have or acquire to run a sustainable OCR enterprise. Financial success or failure can be determined by good or bad date selection or by your sales message. Get the date and the price right and you can sell an event once. Get the course, the festival and atmosphere right and you make a customer. Customers are better than sales. Customers come back and tell their friends. Happy customers create memories and share anecdotes and nothing makes price more irrelevant and nothing makes a business more streamlined than selling to repeat customers. When you have a happy customer base, you have lower marketing costs, improved profitability and the confidence to invest in even better races.
EARLY BIRD SIGN UPS
REALLY ARE A BARGAIN. When races are first launched, have you ever wondered why there is an early bird sign up price? The answer is simple. Early bird signups are there to generate cash flow and help to reach the breakeven point to make a race viable. It is important to point out that most race directors prefer to fund their own races and many resist the temptation of spending race fees until after the event but price increases help to balance the increased costs incurred in attracting later bookings. Last minute sign ups have obviously been exposed to the most effort in getting them in and by punishing late sign ups in this way, it’s hoped that in future racers will sign up early and create the working capital from customers’ money to make races more viable and less speculative.
Obstacle Race Magazine 35
FEATURE : THE DIRTY SUBJECT
PARKING
WHY DO I HAVE TO PAY TO PARK MY CAR AT SOME EVENTS? At face value, you might see bag drop or expensive burgers as a rip off and a way of levering more money from a racer. The fact of the matter is that many councils will not grant permission for an event without a parking strategy. Organising this uses resources and adds costs like taping, staffing and hiring that all have to be recovered. On some occasions, a venue will already have free parking but this is becoming less and less likely so expect a nominal charge. The same applies to have your personal belongings kept safe. Food vendors don’t charge high because they have a captive audience despite what you may think. They
need to charge a price that allows them to make a profit in a very tight window of opportunity covering transport, food and labour costs for being at the event – otherwise they will not attend future events. So there you have it. If you have to pay for bag drop or there’s a car-parking fee or the price of your finish line burger leaves a nastier taste in your mouth than the burger itself, don’t think of it as a hidden cost to you or outrageous profiteering. Try to think of it as a necessary mechanism for balancing the books. Night club owners charge more for their drinks than pubs who charge more for their drinks than
supermarkets but consider that in every set of circumstances there’s a different scenario dictating price. My last old saying is that you get what you pay for and when you think about it, Race Directors actually need to make a profit in order to put on better races in the future. The point we are trying to make is this… If you’re planning on putting on a race – do your homework and be prepared to support your enterprise for a long while before you make any money and if you’re a racer – be prepared to pay for the right race – and try to think of it as worth it for the experience and also as an investment in the continuous improvement in OCR.
Sign up now
MUDNIFICENT 7 PART TWO 13th AUGUST 2016
36 Obstacle Race Magazine
If you haven’t heard about the Chia Charge range and their fantastic flapjacks, then this prize is one you’ll want to get your hands on. The delicious flapjacks are so moreish that you’ll find yourself running just so you can justify your next. Here’s more about Chia Charge from Tim, the founder of the company and its Yorkshire produced products.
SO HOW COME WE DECIDED THAT SPORTS NUTRITION SHOULD BE NICE TO EAT AS WELL AS HELP YOUR ACTIVE LIFESTYLE? Being active is a positive lifestyle choice and you should be rewarded with good stuff to eat that makes you smile, not grimace. I’m Tim; man turned chef turned NPD Food Technologist turned runner, turned chia enthusiast. My duel passion for food and exercise are well suited as I get the chance to eat loads and then go for a run! Last year I completed 12 marathons and although I’m hoping to do 1 or 2 longer distances this year, I expect the demands of Chia Charge will mean that I am able to enter fewer events in total. However, I will be attending loads with our pop up shop and this year in the events I do enter, I am hoping to go for longer, injury permitting! It is my belief that food - in particular sports nutrition - should be more than just fuel to keep the body going. Having tried a few sport nutrition and energy products I
came to the conclusion that whoever makes these things was at the back of the queue when taste buds were handed out! Sitting down to a delicious meal is easy enough, so why shouldn’t sports food be delicious too? I soon came to realise it doesn't have to be this way. A few years ago I started developing my own formulations in the kitchen at home. I wanted to create food that tastes delicious and helps you perform, the result of which was Chia Charge. My company, which started from humble beginnings under the name of ‘Running Food’ (you can tell I’m originally a runner) harnessed the powerful nutritional value of Chia and made it delicious. We are proud sponsors of the Hardmoors Races in North Yorkshire, the Lakeland 100 and also the Spartan Races. You will often see me at other random events if I can get a pass out :) My passion for exercise on mixed terrain is ongoing. As well as cooking up delicious batches of Chia Charge you’ll find me running along eating it; I use it, I believe in it! Every year I look forward to attending numerous events to both participate and promote the benefits of the products I create. If you see me at one of the many events across the UK (and you most probably will) be sure to come say hello. Alternatively you can find me on my personal Twitter at: @runningtimt and I respond to all emails at timtaylor@ chiacharge.co.uk
WHAT MAKES THE FLAPJACKS DIFFERENT FOR ANY OTHER ‘ENERGY’ BAR? The simplest way of showing why they’re different is to show you their ingredients list:
ORIGINAL - The original chia charge flapjack with Sea Salt Flakes to help you with electrolyte replacement Oats, Butter, Golden Syrup, Brown Sugar, Chia Seeds (9%), Sea Salt Flakes, Rice Flour.
BANANA - using dried diced bananas, using 50% of sea salt flakes used in the Original Oats, Butter, Golden Syrup, Dried Diced Bananas, Brown Sugar, Chia Seeds (9%), Sea Salt Flakes, Rice Flour.
BERRY - New in 2016, Using Cranberries and Dates to completely replace any refined sugars Dates, Oats, Butter, Cranberries, Chia Seeds (8%), Sea Salt Flakes, Rice Flour
AVAILABLE FROM:
CHIACHARGE.CO.UK
COMPETITION WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN A CASE FULL OF CHIA CHARGE FLAPJACKS? THEN ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ANSWER THIS QUICK QUESTION.
WHICH UK COMMONWEALTH ATHLETE DO THEY CURRENTLY HAVE ON THE ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE CHIA CHARGE SAMPLE PACK? Find the answer on their website at Chiacharge.co.uk Send your answers into CARL@OBSTACLERACEMAGAZINE.COM Competition closes 24TH June 2016
Obstacle Race Magazine 37
KIT TESTING : SHORTS
DOUBLE THE SHORT When choosing the right kit for racing and training a lot of decisions can come down to price and getting value for money. A good base layer underneath your shorts can save you from the dreaded chafing. What if we told you that you didn’t need to buy your base layer bottoms separate to your shorts and you can save
yourself ££££’s. Twin skin shorts can save you a chunk of cash by being your protective layer as well as the over shorts. We’ve pulled together four of the best options for twin skinned shorts that will suit your budget and are built to last.
/10
10 INOV-8 RACE ELITE 210 TRAIL £54.99, WWW.SPORTSSHOES.COM Standout features: Excellent compression, very durable, water repellent outer.
38 Obstacle Race Magazine
KIT TESTING : SHORTS
/10
8.5
ASICS 7 INCH £30, WWW.ASICS.COM Standout features: Breathable mesh inner base layer.
/10
8.5
TESTING
SALOMON FAST WING £50, WWW.SALOMON.CO.UK Standout features: Ultra light, Activedry ultra fast drying.
The independent testers were told to put each of the items they were sent through hell, to see what came out the other side.
/10
9
SAUCONY INTERVAL 2-1 £35, WWW.SAUCONY.CO.UK Standout features: Great comfort, nice length.
Obstacle Race Magazine 39
FEATURE : THE CURSE OF THE OCR COMPARISION
THE CURSE
OF THE OCR COMPARISION & HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT Written by: SAM WINKWORTH (RACE DIRECTOR OF DIRTY ROTTEN SCRAMBLE)
40 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : THE CURSE OF THE OCR COMPARISION
SOCIAL
WITH SOCIAL MEDIA SITES AS THEY ARE THESE DAYS, & MOST OF US HAVING AN EXTREMELY UNHEALTHY ADDICTION TO THEM (I KNOW I DO!)...
... it's very easy to start comparing ourselves to what others are doing. Which is great, it's positive to seek our motivation & inspiration from others, and research shows that those who surround themselves with people who have the same goals & interests as them are way more likely to achieve success than those that don't.
BUT! There comes a definitive point in which too much comparison can eventually become unhealthy and slightly detrimental to our health. Too much 'Facebook time' can undoubtedly cause us to overestimate how 'happy' our friends are, which, in turn, might make us feel more down & depressed in comparison. Let me explain what I mean, when we constantly compare & size ourselves up against one another (which is naturally
what we tend to do on social media sites!), we are typically setting ourselves up for nothing other than more insecurity, more misery & more disappointment. When we get into the 'comparison' mindset it is the equivalent to that of running a race that never ends. We end up continually striving to keep up with others which can be a tiresome and exhausting game to play. As the old saying goes, 'Comparison is the thief of joy 'and when we think about it, its nonsensical to make comparisons with one another because we all have a different set of circumstances to one another. We all have individual situations, individual bodies, individual personalities, individual beliefs, individual aspirations and we’re all on an individual journey which means we are incomparable. Just like the moon is to the sky, we simply cannot compare the two because they are perfectly unique, they are beyond compare. ^^ Ok that sounded a bit
'guroooo' like that last bit, next I'll be getting you to hug trees and walk on hot coals ;-) But it's the same for you. You are solitary. You are one. You are UNIQUE. Focus in on you & what makes YOU happy. Never let comparison steal your happiness, refuse to become a slave to comparison, stay on your own path & continue along with what makes YOU happy. And if you can detach yourself from comparison and understand that you needn't play this tiresome game anymore, then you will be well on your way to living a far happier, more joyful life Enjoy social media but just remind yourself that people only really upload the best parts of their life. And remember, don't compare your 'behind the scenes' with somebody else's highlight reel.
GIVE UP COMPARISON, YOU DON’T NEED IT.
CHECK OUT WWW.THEDIRTYROTTENSCRAMBLE.CO.UK/TRAINING- GUIDE & DOWNLOAD THE FREE 10 WEEK DRS OCR TRAINING GUIDE
Obstacle Race Magazine 41
REGULARS : MUDDY RACE
WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY DURING AN OBSTACLE RACE? If you need an excuse to sign up for your next event here’s just a few to illustrate how it impacts your body.
ENDORPHINS Released from the brain during the race, endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain to create feelings of pleasure and euphoria! Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine. Remember that time you conquered the monkey bars for the first time or got to the finish line in one piece? That was the endorphins!
HEART As you approach an obstacle, a fear response increases the heart rate, causing faster breathing and energises the muscles! As you run blood is pumped round the body at a faster rate by the heart.
STOMACH During the race expect to burn anywhere from 1,500 – 3,000 calories depending on the distance of the race. Intense exercise can cause a calorie ‘afterburn’, expect to burn up to an extra 500 calories in the day following your race.
ADRENALINE As you set off from the start line, adrenaline is pumped from your adrenal glads which causing air passages to dilate to provide the muscles with the oxygen, stimulating ‘fightor- flight’ response. It’s time to fight! Adrenaline causes a noticeable increase in strength and performance, as well as heightened awareness. As you approach an obstacle the body’s ability to feel pain decreases as a result of the adrenaline.You won’t feel those bruises until tomorrow!
42 Obstacle Race Magazine
REGULARS : MUDDY RACE
MUSCLES BACK AND ARMS
CORE
Works to keep your body stable on uneven ground.
Get used for hoisting yourself over walls and climbing ropes.
CHEST/ARMS
Get used for crawling under barbed wire, cargo nets, or pushing yourself over walls.
REPAIR
Your body will be repairing itself in the days following your race, so take some well earned rest, eat healthy food and start planning when to do it all again!
FIND EVENTS. CLAIM RESULTS. GET MUDDY
BODY TEMPERATURE As we start to run the body starts to generate heat and cools itself down with sweat. As we jump into that ice bath or cold lake the body surface temperature drops too causing us to shiver. Hypothermia kicks in when our body temperature falls below 35C!
LEGS As you increase your running and strain on the muscles your circulatory system cannot supply enough oxygen. This is when your trusty carbohydrates stores are used up to create energy but when this runs out lactic acid builds up which releases hydrogen ions into your muscles. This is when you get really tired and is that point when your brains wants you to walk - remember that?
Obstacle Race Magazine 43
REGULARS : MUDDY RACE
HOW FIT ARE YOU? Take these quick and easy tests to get fitter at home
THE HANG & GRIP TEST
THE BURPEE TEST
Test: This fitness test will let you see how your grip performs when challenged. Grip strength plays abig part in obstacle racing when it comes to monkey bars, rope climbs, and walls.
Test: Burpees are a fully body exercise that work your strength, power, and cardiovascular fitness all in one go – running in an obstacle race will utilise every muscle in your body as well as these energy systems, not to mention that if you miss a spear throw you’ll be wishing you’d practiced them!
How To Do It: Set a stopwatch that you can see or have a partner keeping time. Find a pullup bar/tree branch/anything you can wrap you whole hand around. Hold on with an overhand grip, straighten you arms and ensure your feet are off the floor, now hold it!
RESULTS: 0 – 20 Secs: Needs work 20 - 40 Secs: Average 40 Secs - 1 minute: Good 1 Min - 1 Min 30 Secs: Excellent 2 Min+: You’re a superstar
44 Obstacle Race Magazine
How To Do It: Set a countdown timer for 1 minute. Perform as chest-to- ground burpees as you can manage in the given time. Only count reps that are fully completed within the 1 minute.
RESULTS: 0 - 10 Needs work 10 - 15 Average 15+ Good 20+ You’re a superstar
REVIEW : DIRTY (BAKERS) DOZEN
DIRTY {BAKERS} DOZEN Written and Reviewed by: GRANT NICHOLS
Despite living literally a 2-minute drive away from the old venue, it may surprise some to know that I had never ran a Dirty Dozen race before, not sure why but they had always just slipped under the radar until this year. My entry was bought for me as a gift prior to the venue change, but there was no way I was going to let that stop me from receiving my first ‘DougHug’ at Hole Park! It’s always ominous when you arrive at the car park and get sent past the entrance because you are in a 4x4, then as you cruise through the car park you see numerous cars already abandoned at 8.30 in the morning (but then I’m not being paid to review the parking, actually I’m not being paid for anything), your initial thoughts are further backed up when MC Stuart Amory advises you to make sure your shoes are tight! Having qualified for the UKs and the Euros the previous week I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a little voice in the back of my mind wondering if Worlds qualification was possible, but then as you walk from the car to the race village and see all of the recognisable faces,
you soon realise you’re just running to improve, anything more is just a bonus. As we set off in the first wave you could tell instantly that it was going to be very heavy underfoot. Wet and boggy. You could already get a sense the hills that were to come. The race started as most do with a run, until about 1.5k in when the first obstacle we came to was Afterthought, a 16ft high, 10-metre-wide a-frame to scale. Next up was Underworld, a series of 10 walls in quick succession that you have to go under. Clever positioning of these means that they are just far enough apart to not really make it viable to get up properly between each. The course was hilly, and it felt like a constant climb, made even harder by the struggle to keep your footing after the deluge of rain on the Friday. We soon had a dip in waist high water before a visit to Tom de Planta and his inverted walls, a staple in any OCR (a statement that could be applied to both the walls or Tom), followed by another favourite, the cargo net crawls, not necessarily a tough obstacle compared to some,
but energy sapping when the ground is so soft. Screwball Scramble was the next obstacle on the agenda. A cargo net around 12ft high, but only suspended across the top, not rooted at the bottom, meaning it swings, A LOT, and you also have to be mindful of flailing limbs from racers on the other side of the net! As I was dismounting the net the marshal announced “first female through” and momentarily I thought they were referring to me…. I've been called worse! After this there was a fairly long stretch of running, hilly, wet, boggy running. It’s normally at these points where I like to try and gain a few places but given the conditions it was more a case of making sure no one passed me. Reaching what should be the half way point (Doug is known for having his own scale of measurement though isn’t he?) we were confronted by Bulls Wall, not one for those with a fear of heights, just remember – 3 points of contact, and if you’re a male, careful on the dismount or it brings a whole new meaning to the name! More crawls and more inverted walls (this
Obstacle Race Magazine 45
REVIEW : DIRTY (BAKERS) DOZEN
time minus Tom de Planta) were followed by the foreboding sight of a pile of logs waiting for us, this in itself is not particularly motivating when they are sitting at the foot of a long hill, made even worse when you spot Connor McCourt and Ryan Bennett finishing their Logathon just as you are starting yours. It makes you realise; we might be good age group racers but those guys are machines! Logathon is a particularly apt name, pick up a log around 2/3 of a metre long and then proceed to carry it uphill. It’s around here you see people walking, willing yourself to keep moving through the constant bog underfoot, don’t stop and you can pick up some places, though soon you see people run past you carrying what look like twigs compared to your 100-year-old oak tree! It’s a long hard slog, uphill, downhill, over gates, through puddles, uphill, over gates, over uphill gates, around sheep and their lambs, past the loneliest marshal in the world who you can only assume has been counting the sheep as he looks like he’s struggling to stay awake! Constantly throughout you have that thought in the back of your mind, ah the log pile will just
46 Obstacle Race Magazine
be round this corner and then we can dump it and start running properly again, but that log pile takes an eternity to arrive. Rumours in the event village after were that it was over a mile long, but it had the desired effect, people were struggling. After dropping off our logs we felt a few pounds lighter ;-). We tried to open our stride again but it wasn’t long before we came to Hurtles II. Hurtles II resembles a series of animal pens, around 60ft in length. Vault, land, repeat, I didn’t keep count but it seemed to be about 10 walls just above waist height to vault over. Obstacles were now coming thick and fast and within a short trot from Hurltes II came an obstacle that was being rolled out for the first time at London South – Mother Hubbard, basically a series of Irish Table style platforms one after the other, three of them in ascending height. I was still feeling pretty good at this point, and the 14ft high Bladder Ladder – a wide slatted wooden ladder climb, didn’t throw up any problems. Another little run through some fields, and we found ourselves at The Punch, 5 obstacles
one after the other. Feeling like I could still push on and get a decent finish in age group, I approached the first of the five confidently Anyone who has done DD races before knows the Tarzan Bars have an incline followed by a decline. I got around half way, just reaching the pitch when Rich Enderby (who I had travelled to the race with) clearly took a dislike to me being slightly in front of him for once and swung into me…. twice (he is ridiculously quick across the bars, but has the grace of a drunken student staggering home from a night out) and he sent me sprawling into the water below. The penalty for taking a dip was to pick up a sandbag, run to a flag and back and then dump the bag back before continuing. Straight after the Tarzan Bars was another new obstacle Lord of the Rings – built on an identical frame to the Tarzan Bars, but with rings above the water, again the penalty for failing was another sandbag run. The Punch did not give you time to rest, it was sapping. Immediately after the rings came a climb up a Bulls Wall with a slackline at the top, again across a pit of water (obviously!) before a climb down the other side and instantly on to
REVIEW : DIRTY (BAKERS) DOZEN
BITCH DITCH
WHAT FOLLOWED SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO RECHARGE A LITTLE AFTER THE PUNCH BUT THE CONDITIONS MADE IT HARD WORK. Bitch Ditch and Barbed Belly, as they sound, a succession of ditches followed by a crawl under barbed wire, a fairly short run and an Irish Table at around 10ish km. What followed should have been an opportunity to recharge a little after The Punch but the conditions made it hard work. Shortly after my Garmin had ticked over 12km came the swim to Sheep Dip and Floater – which if anyone doesn’t know, requires you to swim out to a floating wall and dip underneath in the freezing cold water and up the other side, before repeating under a second one, followed by a short swim to a platform and a wall to scale. With the inflatable finish in sight, we hit the final new obstacle, Jacobs Ladder. A narrow metal ladder, only connected at the top and only wide enough to fit one foot in, swinging around and needing us to
dismount onto a platform and down a metal frame onto the final run into the finish. The final obstacle was the big wall, with Doug’s smiling face waiting the other side to greet you with his arms wide open waiting for a man on man embrace from one beard wearer to another! A tough but pretty course, running through bluebells and past sheep. The course was well marked out and fully utilised the terrain available at the new venue which, was made even tougher by the preceding weather. I did manage to stop my Garmin at one point (not quite sure how), but soon restarted and it logged my distance covered as 13.27km having climbed 627m and descended 632m. After crossing the finish line, then queuing for your bobble hat and very small t-shirt (this was my fault though, I picked
the wrong size and it actually looks like it’s been painted on, so the other half gets a finisher T for an event she didn’t even run!) you feel fine. It’s only when you reach the car park and start to get changed your body suddenly tells you just how hard you’ve been made to work. Competitively the race was won by Ross Brackley, with Connor McCourt and Ryan Bennett taking the other podium places, and you cannot over emphasise just how well they performed. Those of us who are age group racers now have the agonising wait for our results to come in, and for a lucky few, qualification for the World Championships in Canada awaits. My first DD race, but definitely not my last, hugs and bobble hats are very underrated!
Obstacle Race Magazine 47
MUDNIFICENT 7 OCR & EXPO
In 2014, a new concept event was born – The Mudnificent 7. A summer obstacle course race with 7 different sections, each put together by a different race organisation and then an OCR expo chucked in for good measure. With a launch date of 1st August 2015, the event was hotly anticipated and didn’t disappoint. Voted ‘The Best Newcomer’ event at the 2015 Mudstacle Awards, ‘Best New Event’ with UK.OCR and 2nd place for Best Obstacle Race at the Running Awards, #Mud7 is back again on 13th August at The Heart Of England Conference Centre near Coventry. A new course route has been designed, new obstacles are being put in place and we’ve got a new line up of organisers for you. We’ve kept in some of the favourite races from last year and mixed them up with some big names, and a couple of races that are looking to make their mark on the industry. With them all coming together to make one epic course, this is going to be THE not to be missed event of the summer.
HERE’S A SNEAK PEAK OF EACH OF THE RACE PARTNERS THIS YEAR. YOU’LL GET A TASTER OF EACH EVENT WHICH WILL LEAVE YOU HUNGRY TO SIGN UP FOR MORE!
48 Obstacle Race Magazine
BIGFOOT CHALLENGE If you’ve been to any events in the past 6 months, there’s a good chance that you’ve bumped into Tony ‘Bigfoot’ Campbell. This larger than life Brit come Texan rope expert will be using his trademark rope skills to bring you something a bit different in his section. The Bigfoot Challenge launched at iconic Pippingford Park back in September and got awarded the ‘Most Innovative Event’ at the 2015 Mudstacle Awards. Tony and the crew have got a full weekend of fun organised for you for the last weekend in September. To find out more and to book your place, go to:
WWW.BIGFOOTCHALLENGE.CO.UK
REAPER
TH E OCR
One of the big stars from last year’s event, Reaper have got home advantage again with Heart Park being the venue for their events. They know each section of the site like the back of their hand and have already put out some teaser obstacles on social media. If you want to sign up to their day or night run on 15th October, you will need to get in quick as spaces are limited and their last event was SOLD OUT a few weeks before the event. With Team Reaper, Chris & Colin, behind the tools, you’re guaranteed to come out of the Reaper kilometer wanting more. For more information, go to:
WWW.REAPEREVENTS.CO.UK
Obstacle Race Magazine 49
ROCK SOLID RACE They will be building the final 1km section of the Mud 7 course and are super excited to create something you’ll never forget! You’ll experience a collection of their fan favourite obstacles that will push you to your max and leave you finishing #MUD7 with a big muddy smile! Their obstacles are going to take you to your limits as you conquer fears, work as a team and push through fatigue on the last kilometre to earn your #MUD7 medal. Check out images of the obstacles they are considering for #MUD7 at www.rocksolidrace.com/eventsfees/ mudnificent7/ . You’re going to get wet, muddy, and you’re going to laugh more than you ever thought possible. Is your team ready to smash it? Rock Solid is one of our favourite events and we’ll be assembling a big team to take on their Milton Keynes event at the end of October. You will want to sign up without doubt – For more information, go to:
WWW.ROCKSOLIDRACE.COM
GO HARD EVENTS The GoHard Race Series is Devon’s newest obstacle race event. With three race distance options to choose, there’s a course suited for almost everyone. Obstacle racing is all about having fun and team spirit. Want to run on your own? Not a problem! Get stuck at an obstacle and there’s bound to be a GoHard Warrior close by that will help you out. Prices range from £29 to £35 for distances of 5km to 15km and 20 to 60 obstacles. Great value! Next event day is at the end of July, so you’ve got a chance to try them out before #MUD7. For more information, go to:
WWW.GOHARDEVENTS.CO.UK
50 Obstacle Race Magazine
ROCKET RACE Launched in Autumn 2015, Rocket Race gathered four Mudstacle nominations for Best Value, Best Newcomer, Best Mud and Best Swag. Designed by OCR lovers, for OCR lovers, Rocket Race aims to squeeze as many fun and challenging obstacles into its course as possible, offering an event that really is all about the obstacles rather than the running! Based in the South West, Rocket Race are looking to thrill you with two more events this year. Do you want to become a Rocketeer?...you can take on their Apollo Race on 30th July or Discovery race on 29th October. For more information, go to:
WWW.ROCKETRACE.CO.UK
ZEUS RACES The Zeus boys are relatively new to putting on OCR events, but they’ve certainly done their homework with over 100 completed OCR’s between them in 2015. With all this knowledge, they’ve got a pretty good idea of what you’re looking for at an event and have put a great selection of different race types on for you. Day, night, canicross (take your dog!), and the No Fear on Wheels Challenge where teams will be attempting to get around the course with one member in a wheelchair. Join Gavin and Mark at Ashby Moto Park in Leicestershire on Saturday 18th June for a whole day of fun. For more information, go to:
WWW.ZEUSRACES.RUN
Obstacle Race Magazine 51
THE EXPO And remember, we’ve also got the Expo to look forward to with the following brands already signed up:
Big Bobble Hats, Big Big Body Wipes, Bluefin Sports, SCR Sports Therapy, JuiceBox Wales, Grips World, Muddy Kit, Dryrobe, Virus Compression, Inov8, Trumin, Icebug, Filthy Stitches, Fitness Tree, Rock Tape UK, Muddy Duck, Airfield Anarchy and many many more! If that’s not enough to make you want to sign up, then we give up. SPACES ARE STILL AVAILABLE AT WWW.MUD7.COM so what are you waiting for come and join us 13th August 2016!
52 Obstacle Race Magazine
REGULARS : HEALTH HACKS
HEAL H HACKS ATHLETE PAK
BY FISSION NUTRITION Start your day the right way The Athlete Pak is a unique blend of essential vitamins and minerals made up from capsules and tablets (6 in total) which provides great benefits for the body and overall health and wellbeing. The Athlete Pak will deliver all the micronutrients your body needs to perform at peak levels, helping recover and rebuild for the following day. Each Pak contain unique performance blends: Multivitamins: Over 25 body boosting nutrients including Vitamin A, C, E and B-Complex. Contributing to muscle and heart health as well as playing a key role in energy release. Vitamin C (1000mg): contributes to a number of roles and processes such as; normal
energy-yielding metabolism, the protection of cells from oxidative stress and a reduction of tiredness and fatigue. B-Vitamin Complex: contributes to normal red blood cell formation, normal function of the immune and nervous system, normal protein and glycogen metabolism as well as a role in the process of cell division. Omega 3 (2 softgels): A key Essential fatty acid (EFA), supporting heart, brain functions and joint health. DHA which is found in omega 3 is one of the most important building blocks of the brain. Glucosamine: Enhances joint recovery and promotes a healthy inflammation response. SPECIAL OFFER: Spend over £30 use discount code fission15 Spend over £50 use discount code obstacle20 for 20% and free delivery
RRP: £22.99 AVAILABLE FROM: FISSIONNUTRITION.CO.UK
PALEO DIET EDUCATION “12 WEEKS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE “
The book is very well researched and Written and takes a holistic approach to Paleo, combining recipes with exercise and healthy living advice. The author does a fantastic job of explaining, in easy to understand terms, the scientific reasoning behind the benefits of following the Paleo diet, why you should follow it for 12 weeks
and why the oversimplified view of the diet consisting of raw meats etc is wrong. The book promises to change your health and waistline for the better in just 12 weeks, the period the author Rebecca explains is needed to fully break your old habits and replace them with new healthy ones that will form that basis of a long term sustainable lifestyle, rather than a quick fix. Available in paperback or Ebook
RRP: £24.99 AVAILABLE FROM: PALEODIETANDFITNESS.CO.UK
56 Obstacle Race Magazine
REGULARS : HEALTH HACKS
MENAGE SKINCARE Men need skincare too, especially after what you put your skin through racing and training. Feminine creams and cosmetics just don’t cut it as our skin has its own needs. The Answer? Invisible Skincare. Products with results, not residues. No sticky or greasy feeling, shine or visible residue. Just smoother, fresher and younger looking skin. Menage is packed full of patented antioxidant, Copper PCA, which helps reduce visible signs of skin ageing. Ideal.
RRP: Face Scrub £7.00 | Moisturiser SPF 15 £14.00 | Age Defence Gel £22.00 | Eye Roll on £14.00 | Hand Repair £7.00 AVAILABLE FROM: MEAGESKINCARE.COM
PRIMAL PANTRY BAR The Primal Pantry, the brand that brought you the UK’s cleanest snack bars are releasing a new range of completely natural protein bars to fuel your goals... CLEAN FUEL & PEAK ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE The human body is a machine and it needs high quality fuel to function at its best. The harder you train the more important the quality of this fuel becomes - in the same way as you wouldn’t run a Ferrari on dirty cheap petrol, you don’t want to use low quality synthetic sports nutrition products to fuel your body.
This is why The Primal Pantry use only a few high quality natural cold pressed ingredients in each of their new Primal Protein Bars, without any additives, preservatives, flavourings or colourants in sight. The resulting bars are the perfect mix of protein, fats and carbohydrates, each containing over 10g of quality protein and approximately 200 nutrient dense calories
RRP: £1.49 AVAILABLE FROM: PRIMALPANTRY.COM
ZOIC PROTEIN BARS Zoic Ltd Bars are a London-based company that sells a paleo snack with a difference. Their protein bars made from insects. The bar is sold as a link to a prehistoric way of eating, also known as the Paleo diet. THE Protein bars are their first step on a mission to accelerate the transition to more sustainable agriculture by reintroducing insects into modern nutrition. They are all personally handmade by Zoic, using only the highest quality ingredients. The bars are also gluten, dairy, soy, and GMO free.
RRP: £10.90 FOR 4 BARS AVAILABLE FROM: ZOICBAR.COM
Obstacle Race Magazine 57
FEATURE : I'M NOT MADE OF SUGAR
I'M NOT MADE OF
58 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : I'M NOT MADE OF SUGAR
A DIRTY GIRL'S STORY Written by PT EMZ OF BOOTCAMP REVOLUTION
Obstacle Race Magazine 59
FEATURE : I'M NOT MADE OF SUGAR
Or are we?? For around the world, a new breed of female is emerging, one that has swapped their sugar and spice intake for an eat clean diet; making mud their new make up of choice and they are most certainly not afraid of smelly boys, snails or puppy dog tails. They are the new breed of women taking on the muddy world of OCR! You will find this new, evolved form of female in a wide variety of mud heavy environments, and are often seen displaying extraordinary levels of strength and agility, traversing undulating and challenging terrains, and skillfully scaling obstacles that were once primarily dominated by the male of the species. No longer satisfied with being the fairer sex, they effortlessly migrate from their lives as a perfectly preened, well dressed, mother, sister, and business woman, transforming in to the feisty, powerful, fearless women you see on start lines across the world, standing proudly, shoulder to shoulder, filled with drive and determination, to achieve their own individual goals and face their own personal fears head on. The popularity of OCRs has spiralled to enormous proportions over recent years, largely because, in our heavily structured, technologically influenced lives, we have all begun to crave the simplicities gifted to us by nature. And although the world around us has progressed to epic proportions, the human body has remained pretty much unchanged to that of our palaeolithic ancestors. This is largely why men complete an OCR with relative ease. The male physique is designed with the necessary strength and stamina to tackle the obstacles involved. Nature built them to hunt, bash our food over the head and drag it home! But for us women, it is so much more challenging, simply because we were designed to perform totally different tasks: we generally lack the required upper body strength and often the height to conquer the obstacles. Nature didn't create the female body with the ability to build high percentages of muscle mass, like the robust male form, instead, it blessed us with a 'softer' design, comprising of
60 Obstacle Race Magazine
curvier lines, high pain thresholds, incredible endurance levels and the phenomenal ability to create and nurture life. And for this reason, Nature endowed us with strong quads, powerful glutes and the lower body strength to enable us to carry a few extra stone for periods of 9 months, several times in our adult life. And because of natures design, what we lack in upper body strength, we certainly make up for with our lower body strength! So, if you have joined the growing army of women to sign up for an Obstacle Course Race, here's my essential guide on how to survive an OCR! The lowdown on what to expect, what's essential, how to prepare and how to best ride the emotional OCR roller coaster, from pre race nerves to post race euphoria!
1. CATCH THE RIGHT TRAIN Ok, so this isn't a tip on how to get to the race on time, but it is important to be prepared in the right way, both physically and mentally by using the right method of training. You wouldn't use oil paints to create a water colour, likewise, your training needs to place your body under the same strains it will encounter during a race, so that it becomes accustomed to the demands placed upon it. So, firstly, step outdoors, get off the hard, joint impacting, man made roads and pavements and explore! Mother Nature has provided you with everything you need to be prepared for an OCR: undulating terrain, to test your core, your joint stability and your balance. Varied forms of resistance such as wind, rain, heavy mud, puddles, thick grass and verges, all of which generate a need for your body to work harder, simply to combat its invisible resistance. Fallen branches, brambles and ploughed fields, all provide you with the perfect run, leap and traverse practice you'll need to think at speed, and 'on your feet'. With practice, you won't need to think about manoeuvring your body
around and over these obstacles, your primal instincts will simply guide you, similar to that of a wild animal running free.
2. MUDDY STEP BY MUDDY STEP If you’re just beginning your OCR journey and have little or no fitness, begin preparing yourself for your race by walking! Start by completing a distance you feel comfortable with, increasing your KM over time, until you achieve your race distance. Then, you can focus on your pace and improve on your speed
3. USE YOUR STRENGTHS As already mentioned, we are not designed to have great upper body strength, so why not put to use the strengths your womanly physique has been gifted with. Most certainly, train your upper body to become stronger and more capable to tackle obstacles, but learn techniques that allow you to use your amazing, powerful lower body. With the right tech training, you can learn to use your strong legs and glutes to power you up and over obstacles, so you don't have to depend on upper body strength alone to haul your body over.
4. CLOTHING 0#1 INVEST IN YOUR BREASTS Support is crucial. Whether you were blessed by Mother Nature with a heaving bosom, or if like me, you were at the back of the queue when boobs were handed out, you must protect your assets and feel comfortable and supported. Breasts are pretty complex pieces of the female anatomy, comprising of fatty and glandular tissues, highly sensitive and affected by everything from external temperature changes, contact with irritants to hormones. Our chests are endowed with the same pectoral muscles as men, although not offering the same level of power. And over our chest muscles sit our breasts, and the only supporting fabric these fatty and glandular tissues have, is skin. Without
FEATURE : I'M NOT MADE OF SUGAR
SUGAR AND SPICE AND ALL THINGS NICE, THAT'S WHAT LITTLE GIRLS ARE MADE OF! sufficient support, the 'bouncing' motion experienced during races, can cause all kinds of injuries and discomfort, from bruising to torn tissues. So whether you're a triple A or a double G, invest in your Breasts. Having a professional fitting and purchasing a good quality sports bra is imperative. After all, no woman wants to be tucking her breasts into her socks when she's older. Take it from me, I've breast fed four babies, amounting to a total of 10 years, protect your assets and they will do you proud! #2 LUCKY PANTS We all have our favourites, from the lacey ones that make us feel sexy and uber confident, to the big pants that make an appearance on our fat and hormonal days, but on race days, you need something really special! In my early days of racing back in 2010, I made a rookie mistake which has stayed with me ever since when packing my race kit bag essentials. Sporting my Lycra shorts, a G-string seemed the obvious choice, for comfort, for the avoidance of the dreaded VPL and largely because they were top of the pile in my underwear drawer. For the first half of the 10k race, I was comfortable and unaware of my personal base layer, at least I was until I encountered several river swims. I emerged, as you would expect, drenched to the skin, performing the 'excavate underwear' procedure demonstrated by women everywhere as they re-adjust their personals. As I continued running, the repetitive movement of my legs and buttocks combined with the wet fabric, began to create something I can only refer to as Friction! And it was far from enjoyable! Needless to say, the end result was not a pretty sight! The true extent of my discomfort was only revealed when my wet shorts came off, displaying the impressive red raw skin that adorned the creases of my muddy bottom. The moral of the story is, wear seamless, plain panties, avoid bows and lacey trims (the culprit responsible for my embarrassing encounter) I personally like FitPros, satin effect seamless pants for racing, but do test out a few pairs before you opt for your lucky race pants, because no one wants to show off an OCR kiss like the one I earned back in 2010! Or failing that, go commando!!
5. PRETTY PERFECT This is something that may not matter to a lot of women out there on the race course, but for the best part, us girls like to look our best as often as possible, and no one wants to channel The Joker in their glory filled
finish line photo! So if you won't leave the comfort of your home without your war paint, then waterproof mascara is a must! I also highly recommend a water proof UV protection (minimum of 30 UV protection or 50 for fairer skins) especially when running during the Summer season.
6. HIGHS AND LOWS Pre race nerves are fairly common, but as women, we are renowned for being a little more emotional than thicker skinned men. We tend to be more fearful of the unknown and have a higher level of personal protection defences. Men were created to face their prey without fear, their veins coursing with adrenalin, heading off to the hunt with their testosterone loaded physiques and determined, aggressive minds fully prepared for battle. All the while, we sat at home, waiting for their return, nurturing our clan and caring for our off spring. To reduce these pre race emotions or to at least reduce their negative influence, try these simple techniques to help over come them #1 Support Network If you're running with friends, speak to them, explain that you're finding the build up to the race a little testing on your nerves. Running as a pack has its benefits and this is most certainly my favourite! #2 Stimulating Stuff Most stimulants, such as caffeine, which are often taken prior to a race to improve performance levels, work by stimulating the body's nervous system. When we are nervous, we experience many of the same symptoms generated in the body as we do when we take performance enhancing supplements. The jitters, the uber alertness, the increased heart rate etc., so don't 'feed your fear' with stimulants. Get over the start line and then take your caffeine block or stimulant but ensure you've sampled them prior to your race as some can have an adverse effect and there are no toilets out there on the course! #3 Fight or Flight Our body has an amazing early warning system, one that responds instantly to threat or when our fear levels increase. So instead of succumbing to these hormonal responses, embrace them and use this huge shot of adrenalin coursing through your veins as your inbuilt pre-race supp! #4 De ja Vu Pre race meditation and positive visualisation may not be something you've considered. For a few nights leading up to your race, prepare for bed with some gentle relaxation techniques. Once you are settled in bed, picture your race as clearly as you can, run through an imaginary rehearsal; a
powerful way of prepping you mentally for the day ahead! Keep your visualisations real; you won't complete the race without feeling fatigued, so when picturing your route to the finish line, incorporate your weaknesses and plan your tactics, so you know how to address those weaknesses when they present themselves! #5 The Boogie Man isn’t real! Ask yourself one simple question: What are you actually scared of? Face your fear, and Face it head on! Of course if you've suffered an injury out there on the course, then your fear is certainly a real one. So take steps to avoid placing yourself in harms way again by maybe addressing the technique you used or by changing the way you approached the obstacle you injured yourself on, and don't forget, you can always accept the forfeit and avoid the obstacle all together. If your fear is that of the unknown, or one that we call 'the Boogie man' (an imaginary fear that has been built up to epic proportions simply from our thought processes) then be strong, remind yourself why you signed up in the first place, tell yourself that this is meant to be fun! We ride the haunted house roller coaster to be frightened, to be thrown headlong in to the fun of the fear, so embrace it because what happens out there on the fairground ride, will make you feel more alive than ever before! #6 Cry Baby So you've done it, you've crossed the finish line in triumphant glory, hand in hand with your best friends, bursting with pride, pumped with adrenalin, drained and fatigued, yet riding high on the wave of achievement, and suddenly, you crumble in to a blubbering wreck, tears streaming down your face! What the hell is this all about? Well, this is for a number of reasons: Shock; your body has been tested to it's limits and placed under stresses it may not normally encounter, the increased adrenalin, the fact you finished, it all adds up to a pretty emotional conclusion! Relief; you finished the race, in one piece! Phew! Euphoria; you finished the race, in one piece.... Phew! (No not a typo, just tears for the same reason!) As a woman that has been involved in the OCR scene since it's very early days, when my girl friends saw my activities as something totally alien and men dominated the muddy courses, it is inspiring to see so many women now making their way to start lines everywhere! Women of all sizes, shapes and ages, are ripping themselves from their comfort zones and embracing a new, dirtier lifestyle and getting fitter and happier in the process and in my view, that can only be a good thing, besides, why shouldn't we be blessed with slime and snails and puppy dog tails too!!
Obstacle Race Magazine 61
REGULARS : MUDTREST
MUDTREST Want to get your picture on our Mudtrest wall? Email your photo, name and a short description to letters@obstacleracemagazine.com
62 Obstacle Race Magazine
Obstacle Race Magazine 63
REGULARS : MUDTREST
MUDTREST
SUBSCRIBERS
Want to get your picture on our Mudtrest wall? Email your photo, name and a short description to letters@obstacleracemagazine.com
64 Obstacle Race Magazine
Obstacle Race Magazine 65
PROFILES : TO INSPIRE
TO
INSPIRE Written by: Carl Wibberley Photography by: James Appleton Photography
If someone asked you to serve up a mental picture of an obstacle racer how would you describe them? When you look up and down the starting pen at the runners around you, what you’ll find is the large majority of racers are in the aged bracket of 30-40. This is because these are the people who have the disposable income needed to be able to afford what can be a very expensive hobby. A lot are professionals looking for an escape from the sterile environment that they work in. They crave social interaction and adventure to be injected back into their lives. Shaun Wilde is one such racer who has been seriously bitten by the OCR bug. But he does break the described mould a little, as he’s 51 years of age and has just been announced as the newest member of the elite BMF Race Team line up. So not only is he running races, but he’s smashing them! So Shaun, tell us how long you’ve been obstacle racing and how did you get your first introduction to it? When I turned 50 in July 2014 I decided to embark on what I called my Fit@Fifty project where I would race one event every month in my 50th year on this
66 Obstacle Race Magazine
planet. It started in July with the British 10k in London and then my first OCR at the London River Rat Race in August. I was hooked straight away, so I then entered my local Tough Mudder in September with my step daughter Millie. At what point did you notice the change of going from general running for fun, to competitive obstacle racing? I’ve always been competitive and in my 40’s up until 2010 I competed and coached in white water kayaking and canoe slalom. This was my first competitive sport when I joined the Army at 16 years old in 1980 and I went on to represent the Army Team. After the River Rat Race and through to the Tough Mudder, I did my research and started to plan my OCR races into 2015 and also joined the UK OCR league. It was in October 2015 when I realised that I could qualify for the 2016 OCR World Championships in my age group, so I started to up my training. I initially qualified in my age group at a Dirty Dozen race in early 2015 and then as an elite qualifier at a Spartan
race in June, also earning the Spartan silver coin for entry to the Spartan World Championships. Do you have a background in running or physical fitness before you started obstacle racing? I was a very fit soldier in my 20s and as well as being an active kayaker. I also did quite a bit of running as a soldier and could boast a 7min30sec military fitness test time over 1.5 miles. The announcement that you were to become a member of the BMF Race Team line up must have been pretty exciting. How did it all come about and was it something that you had been working towards? Since competing at the 2015 OCR World Championships as the ‘oldest’ elite racer and successfully finishing 64th, I have wanted to take it to the next level and I’ve always been in awe of the BMF Race Team. So when they advertised for new people to join, I decided that I would give it a go as I thought that I was comparable to the top racers from the ‘vet racer’ perspective. Luckily they thought so too!
PROFILES : TO INSPIRE
Obstacle Race Magazine 67
PROFILES : TO INSPIRE
What strengths do you feel you bring to the BMF team line up? It’s mainly to show that age is not a barrier and that with dedication and hard work you can take yourself to a high level of performance. I’m also very technical in my approach in that I break down all the variables and work out how to optimise them in my favour. I’m taking this to another level with BMF by also becoming a Fitness Instructor and Running Coach (in my spare time)! Do you feel that age plays a factor in your recovery times from racing and training? If so, what changes have you made and what tips would you offer other racers to help them deal with the sands of time? Yes of course, so I would recommend resting properly in between quality training sessions, focus on your target distances for races, and ideally don’t
race 20 miles one weekend then 10 miles the following weekend. I rarely do multi-event weekends because for me it’s about working towards one quality performance and then actively recovering. What would you say to anyone looking at giving OCR a go but thinking they are to old too start? Age is just a number! Start small and progress with the end target in mind. If the target is a 10k obstacle race, you need to train to run 10k and have a long run day of double that in terms of time on feet on the race day. Train your over grasp pull-ups but start with weighted pull downs simulating the same action. You need this strength to get over walls and to navigate monkey bars. Finally, high intensity circuit training (ideally with BMF) to condition all your muscles and the stop/start nature of OCR.
What are your future targets and goals and have they changed since becoming part of such a successful race team? My main goal this year is to podium in the UK and World Championship races in my age group (50+), and ideally to finish top of the UK OCR Masters league although the latter is getting more difficult to achieve as it’s from age 40+ If you were to give one tip to all racers what would it be? OCR is mainly running if you want to be competitive. To be considered ‘Elite’ at the Toughest race series, men need to be sub38 minutes for 10k and women, sub-42 mins for 10k. Running is also a very good test of your overall cardiovascular fitness, so learn to run more effectively by joining a BMF or local running club, and ideally undertake biomechanical/video analysis to see if you can improve your technique.
ONE NEW AND ADDITIONAL TARGET NOW I’VE JOINED THE BMF RACE TEAM IS TO BEAT JAMES, ROSS OR DAVID IN ONE RACE… I CAN DREAM!
68 Obstacle Race Magazine
PROFILES : TO INSPIRE
Obstacle Race Magazine 69
KIT TESTING : BRAS
BRAS
FOR RACING No matter how much time you invest in finding that perfect sports bra, according to some statistics, 80% of women wear the wrong size.
For women with larger breasts, finding a sports bra that offers optimal support can be a whole other issue and sometimes two sports bras need to be worn. This is obviously not ideal so we set out with a group of testers to find out how to find the perfect sports bra for OCR. As if running wasn’t challenging enough, large breasts can make it a full-on contact sport. Thumping against your chest, weighing you down, and threatening to give you black eyes, graphic breast bouncing is more than embarrassing. It’s painful and can prove detrimental to running performance and enjoyment out on the course. A pair of D-cup boobs weigh in at 15 to 23 pounds. That’s more than enough to pull your trunk forward, force you into a hunchedover running posture, decrease your stride’s efficiency, and up your risk of injury. If you haven’t noticed, pretty much the only thing keeping your breasts up during a run is your bra’s shoulder straps, which take a lot of weight. When the straps are thin, the pressure can be so great they not only leave dents in your shoulders but hit the brachial plexus nerve group, causing numbness in the pinky fingers. While you can’t reduce your breasts’ weight without a breast reduction, you can improve your body’s ability to remain erect, here’s how: Upper and lower back exercises (think: pulldown and row variations) can help prevent the back fatigue and poor posture that can set in with longer running durations. Exercising your core, which includes your lower and middle back, can help stabilize your spine Focus on functional core strengthening exercises that work multiple muscles through several planes of motion.
70 Obstacle Race Magazine
Examples include; the forearm plank with alternating leg raises, prone plank on a stability ball, Superman, bird-dog, side plank, and abdominal twists.
KEEPING THEM IN PLACE How far your boobs bounce depends almost entirely on breast size and elasticity of the skin covering your breasts. However, skin tends to lose its elasticity with age and “excessive breast bouncing.” So, the more your breasts bounce, the more they will bounce during future runs. How much do breasts bounce? Measuring the bounce of both bare and bra-covered breasts during workouts, testers found the average 38D moves about five inches from top to bottom during running. Small breasts bounce about three inches, which can still be uncomfortable. While they can’t completely eliminate bouncing, high-support bras can cut the range of motion in about half. The goal is for the breasts to move in unison with your torso and not bounce independently of one another.
HOW TO FIND YOUR BEST RUNNERS BRA When first purchasing a sports bra, resist the urge to purchase online, go to a retailer to try on styles.Look for bras with high-support elements such as molded cups, underwire, padded straps, and multiple hooks. We recommend trying on as many bras as possible to find which one keep your breasts in place—without sacrificing too much comfort. If a bra is not comfortable to wear walking and stretching, then don't even think about hitting the course with it on. When trying on sports bras, though, don’t just go by the feel. Look out for these markers of a good bra:
The Band: It should be made of wide elastic material so it can support your breasts without causing back bulges or riding up when you lift your arms. You should fasten the bra on the loosest hook so, as it ages and becomes looser, you can tighten the fit. The Shoulder Straps: They should be wide and padded so they don’t dig into your shoulders. The Cups: To limit movement, the cups must completely cover your breasts (without leaving any creases or gaps). Keep in mind your running bra cup size may be different from what you wear under your little black dress. The Underwire: It should sit on your ribs so it doesn't dig into your breasts or the tissue under your armpits. The Front Band: The center of the bra should sit on your breastbone, squarely between your breasts. Meanwhile, if you’ve long since outgrown DD bras, you may need to look for a “crop top” compression bra for some double-bra layering, or take a look at the Buband recommended below. After a few runs, chances are you'll figure out the brands and styles that work best for your unique shape. Once you find you can’trun-without bra, write down its silhouette and style number. It’s the key to being able to buy online—or finding a similar bra should the brand discontinue the style. Either way, it’ll simplify the contain-the-girls process for future runs.
KIT TESTING : BRAS
IN NEED OF EXTRA SUPPORT Another issue women face when their breasts are poorly supported is the stretching of the Cooper’s Ligaments, which a largely responsible for preventing breast sagging. But Buband have the answer. Buband is an athletic band that is worn over a sports bra to reduce bounce when exercising. To put it on, you start with the band over your stomach and fasten the hook and eye closure at your front. You then spin the band around so the hook and eye system is on your back and bring the band up. It should be worn across the top of your breasts. The extra support runners and athletes get from the Būband is not just for comfort—it is also for your health. A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that looked at 1,400 female marathon runners and found that almost two-thirds suffered breast pain while running, despite the fact that 90 percent were wearing a sports bra.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CHECK IT OUT AT: HTTPS://BUBAND.CA
Obstacle Race Magazine 71
KIT TESTING : BRAS
CHECK OUT OUR HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SPORTS BRAS BELOW.
BRAS
Each bra came out with a glowing report when our testers were asked to race, train and generally give them hell. The bras are listed in order by the support level they are recommended for so there’s something for everyone.
SHOCK ABSORBER ACTIVE SHAPED
ADIDAS TECHFIT FLORAL £25, WWW.WIGGLE.COM Support level: Medium / Heavy Standout features: Stripped back design / Great for summer months
£28, WWW.WIGGLE.COM Support level: Heavy Standout features: Fantastic support for all sizes / Ultra comfort
ASICS RACERBACK
SAUCONY ROCK IT
USA PRO ULTIMATE
£25, WWW.GOOUTDOORS.COM Support level: Medium Standout features: Excellent quality / deceptively good support
$38, WWW.SAUCONY.COM Support level: Light Standout features: Excellent coverage / Very comfortable
£8.49, WWW.SPORTSDIRECT.COM Support level: Light / Medium Standout features: Excellent coverage / Very comfortable
72 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : 10 RECOVERY TIPS
10 TIPS RECOVERY Written by: Carl Wibberley
Recovery is something we all have to deal with, whether it be after racing or even training, its always extremely important to let our bodies rest and rebuild. It seems to be a subject many people struggle with and always send questions in to the magazine about. Do you ever wonder how the top athletes can train multiple times per day, at a high intensity? There's a lot more to recovery than good nutrition and a post-run shake. Don't get me wrong - both of these are important, but they'll only get you so far. If you want to recover faster between runs and races, here are 10 more things for you to try:
1. TAKE AN EPSOM SALT BATH Epsom salt, or magnesium sulphate, is a mineral compound easily absorbed by the skin. Both minerals, magnesium and sulphate, can play a role in your recovery. Some of the benefits linked to Epsom salt baths include: • Reducing inflammation, • Muscle relaxation, • Flushing toxins from the body.
2. GO FOR A SPORTS MASSAGE Most professional athletes have a massage therapist on their team for a reason - it works! A sports massage can prevent, or help alleviate, DOMS by encouraging blood flow to the affected muscles. They're also thought to eliminate lactic and carbonic acid build up from the muscles, further reducing your recovery time.
3. FOAM ROLLERS Sore, stiff, tight or all three. Used preworkout, foam rolling has serious benefits, including easing muscle soreness, correcting muscle imbalance, increasing range of motion, and preventing injury. Some gyms have foam rollers, but it might be worth investing in your own. Rollers vary in size, firmness, and shape. Long rollers provide more area for stability and support,
while shorter options are more versatile and convenient for travel. Check out you tube for video based instruction.
4. REPLACE LOST ELECTROLYTES When you train, your body loses electrolytes as you sweat. It's important to replace them to maintain the correct fluid balance within your body and support recovery. Here are some things you can consume to replace them: • Bananas, • Coconut water, • Avocados, • Kale, • A pinch of salt in your recovery drink.
5. CRYOTHERAPY Cryotherapy involves the use of extreme cold temperatures to reduce inflammation and speed up recovery. Have you ever seen an athlete jumping into an ice bath following an event? This is cryotherapy - although, in the real world, it doesn't have to be quite so extreme.
each night. It might not sound like a lot, but this adds up to an extra 7 hours over the course of the week. An extra 7 hours of intense recovery for your ravaged muscles!
8. TRY YOGA FOR ACTIVE RECOVERY Regular weightlifting can lead to chronic muscle tightness, and muscular imbalances - especially if you haven't got your technique dialled all the way in. Over time, this can impact your training and increase the risk of injury - hence the need for regular mobility work. A yoga class is a great way to add some balance to your routine and work on your mobility. It's a restorative exercise, so most classes are suitable for active recovery days. If you find the right instructor, it will help you build strength too - as many of the poses are challenging.
9. TAKE A MAGNESIUM SUPPLEMENT
Cryotherapy is recommended to treat injuries, but many athletes use it as a recovery tool too.
Magnesium is another underestimated supplement for recovery. It's most commonly taken in the form of a ZMA supplement, which also contains zinc.
It works by removing lactic acid (and other waste products) from the muscles, whilst reducing inflammation and muscle damage. Maybe try a good old fashioned ice bath.
Magnesium contributes to over 300 chemical processes within the body, including those related to muscle recovery.
6. STAY HYDRATED This sounds very simple - and it is! But it's amazing how many people fail to do the most obvious things to improve recovery. Hydration is always important, but it's absolutely essential when your body's recovering from a tough session.
7. GET MORE SLEEP Again, we all know sleep is important but this could be the missing link in your recovery regime. If you're taking too long to recover between sessions, try to get to bed an hour earlier
Magnesium has been found to relax muscles post-workout. It also improves oxygen uptake and electrolyte balance within the muscles, and improves sleep quality.
10. COMPRESSION Research suggests wearing compression gear reduces the severity of DOMS following an intense workout. The study also evaluated the impact on muscle strength and muscle power. They concluded that compression clothing is effective when it comes to speeding up recovery from muscle damage.
Obstacle Race Magazine 73
PROFILES : INTERVIEW WITH JOE DE SENA
AN INTERVIEW WITH
JOE DE SENA Written by: Kevin Newey Photography by: Epic Action Imagery
SPARTAN RACE IS RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE LEADING BRANDS IN THE WORLD OF OCR, AND THERE AREN’T MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE DEDICATED MORE OF THEIR LIFE TO OCR AND IMPROVING PEOPLE’S LIVES THAN JOE DE SENA. THE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF SPARTAN RACE POPPED OVER TO LONDON FOR A FEW DAYS AND WE WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO CATCH UP WITH HIM AND FIND OUT A BIT MORE ABOUT THE MAN AND THE MACHINE THAT IS SPARTAN RACE.
74 Obstacle Race Magazine
PROFILES : INTERVIEW WITH JOE DE SENA
KN Great to see you over in the UK again Joe, and putting a group of Spartans through their paces at Marble Arch. With such an animal to look after, what is it that makes Joe De Sena tick? JDS Hmm, that’s a good question. I’m pretty motivated, I’ve been motivated my whole life. As soon as I wake up in the morning my eyes open I literally sit up like a robot and I’m going to conquer the world. I shared a hotel room with a couple of buddies of mine recently and they said they never saw anything like it because I immediately got on my phone, I’m right on my computer, I’m already working, doing burpees. So, I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s the food I eat, or the water I drink, or what, but the second I wake up to the moment I pass out, I’m just motivated. Lately, the last 6 years with Spartan it’s been very purposeful. The early part of my career was about making money, getting ahead having a nest egg, finding a woman to marry, having children, but now I’m really, really focussed on changing lives. The amount of emails, incoming emails I get – “you’ve changed my life, I’m getting divorced from my wife, I’m no longer drinking, I’ve stopped smoking, I’m working out”. You get those kind of emails and you’re exponentially motivated.
KN What is the end goal, what is it you’re striving for? JDS You know, I don’t know. In the old days, and what I mean about that is 20 years ago, I guess the end goal would have been I eventually wanted to make some money with the business but lately I’ve been thinking about my exit strategy as death. So I think the end goal is, well I love transforming kids and teaching them tools for their tool box of life, and so if we can be bigger in the kids’ community, education, I think that’s what would be our next big push. KN We’ve seen Spartan Junior increase in popularity in the UK, is that the same across the other countries you operate in? JDS Around the world. In Singapore we just had a couple of thousand kids, so yeah, it’s growing like mad everywhere. What parent doesn’t want their kid to be a Spartan? KN When you take your work hat off, what do you like to do to relax? JDS You know, I never take my work hat off. I think about it often, I’ve had lots of people I’ve tried to motivate over the years to be in business and become successful and invariably I think a lot of people think that it’s a part time gig. When you own a
business, it’s not part time, it’s all the time. It’s when you’re in the kitchen with the kids, it’s New Years with the family, it’s at weddings, at funerals, it never turns off, so there’s lots of people reading thinking, “don’t you have time to smell the roses”. My response is a little extreme, but would be, well who’s fertilising and watering the roses. So, you’re either committed, or you’re just interested, and I’m pretty committed in anything I do. KN I know where you’re coming from. It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is. JDS It’s relentless, if you want to be successful at it. KN So, how do you make the Spartan US model work in the UK? We see you get huge numbers over there, but it’s not transferred to the market here. JDS It’s just really investment, that’s all. In the UK we just need to spend more, be more vocal, it’s a smaller market obviously. We’ve got 52 races now in the US and we’ve got 7 in the UK, so it’s never going to be as big as the US, but Europe will eclipse the US. I think it’s just a matter of marketing and making more noise in the UK. With Peter Phillips involved, that obviously helps.
Obstacle Race Magazine 75
PROFILES : INTERVIEW WITH JOE DE SENA
KN So, what are the biggest challenges facing Spartan Race globally? JDS The biggest challenge, or logistical challenge is putting on 150 events around the globe obviously has its logistical nightmares. Efficiency, trying to become more efficient at things we need to be spending money on, things we shouldn’t be spending money on. Labour pool – getting people in, the right people in and getting them up to speed. Asia is a giant race to the finish line because we really want to own Asia before anybody comes in there so we’re pushing very very hard in all Asian markets and thankfully the brand is translated to every culture. I don’t think there’s a minute that goes by that’s not a challenge. KN Do you see Europe and Asia as the biggest growth opportunities? JDS I think that 2 years from now, Asia’s will be the largest growth opportunity. After that, we can grow in Europe. We’ve planted so many seeds in Europe that we can really grow. I think 2 years from now, if we’re having this conversation again, Asia is going to eclipse the world. KN With having lots of races in lots of countries, how do you keep control of the Spartan brand and make sure its integrity is upheld around the globe? JDS It’s difficult when you’re in as many countries as we’re in. It’s difficult to stamp out the perfect hamburger in every country, but we’re getting better every month that goes by and the team is getting more experienced. More and more of our team are travelling around the world. But it’s always a matter of funding too. We’ve got to spend a lot of money to get into
76 Obstacle Race Magazine
new markets, so I guess it’s just time. KN The UK scene is almost becoming overcrowded with lots of smaller events trying to establish themselves. Is this mirrored in the US and Canada? JDS In most English speaking countries, there’s an insane amount of competition. We call them ‘ankle biters’. And so, you just have to deal with it. It happens in every industry. It happens in the computer industry, it happens in the automobile industry. There’s lots and lots of players who come in, there’s a ton of competition, and two or three strong remain. I think it’s important as an industry that we all keep focussed on the prize which is getting into the Olympics. We’ve got to work together to get into the Olympics because if we don’t get in the Olympics, we run the risk of it being something that fades away, and so it’s got to become an Olympic sport. KN What’s your take on all the different parties trying to start up their own OCR associations? JDS It’s ridiculous. Everybody should be working together. Most of these conversations you hear are fear based and they don’t need to be. We’re pushing forward, we’re investing heavily and trying to get into the Olympics and we won’t stop until we get there. So, anybody who wants to join and help us make that happen, we’d welcome the help. KN There are lots of race brands out there, but very few seem to grasp hold of people and give them the sense of belonging that Spartan does. You see your team here and they live and breathe Spartan, why do you think that is?
JDS Those 300 people that died for us way back when right. I mean, it’s just an incredible brand that’s been around since 600 BC. It means something when you see that word ‘Spartan’, it’s much more than a race, it’s a lifestyle. I think our ethos comes out in the brand, the way we’re very long term thinkers. We’re very focussed on making this a sport, and I think the consumers recognise this and we don’t cut corners, we try to hold you to a standard. We try to force you to complete the obstacle or take the penalty and that’s a tough standard to hold people to as it makes it harder to market the race, but at the end of the day, when someone completes a Spartan Race, it means more to them. KN The races that stand out in the UK are the ones who are innovating and designing new obstacles to give themselves a unique selling point. Spartan Race seems to stick with the tried and tested, like the iconic spear throw, but do you have plans to design and build some new obstacles? JDS We’re always going to innovate and bring in some obstacles, but at the end of the day, we want it to be a sport. We want the obstacles to be athletic in nature. We want people to build them at home and practice on them. Basketball hoops don’t change size and distance every week to make it different. Established sports have set parameters and that’s our goal. Will we introduce different terrain and will we introduce new obstacles here and there, absolutely, but the goal is really to get people to accept this as a sport and train for it properly. KN Thanks Joe, keep up the great work!
Obstacle Race Magazine 77
YOUR LETTERS
Letters
PAGE
Send us your letters! Thanks for your letters and photos, we always look forward to hearing what our OCR fans are up to. We’re just sorry there isn’t room to include them all. If you would like to get a letter on to this page then please send 100 words and a picture of you in action to
letters@obstacleracemagazine.com
Hi ORM
Hi OCRM
I ran the Rat Race Dirty weekend, All 20 miles and 200 obstacles with my trusty side kick the inflatable giraffe. I ran for Clicsargent and also Children with Cancer UK, in memory of my daughter. Heres my link for more information www. justgiving.com/marc-sullivan2
My First OCR was 3 years ago at Insane Terrain in Wansford. I was so nervous but after the event I loved it so much that I’m now addicted.
Cheers Marc S
78 Obstacle Race Magazine
Insane terrain was a great one to start with. It's not too hard and a lot of fun. So I recruited a few friends this year and also my sister. Like me they loved it and want to do another OCR soon. Here are a couple of photos of the day. Regards Yvonne Lee
YOUR LETTERS
Hi ORM I’m a regular reader of the magazine, thanks for all the great articles on obstacle running. I’m writing in about a topic of Running Vs Muscle gains. I’ve heard many people say cardio based exercises like running(especially long distance) and building muscle don’t usually go hand in hand. Over the last year or so Ive been concentrating on upper body strength and weight lifting exercises, but I’m also a keen runner. I believe I’ve found a good balance in my personal routine, by concentrating on 5k distance and Obstacle Running. I have a marathon and half marathons under my belt, but I find that by focusing on OCRs or 5k distance I can work on my speed and strength.- So I can hit the dumbbells and work on my upper body strength but still get my running fix and cardio into my routine. Best Wishes Matt Holland , Northampton Hi ORM Here's me and my 10 year old nephew doing his first OCR at Iron Run. He absolutely loved it and has now got the bug! Regards Stuart Neail
Hi After seeing your great review of Forest Warrior in this year's first magazine I decided to give it a go on 10th April. It was by far the best ocr I have done. Hi ORM Heres a picture of me at Vision Wild Run - it’ll be a race that’s sadly missed. I did the 10k with my Fitbeing team mates and then did the sweeper lap with Pete Marshall and Gareth Jones. Followed by the Blenheim 7k with my wife and kids the day after. Simon Hoskins
I finished 13th. The mixture of lakes, swamps and obstacles was fantastic, my favourite being the water slide. The photography was great and extremely well organised. Amazing to see the armed forces rifles regiment there...we even got shot at with paintballs. Please find attached two great photos showing off the vest. I hope they make it in the next addition Kind regards Jason Young
Obstacle Race Magazine 79
REVIEW : TOUGHEST - LONDON
TOUGHEST LONDON
Written by: JAMES RUCKLEY Photography by: James Appleton Photography
2016
THE DAY THE BIG BOYS CAME TO PLAY. Toughest has long been my favourite event. Ever since my first visit to Toughest Ice I have admired their race format of fast lanes and long penalties while their obstacle complexity is second to none. So when they announced they were heading to England big things were to come and thousands flocked to sign up. The hype for this event has been like no other, only matched in public desperation by the likes of Tough Guy. The release of the event map a month early sent waves rippling through the community with all
80 Obstacle Race Magazine
the talk around the rigs, slides and dragons back. Many grew with excitement while others headed to parkour gyms, free running classes and ninja lessons in a desperate attempt to master techniques they’d never heard of. Myself included. There was always the risk that with the previous race reviews, the hype and the complexity of obstacles that the event might not be what some expected. It may be too tough or not live up to the dreams of runners. It was something I’d discussed in detail with the ORM team and friends within
the sport, I guessed only time would tell. Skipping forward a few weeks and the Friday before was upon us. Arriving at 9am on that Friday I was part of a support crew destined to help Ross Edgley climb the height of Everest on the 6m Toughest ropes. A feat he completed with surprise ease, that’s not to suggest there weren’t a few dark places over those 24 hours. Be sure to check out the #WorldsLongestRopeClimb for more on that! Race morning dawned and the event village was growing fast. It soon took
REVIEW : TOUGHEST - LONDON
Obstacle Race Magazine 81
REVIEW : TOUGHEST - LONDON
the shape of one of the most formidable I’d seen even if a little boggy in some places. Hundreds of familiar faces littered registration, burger vans and checked out the obstacles surrounding. A big screen TV showed 2 hours until the elite men started while music blared from media tower in the middle. Arriving the legendary Toughest commentators Wally and Brian with a new addition to the already infamous team. Behind them what seemed like a small Scandinavian army ready to take over. Athletes from all teams had made the journey with world champions littering the event. MIT Tough Team also had a great turn out and ran their customary wave later in the day with the legendary Latoff Brothers leading the charge! Registration opened at 9:30 with Swedish precision and the elite males lined up read for the 10am start. Wally and Brian gave the course low down before the automated timer stared counting down 10-9-8…2-1!! Nervous bodies leapt up and down while IceBugs and iRocks raked the floor. With the digital cannon off they shot! It’s common for Toughest to have an obstacle very early on to break up the field and this was no different, a mere 20m from the start line a huge cargo net lay awaiting. Jonathon Albon took his normal start slotting into the pack while the likes of Conor and Tim Sheiff fought for an early lead. An unfamiliar elite wave for most spectators it contained only a handful of English runners making up both the male and female pens. A testament to the standard of Scandinavian athletes who made the trip. For this event I decided to slot into a later wave. The previous 48 hours hadn’t been the most relaxing and I really wanted to sit back and watch the elites come flying through more specifically the female elites. Toughest London marked my second chance to watch Yohie Bohlin, most comparable to the World Champion himself. Yohie won the Toughest Mini Tour in emphatic style last year and I was anticipating similar from her this year. An obscene runner she struggled last year with the more technical obstacles but with a winter of
82 Obstacle Race Magazine
obstacle training behind her I was keen to see now suffering… A small gathering of nervous the progression. people littered the top of the first spine, but Sadly, while cruising in the lead Yohie took shuffling through I was able to jump across, a nasty fall and injured her arm, her race was slipping momentarily, before finishing the over but the series is still in her favour. Keep an next 4/5 jumps and hydrating while the others eye out for her, a potential world championship followed. The rest was short lived as we hit the contender undoubtedly. monkey bars, one obstacle I’m disappointed to With Yohie out it was time for me to head to say I’m yet to achieve the fast lane on. the start line. Joining the Paul’s (Hayward and Disappearing down a hill, joined temporarily Shanley) it was time run what I’d been looking by part of the Swedish MIT Crew, we hopped forward too for so long now! a wall and headed out on the second of the Traditionally Toughest create a series of fast, loops, a long and technical run wound around low mud courses but this was in England and the edge of the lakes testing shoes and ankle they’d adapted their design to really challenge mobility alike. This incredible trail section lead the tightest of laces. As we started I shot off us to the slide, sadly on this day the slide was the start line and across the cargo net, down closed, something the others will tell you I was towards the first technical obstacle, the Swing glad of! I am not a fan of cold water and it was, walk. With the cargo net doing its job I had time in my mind, threatening my completion with to play first completing the easy side before Paul-Paul! Taking the penalty we slowly up the practicing the hill following the marked penalty route, hard side while rounding the flag before heading back NERVOUS BODIES LEAPT down and on our way. I’d love to sit here waiting for UP AND DOWN WHILE and say I walked up the next ascent with Paul-Paul or Pablo and Mr. ICEBUGS AND IROCKS Paul-Paul, but I think they carried on S, a form of sat RAKED THE FLOOR. running long after I stopped! This loop nav upgrade I brought an old rival my way, the sternum wish I’d never checker! Now an obstacle I compete with installed. dignity, grace and technique rather than speed We jogged on down towards the step up, past and force we were soon continuing up the hill, an 8ft wall and on towards the traverse walls. and by we I mean Paul S and I... They just don’t Having practiced the day before I knew these build obstacles for short people do they Pablo!? were going to be tough covered in mud but I Still ribs in tact we all trudged on. was shocked to find out just how much work The top of this hill climb brought a hoist, a my core put in as I negotiated across a board of simple yet irritating obstacle that is never as climbing mounts, traversed a scaffolding pole easy as it should be. Again Mr. S smashed it and swung through the second traverse section. while Pablo and I struggled with our height and Sadly, Pablo was unable to complete while Mr. S weigh disadvantages! Jogging down, clearing floated across more gracefully than most of the another wall we met the most hated, and most elites would have! It was great to see a legend loved woman in OCR right now. Tammy Beckett of the OCR world James Appleton so early on was one of the best marshals I’ve ever come with his camera, a true genius. across. Set the instruction of ensuring every tire On we ran heading back into the event carry was at arms length she echoed across village. Toughest excel in their course design the hills, struck fear into my weary shaking with many loops in and out creating a real arms before feeding me Haribo when I got spectator friendly environment. The talk soon back. What a marshal! Those Haribo were long turned to Mr. S exceptional form on the dragons overdue and lead me back into the event village, back early in the week and how much he was ready to tackle the legendary platinum rig.
REVIEW : TOUGHEST - LONDON
THE OVERWHELMING VIBE COMING FROM THE COMMUNITY IS ONE OF BRILLIANCE WHILE A FEW INDIVIDUALS HAVE FAIRLY SHARED THEIR OPINIONS OF NEGATIVITY. Normally I like to attempt the fast lanes, but being unable to complete a flying monkey I chose to take the easy lane, I guess when your’re not racing there is no rush… Completing the rig I passed through the under overs, crawled and relaxed again waiting for my team mates. 5.5k in team KitBrix-ChiaCharge-Muddy Kit-IceBug-Run247-ORM was going strong, even Mr. S had received his second wind! We headed off down into the technical woodland again, completing the dips walk, Bulgarian bag carry before moving onto the rope climb. Déjà vu. The ropes soon channeled round too the swinging wheels. A new obstacle for Toughest they were awesome. I was a little unsure which was the fast and easy lanes but decided to have a go at both and found them both equally brilliant. While Paul-Paul took the easy lane additional crawl I took a few more attempts and helped coach Liam across as gracefully as you’d expect… Down into the woods we had more beautifully technical trails before emerging at the peg boards. Here the sun left us and our
cold wet bodies really started affecting us. The mucking around swiftly stopped and we all flew over and crawled as fast as we good. I jogged and jumped while waiting for the others, stuck behind slower crawlers. We really put the pace down on the way to the ring walk before taking a sharp turn into the quarter pipe. Having been on site the day before I knew tackling this really did depend on shoe grip so I set about drying mine on a patch of grass to the side. Brian had picked up on my whereabouts and soon was hyping me up over the tannoy. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so nervous running into a wall, but thankfully my brilliant IceBugs gripped and gripped well, I trotted up the wall with relative ease, soon to be joined by Paul S, but sadly never to be joined by Pablo. Sliding down the finishing pole I collected my medal and joined the queues waiting for that finish line photo. The mood was electric, my body racked with shivers and teeth chattered but I’ve not felt a rush like that for months. What an event. While brilliant this event wasn’t without its
problems. Course sabotaging is sadly becoming the norm in the UKOCR scene with larger races being the victim of jealous rivals. With one obstacle was closed a huge shout out must go to the build crew and race directors, having pulled an all-nighter they headed out early to fix obstacles, retape the course and ensure the race could go ahead. The overwhelming vibe coming from the community is one of brilliance while a few individuals have fairly shared their opinions of negativity. Personally the event was a 9/10 from me, almost perfect, the only reason I have to mark it down form 10 is based on the standard of other Toughest events which utilize mountain terrain, frozen lakes or extreme heat, something they didn’t have. Huge congratulations to Jon for another incredible run, and to Mrs. Albon for a long overdue Toughest victory! My next Toughest event is that of Malmo. Located on the beach and through the city I cannot wait for this change of scenery.
Obstacle Race Magazine 83
FEATURE : TO AID OR NOT TO AID
TO AID OR NOT TO AID Written by KEVIN STEVENS
SAT IN A CHILLY CABIN IN THE MIDDLE OF A WOOD NEAR BIRMINGHAM AND I’VE MOMENTARILY DRIFTED OFF. Probably to a warmer room, mostly likely an imaginary bar supping a pint but before I can even think about ordering some imaginary nuts to go with my beer I’m dragged back to the present, what did he just say? I was shocked, did I hear the instructor correctly? Did he really just say a marshal should refrain from assisting runners over obstacles at all times? Rewind a few years to my first marshalling experience, some friends and I had been planning to run an event together but unfortunately a few weeks before a recurring and infuriating hamstring injury had put paid to that, with arrangements already made and not wishing to spoil the party I somewhat reluctantly volunteered to marshal so I could still play a part in the day. As it turned out I had a great day, not quite as good as running but definitely the next best thing, I’d been posted to a wall which offered lots of opportunities to interact with runners as this particular event, being one of the biggest names in OCR had attracted a really broad mix of abilities and there was a fair bit of help required to
84 Obstacle Race Magazine
surmount this obstacle. I arrived back at the marshal tent with my fellow wall volunteer and the head marshal coordinator was surprised at the state we were in, quizzed about how we had become so caked in mud we explained we had been helping some strugglers to get over the wall, she frowned slightly, “Well you shouldn’t really help the runners on the obstacles”, which was curious because it was in direct contradiction from the instructions given to us by the zone leader we were working under who had encouraged us to lend a hand and thus prevent log jams. I was a bit confused and not just by the conflicting instructions, Yes I had been physically depleted by my efforts, yes my focus wasn’t on all the runners all the time but on the other hand I felt I had played a big part in improving the experience of many runners who, I had encouraged, instructed, cajoled and on occasion lifted over this obstacle and in the process helped them achieve something they didn’t think they could do and as a marshal there really
is no greater reward than this. Fast forward a few marshalling experiences and this time I was stationed at a two tiered tire wall for a local race, a few hours in a male and female running together and wearing team tops of two of the biggest community groups in OCR approached my obstacle. The guy, being a gentleman decides to assist the woman over the wall, it’s had been raining on and off all morning and conditions were pretty greasy, I can see the guy is making a supporting bridge but his not using his knee to anchor his hands in place and support the weight, this looks dangerous to me, I hesitate in saying something because clearly these are experienced OCR runners and might not appreciate my input but decide safety must take precedence. I say, “Hold up a minute fella!” and hustle over to help but he carries on and then BAM! Her foot slips through his greasy hands and her face slams into the first tier of the wall, there was plenty of blood and one really pissed of runner and one sheepish
FEATURE : TO AID OR NOT TO AID
running partner but fortunately no serious involved and now it seems the standing injury. I was left with the sense of feeling instruction is to stay removed. that maybe I could have prevented this I can see there are no easy answers to from happening if I had been quicker to this, yes the race organisers on the whole intervene. will want volunteer/marshals to take a Back to the present (well the past as I’m hands off approach and rightly so from their writing this some three month later in the perspective it limits and protects themselves present tense but and the marshals you get my drift) from legal action, I “HOLD UP A MINUTE FELLA!” and the OCRA UK guess it’s the world course instructor we live in, sad as it is begins to flesh out the case for nonit’s a litigious world, maybe there is no way intervention, not physically aiding protects around this. both the marshal and the race organisers As a participant though I always want from legal action and injury, I get this, I to be engaged with by the marshals and understand it, there is some discussion OCR would be much poorer on the whole if about potentially offering advice without we lose this element from races, so maybe actually making specific recommendations, there something as participant we we can I.E. protecting marshal and event organiser do. Obviously we can take responsibility for by using some form of legalese speak our actions and our own safety and stop such as “I have seen people successfully looking to appoint blame but beyond this navigate this obstacle by using this if we are running solo and don’t think we technique” or “maybe a safer way to tackle can’t safely attempt an obstacle on our own this obstacle could be” type of thing but I’m or as team we don’t think we are jointly not convinced, I like helping! It’s the main capable of tackling an obstacle then we reason I marshal. should skip the obstacle. Race organisers At the end of the course I find myself and runners can assist in this by including a bit confused and the argument is it in briefings and by removing the stigma unresolved in my head, one of the great of skipping obstacles in non-competitive joys of marshalling has always was been situations, after all no-one’s going to expect feeling part of the event and getting a non-swimmer to tackle a 100 metre swim!
As runners maybe we need to help protect marshals by modifying the racing lexicon, we could embrace the protective legal speak and make it part of OCR, it might sound silly running at a marshal screaming a verbal disclaimer but in golf they probable all looked at the first bloke who shouted ‘fore’ as if he were a nutjob and in football someone had to be the first to shout ‘man-on’ and you just know he got some seriously funny looks! Race organisers can help in other ways, they can include safe technique crib sheets in pre-race information packs and emphasise the need to protect both runners and marshal’s safety in pre-race briefings, they also need to find inventive ways to make marshals a more active part of the race without physically or legally putting themselves at risk or potentially the role of marshal might become less attractive to some. Marshalls for their part need to understand their roles better and ultimately come up with a set of rules they are comfortable with, personally I will now only Intervene when it’s safer to do so that not too, I’m not prepared to watch someone’s face get slammed into another wall so rightly or wrongly that’s my position so let the lawyers be damned!
Obstacle Race Magazine 85
REVIEW : 10 SECOND ROUND UP
ORM WRITERS
10 SECOND
RACE ROUND UP BING BLAZER Bigger, Better, Bing Blazer was exactly that. Bigger, better and this time a UK and European Championship race! With new obstacles like the Scottish Hangover and the Lion Rampant as well as a Tyre Trauma, a carry that seemed to go on forever it appealed to everyone! The Hexathalon, a 25ft by 60ft rig combining six obstacles remained the highlight with the addition this year of a rope climb section, as well as an extension to those famous monkey bars. Whether elite or a first time runner, this fabulously Scottish race was once again a hit! #ORMLouBal
TOUGH MUDDER MIDLANDS After all the hype I’ve heard about Tough Mudder, I thought it was about time I had a go to see what all the fuss was about. If I could sum it up in one word, it would be ‘awesome’. The Belvoir Castle venue was very picturesque and the mixed terrain was fully made use of. The obstacles were excellent, very well made and innovative. Funky Monkey, King of the Swingers and Block Ness Monster were three of the best obstacles I’ve ever taken on. Thumbs up and will definitely be back to get my next headbands! Kevin Newey
RAT RACE DIRTY WEEKEND If I only had one word to describe RRDW it would EPIC, luckily I have 100! Rat Race know how to put on an awesome event, the scale of their obstacles are 2nd to none, you won’t find much bigger or better. The atmosphere from the minute you arrive is buzzing and it carries on all weekend. For me it is an essential race to put in the calendar, I've been for the last two years and already counting down to 2017! I'm even thinking about taking on the Dirty Double so I can have double the fun (that's how it works right?!) #ORMJordan
86 Obstacle Race Magazine
REVIEW : 10 SECOND ROUND UP
ROCKET RACE Having run the two previous Rocket Race’s, I was really looking forward to see what the team would serve up for race number three and having moved to a larger site was interested to see how Rocket Races particular brand of obstacle heavy racing with a family feel would cope with the move to a bigger site, could Rocket Race scale up to this much larger venue? I needn’t have worried, the new course just blew me away offering stunning landscapes with wide sweeping vistas which made
STRONG VIKING Strong Viking is a race series that has events in Holland, Germany, Denmark and Belgium. This weekend I took on the hills edition in Amsterdam, the 42k Iron Viking with over 100+ obstacles and an elevation gain of +2500m, I have to be honest I did wonder where they would get the elevation gain from in a country renowned to be flat, the location of the event at
it a fantastic backdrop to run against and team Rocket Race delivered a demanding obstacle heavy course which tested both upper and lower body strength and cardio fitness with a good mix of technical, physical and mental tests along the way. Favourite obstacles on the day would have been the rope traverse across the lake and the unrelenting physical test that was Badgers field, a name that I’m sure will become synonymous with pain and suffering for all Rocketeers! In summary Rocket Race Atlantis, I smashed it, I loved it! Kevin Stevens
Spaarnwoude was definitely not flat and they made great use of the terrain. The obstacles were great, well built and with some I had not seen before. The event its self was very good, well organised, well-built obstacles and a course that made full use of the surrounding terrain. There was a really good atmosphere that you got you excited about the race, changing rooms, bag drop and showers were all available and part of the ticket price. Paul Jeffrey
ROUGH RUNNER Arrive at rough runner on a sunny April morning at a beautiful location in Hampshire. The buzz at the starting post was electric. Before the go, an amusing safety video starts you off in good spirit. The event is sold as a bit more of a fun run than other obstacle events. I think this caught out a few taking on the 15k (a few struggling hen party's found half way round). The run was a great mix of fun obstacles and challenging terrains. There is a 5 and 10k options available but you miss out on the best obstacles. A very unique event topped off by the iconic travelator to finish. Overall a great experience. Rich Attwell
VISION WILD RUN Vision wild run sadly did their last event on may 7th, but they did OCR proud by delivering a memorable one. The 10k course had huge man built obstacles testing grip strength and anyone's fear of heights, plenty of tyres, natural off road terrain including farm yard animals and mud over knee high deep. With the finish line ending with a slide into a giant pit of water. The weather prevailed with glorious sunshine making it the first race of 2016 where you didn't fear the risk of hypothermia after. Big congratulations vision wild run for the fantastic end to your legacy, you will be missed in the OCR community. #ORMChloe
Obstacle Race Magazine 87
REGULARS : INDUSTRY NEWS
THE
WS NE Y R T S INDU
g industry All the news that you need to know from the Obstacle Course Racin
SPARTAN RACE
NUCLEAR OBLIVION EXTREME
Nuclear Races introduce endurance next their hard core the for ge challen racers that don’t find 12km of the rush course quite cuts it. Do you fancy 60k+ of boundary pushing Nuclear Rush laps ? Taking place May 14th 2017. The Event will start at 9.00 am and Finishes 5.30pm. Oblivion 2017 has the potential to be a 60k+/37+mile/450+ obstacle challenge if you can take the pace. It’s
Nuclear Oblivion EXTREME. Designed to challenge the fastest and fittest obstacle race athletes out there; it’s our most brutal & unforgiving event in the Nuclear calendar. There’s 8.5 hours to complete as many 12k laps on the Nuclear Rush course tackling 90+ man-made & natural obstacles per lap. This event requires hardcore training as it’s the ultimate test of physical and mental endurance and strength. Entrants are Oblivion Extreme Legends. This is not a team event. Pit Crew welcome. So what was already voted one of the UK ‘s toughest events just got tougher.
FOR MORE INFO VISIT : WWW.NUCLEAR-RACES.CO.UK
88 Obstacle Race Magazine
NO STADIUM SPRINT
Due to the recent security scare at Old Trafford which lead to the Premier League football match between Manchester United and Bournemouth being abandoned, the stadium has reviewed and revised all of their security policies. As a result of this, Spartan Race have had to cancel their planned Stadium Sprint there at the end of June. Peter Phillips, Managing Director of SEL and General Manager for Spartan UK, said: “Cancelling the Reebok Spartan Race at Old Trafford is not a decision we have taken lightly. Spartan UK has been working with Old Trafford to find a suitable solution since the change to the security procedures, however, after much deliberation, we felt that we could not deliver the race experience to the standards we would like, or that our participants demand.”. If you have any questions regarding this, you can email
CS@UK.SPARTAN.COM
REGULARS : INDUSTRY NEWS
LAUNCHED
BRITISH OPEN There’s a new championship coming in 2017. The British Open will launch at McTough Guy in January and with promises of cash prizes for all age group and gender podium places, it promises to entice some of the best athletes across Europe to fly over for it. There’s no qualification criteria, just join up and have a go. Race Director Alex Potter is really excited by the launch, “For me, it’s an event that will switch from country to country every year. Maybe England in 2018. At McTough Guy, it will be a mass start and all obstacles are achievable, although some will be testing. The facilities are great and we’re offering free parking, goody bag and free photo’s”. To get signed up to the first event in 2017 and for more information, go to
WWW.MCTOUGHGUY.CO.UK.
INDOOR OCR RACING Introducing THE GRIND – Could this be the answer to indoor OCR racing we’ve been looking for? Indoor Sprint Obstacle Course Race (ISOCR) has been created for everyone: They offer a unique spectator friendly experience for everyone from corporate fun seekers to fitness enthusiasts and elite athletes. We like to keep things simple, fun and challenging, so we have three race options that cater to all. The ISOCR event takes place on 11th
DOGGY OCR
June 2016 with another two further events scheduled for later in the year. All 2016 events will be hosted in the Western Cape. Ticket sales are open and all entrants will receive a finishers medal and all online entrants that register before cut-off will receive a goodie bag. Optional extras upon registration are pre ordered T-Shirts, Caps and meals. For more information go to:
THEGRINDRACE.COM
With the rise in popularity of Canicross over the past few years, Zeus Races have launched a Canicross OCR for their next event in June. You no longer have to wave a tearful goodbye to your pooch as you go off on your muddy travels - get them involved, and don’t forget covers for your car seats. More info can be found at: http://zeusraces.run Taking place Saturday 29th October. Zeus describe it as “This is a 8km fixed canicross ocr event, with safe opt outs for any walls or water crossings you don’t want to do, also a great surface under foot and some great hills providing a challenging yet safe course to share with your furry friend.
Obstacle Race Magazine 89
REVIEW : NUCLEAR RACES - RUSH
NUCLEAR RACES RUSH Written by: TONY MARDON Photography by: Tony Jarvis photography
90 Obstacle Race Magazine
REVIEW : NUCLEAR RACES - RUSH
Obstacle Race Magazine 91
REVIEW : NUCLEAR RACES - RUSH
I approached Nuclear with a certain amount of trepidation. I knew the race itself was going to live up to the usual high standard, but was I? And did I really care? Was I OCR’d out? The slump hit me about half way round the UK finals last year. You might call it a Nuclear meltdown. I ran in the elite wave, rubbing shoulders with (until they ran off faster) younger, fitter and healthier competitors. I wasn’t at my fittest that’s for sure but I realised I just wasn’t enjoying it, at all. I was proud to wear the T-Shirt and frame the medal, but was pretty sure that was me done. The freezing cold queues at Survival of the Fittest were, I thought, the final nail in the coffin. Is there anything fun about being so wet and cold you can’t feel your fingers? How many walls have I climbed over? How many cuts and bruises have I sustained? Do I have to climb through another car? Do I have anything left to prove? That’s how I felt at the time. Needing a new challenge, I booked a triathlon and promised myself I would get a bike and learn to swim. With the triathlon next month, I’ve yet to have a swimming lesson and I haven’t got a bike. I’m lazy. I trained for and ran the Brighton, London and Three Forts marathons and now I’m sick of running… again. I’m fickle. With the London to Brighton Ultra just around the corner I needed help. My clothes were getting tighter again! Bloody donuts! Even though I had been staying away from (increasingly bitter) OCR Facebook pages, I was
92 Obstacle Race Magazine
still being inundated with race promos, one of which being Nuclear Rush, complete with photos of their new obstacles. Maybe I did have something left to prove to myself after all so I signed up again, and I am so pleased I did. Arriving early at Kelveden Hatch for my 10am wave, the sun was already out. What a difference a bit of warmth makes to an event like this, the buzz around the event village throughout the day was festival-like and although I didn’t hang around afterwards (I stopped drinking three months ago so my post-race celebrations are less than exciting these days), the bunker was alive with music, spectators, food, drink and runners. What can I say about the race that hasn’t already been said? The guys behind Nuclear continue to deliver one of the best OCRs around. A great mixture of obstacles with some good stretches of trails between to help separate the runners, thereby dispensing of ANY queues at all (in my wave at least). The new Helix and Spinning Monkey were fun and looked great, but didn’t test me as much as I thought they would. I put that down to the fitness tree in my back garden, I can’t walk past it without busting out a few pull ups. How much fun is the zip line and the death slide? I really hate the water but I could zip down those all day long! Unfortunately, the only obstacle to beat me was The Weaver as cramp in my calf forced me to drop down. If, or when, I run Nuclear again, I will make sure I brush up on the right technique…
The marshals deserve a mention of their own. Encouraging, helpful and happy, they were clearly enjoying themselves and were there, I believe, for more than just a free race. There was a bit of misinformation imparted regarding distance until the finish, but as frustrating as this was, hardly the end of the world and an easy fix. Enjoying the experience, I was surprised to find myself a little sad on being told only ‘4km to go’, but it was also here that a renewed vigour for the sport was born. Forget the arguing over wristbands, penalties, qualification, championships and everything else that has cast a bit of a shadow over OCR lately and get back to basics. Just Enjoy it. That epiphany made this OCR the most satisfying to date. That and coming in 33rd out of 719. Talking about it afterwards with friends (the machine that is Nathan Turner, his girlfriend Catherine and Simon and Alice Witty), we really couldn’t fault it. Even the burgers were fairly priced!! Minor issues were thrown into the mix (they ran out of Nathan sized t-shirts!) but to dwell on them would be unfair. How much of this Nuclear love is due to the weather? I don’t know, but I do know that every aspect of the experience came together and the bar was well and truly raised. As close to perfection as anyone has a right to expect. I won’t be doing as many as before, choosing quality over quantity, but I’m looking forward to the next OCR again. Until then, I’ve taken up boxing…Let’s see how long that phase lasts!
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
94 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES GUIDE Written by Kevin Meredith of Origin Inspired OCR & Fitness Centre
PART TWO
3) PSYCHOLOGY
So you have eaten the right food, done your training but as you all know, if your head is not in the game then you have already lost. Focus, confidence and staying relaxed on race day and during the race is the difference between average and great. Race day can be a very fun day but staying calm and not letting adrenaline take over the body is a big part of it and also running your race rather than starting too fast and blowing yourself out in the first 1-2k is another I see all the time. I always say to my clients when they look to train for anything including OCR, “have a game plan”. Just like you have a plan at work or for your fitness of what you will do each day, having a plan about how you will take on the race is a good idea. Is this an important event for qualification for example? If so you may want to go all out to get the result. Consider the distances, terrain and weather this can all be played to your strengths and weaknesses. Do your research and make sure you are as prepared as possible. “When I race I focus on me, I race my own race. I take off at a good strong pace, knowing this helps to get ahead and start hitting obstacles first. I listen to my body and always push myself to the best of my ability.” Joda Our lovely race directors are always trying to find ways to psyche out their competitors. Tough Guy is known for its heights and dark narrow spaces, whilst Dirty Dozen plays on big challenging obstacles requiring more technique.
Do your research into the event and find out from forums or other sources what to expect so you can prepare mentally for the event. This will help you decide on pace and what techniques you will choose to implement. As well as what kit to wear. If you're freezing cold from the start, then psychologically you will be much more likely to DNF or not give your all. “I want to challenge people as I firmly believe that the more someone is pushed, the more they get out of it. You’d think this is a double edged sword as if you push someone too hard and they bomb out, it could put people off but for the few people that just make it come across the finish line saying ‘your race almost broke me but I’m so proud of myself for making it’; I say to them ‘come back, and come back fitter and stronger’ and they do! I don’t see it as my job to push people, that’s up to them, I simply build the courses so our runners can push themselves. ” Doug For most people in OCR they have come to be challenged, even if they didn't join to compete against others they seem to have been drawn to challenge themselves and prove to themselves they are made of what it takes to get to the finish line. It is a very powerful thing to test yourself and overcome something you thought not even possible, to work so hard in the build up to be rewarded with a medal, T-shirt and congratulations (or even a hug). Everyone enjoys OCR for their own reasons but everyone has to overcome some obstacles mentally during an event at some time and this is what makes us stronger as people and what joins our
community together. “During races it's sometimes quite hard as I'm extremely competitive and always like to win. I'm either concentrating on closing the gap and passing the guy in front, or if I'm running in front alone I'm always pushing myself to keep in front and widen the gap from the competitors behind. I always try and keep a positive strong mind and focus on the finishing goal, your mind sometimes plays games with you and makes it quite hard, especially when your body's hurting and wanting to stop. I just think to myself there are worse things happening out there in the world bigger than this little bit of pain I'm currently going through, so keep focused and keep pushing on you wimp! Pain is just temporary.” Conor Things change very quickly in a race situation and being mentally strong enough to adapt to situations is another thing to consider. A game plan is a great idea but if something happens you may need to change it and try something else. Only experience can help you know when to adapt but it is something worth considering from the start. Injuries, weather, bad food choices, other racers or even an obstacle can quickly change a strong mind set into a spiral of negative thoughts, this is when you have to refocus, pick yourself up and remember why you are doing this and focus on your strengths and pushing through. Below are a few race day gems of advice to bear in mind. “My philosophy on this is easy and is the same in every race. I put one foot in front of
Obstacle Race Magazine 95
FEATURE : OCR TRAINING & RACING TECHNIQUES
the other as fast as I can and just keep going. I banish all the little demons out of my head that tell me I can’t. It’s not easy, it does hurt, but it’s worth it. I do it to make my family proud! When I race I focus on me, I race my own race. If it's an OCR I take off at a good strong pace, knowing this helps to get ahead and start hitting obstacles first. If it's a running race I tend to pace myself and then pick it up if my legs allow. I listen to my body and always push myself to the best of my ability.” Joda “During a race adrenalin takes over and I'm stronger on obstacles anyway. A desire to win pushes me when it gets tough. I think my confidence and self belief during a race comes from years of experience finishing hard races and enduring hard training. I just know that if I put my head down I can finish because I always have.” Freya “Shut off from Facebook in the month before WTM, up your training quietly and don't be telling people predictions, go under the radar. Also when you get out there stay with your pit crew and chill. You'll listen to guys a few yards away saying they will finish top 3 or 5 but they won't as this is a mental race and not just physical. Top guys say nothing as there’s no need to shout, they are quietly confident. My best tip is switch off and don't think of laps/distance just think I’m going out to run round that course all day and I’m not coming in, just switch off and have fun. Keep telling yourself you will never forgive yourself if you don't do well or quit when you have more in the tank...there's always another lap in you. After you’re home and it all settles
As you can see there is a whole host of things to consider on race day and if you want to excel then you must consider all these aspects. Warm the body up and implement the techniques practiced during training, get your nutrition right
96 Obstacle Race Magazine
you're laps is all people remember and compare you too. Simple. Machine mode needed for 24hrs!” Scott “One thing I've learnt over the years is that it’s never over until you cross the line. I've overtaken multiple people in the last few minutes of a race, or seen people go off way too hard and burn-out after just ten minutes. The important thing is to run your own race as much as you can - focus on being your fastest from start to finish. You can use other people to push off or to motivate you for sure, but at the end of the day if you race to the maximum of your potential, you'll do as well as you deserve. You also have to manage your tactics on course though - whilst you don't want to go off too-hard and be one of those racers who disappear back in the field from halfway, you also don't want to get stuck behind people early on - a lesson I learnt the hard way at 2015's OCRWC where the initial rush put me down somewhere around 25th place, which just had me stuck in queues once we got to the first obstacles. I lost a ton of time and had to come from way back past people I shouldn't have had to race past. That race was over in the first five minutes for me, which is a hard lesson to learn. Look at the event - how soon is the first potential bottleneck, is it a flat, fast start that people will rush for. Bear this in mind and make sure you don't get caught out.” James Visualisation is a massive part in elite sports that can be used by anyone. Using positive visualisation is great. Have a clear picture of
and focus your mind on the job at hand. If these three things come together on race day you will see huge improvements and will hopefully hit the target you have set yourself. Go and have fun trying out and investigating the techniques suggested.
what you want, imagine how you feel when you achieve that goal and keep that feeling for when the going gets tough. Also use negative visualisation too. Imagine yourself in the worst situations on race day, imagine yourself fatigued during a long event or being overtaken by someone and take yourself through the situation and see yourself overcoming it. This prepares you mentally for everything that may happen. Considerable research has been done on this topic and using imagery, practicing self talk (pushing out the negative self talk), and rehearsing ways to psych yourself up have all been proven to enhance performance in elite athletes. This is great preparation for when the going gets tough and you need mental toughness to push yourself further than you thought possible. Athletes with mental toughness achieve consistently higher performances, have higher levels of confidence, cope better with distractions, deal better with pain and discomfort and deal better with setbacks and injury. Mental toughness can be inherent in some people but it is certainly something you can develop through training and putting yourself in situations that push you to your limits. Afterwards assess the things that got you through and use them to your advantage next time. “Oh and one more thing, 24hrs is a long time out there, so say hello to people on the course and help the strugglers on obstacles as it will keep you feeling good and not alone. Those guys won't forget the help you gave them on the course. They will be the 1st cheering you on late in the race when you need a final kick up the arse.” Scott
I hope you have found this article useful and I look forward to you reading the part three “Race Recovery” in the next edition of ORM. See you at a race soon!
SUBSCRIPTION
Y A D O T E B SUBSCRI
9 9 . 9 £2
FROM ONLY
WHY SUBSCRIBE? Get your copy up to a week before it hits the shops | All 6 x 2016 Magazines | Delivered straight to your door | BMF Trial Sessions | Race Vests | Free Race Entries | Muddy Kit Money Off Vouchers | Up to 10% Partner Race Discount | And much more...
For more information visit
OBSTACLERACEMAGAZINE.COM Or call 02476 363 690
SUP PO RTI NG
OC FREE! THE ULTIMATE
YO U TH RO UG H ALL YO UR MU DDY AD VEN TU RES
LETTERS TRA INING
NUTRITIONAL ADVICE
PROFILES GEA R TESTING AN D MUCH MO RE
RACE REVIEWS
MUDDY SUPPORTING YOU THROUGH ALL YOUR
P OSE M E T HOD RUNNING
DELS REVIEW
ISSUE 10 AUG/SEPT
DY ADVE NTUR ES UGH ALL YOUR MUD SUPP ORTI NG YOU THRO
ISSUE #9 JUN E/JULY ‘15 £4. 95
NUTRITIONA L ADVICE RAC E REVIEWS
R SHOE GUIDE - 22 MO
PROFILES
LETTERS TRAINING
GEAR TESTING
ADVENTURES
THS OUGH THE WINTER RACING MON YOUR GUIDE TO MAKING IT THR ISSUE 11 OCT/NOV ‘15 £4.95
ALL YOUR MUDDY ADVEN TURES SUPPORTING YOU THROU GH
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN IT IS ENOUGH N’T
NUTRITIONAL ADVICE
RACE REVIEWS
CRAMP 101
LETTERS
FREE
TRAINING
PROFILES
GEAR TESTING
BEAR LVLIESW YER GR E INT
ISSUE #13 FEB / MAR ‘16 £4.95
5K RACE
TH
2016 BEGINNERS TRAINING RACE DDOO’SN’TANS GDUIDE WALL BEST OCR
ES DDY ADVENTUR H ALL YOUR MU YOU THROUG SUPPORTING
OCR CLUB
nail your race pace FEATURE
FAT DO YOU BURN MORE ACH? OM ST Y PT EM ON AN
PLANNER AINING GOALS IMPROVE YOUR TR TH NG APPS GRIP STRE MOTIVATION ORE M USNQUER CO AND FOC SUFFERINEG COM ON TI W REVIEWED BASE CARDIO ING NN EKLY RU / ISSUE #14 APR
MAY ‘16 £4.95
apps to keep your training on track
dd 1
09>
climb again Never dread a hill
MUDNIFICENT 7 E 2016 DATE RELE5AS FOODS YOU
IN W KITBRIX A GEAR BAG
challenge a fantastic new
ULD EAT SHO arge your diet
THE MONTH a look at the best obstacles on the circuit
Superch
12>
RACING SOCKS REVIEWED
FEATURE
INDUSTRY NEWS out Learn more abstry the indu
9 772053 949001
Obstacle-Race-maga
zine-2015-Issue13-V8
-Split.indd 1
9 772053 949001
sue9-v6-Split.in
BASELAYERS AND h INSeIDE GSe su ing a e aun ICEBUTh
11>
azine-2015-Is
BECOME A HEAD TORCH RACING PRO
LAYERS THOSEREVI EWED HILLS OBSTACLE OF 9 772053 949 001
VJ IROCKS
WE SCHEDULE
BUILD E SOLID CORH STRENGT
08/09/2015 16:31
TOUGH GUY ED REVIErW Tough Guy Hottest Winte on record
14
9 772053 949001
TRAINING WITHOUT THE RUNNING if you hate running, you’ll love this
OCR'S FOR
UNDER
£40
A SELECTION OF OCR'S THAT ARE EASY ON THE POCKET
ut Find out how witho hip a gym members
FROM
£29.99
NUTTERS TAKE ON THE ICE TAKE WINTER NUTS PRISONERS
NO
AN
100 Obstacle Race Magazine
WHEN
30th July, 2016
WHERE
Culden Faw Estate, Marlow Road, Fawley, Henley-on-Thames RG9 3AG (next door to the Toad Hall Garden Centre)
MORE INFORMATION
www.intrepid-events.com/the-great-escape
SIGN UP
active.com/henley-on-thames/adventureracing/clinics/great-escape-2016
‘THE GREAT ESCAPE’ HAS TO BE ONE OF THE GREATEST WAR MOVIES OF ALL TIME. A true story of mass escape from a WWII German Prisoner-of-War camp. How would you like to follow in the footsteps of the icon, Steve McQueen, as ‘The Cooler King’ in an unforgettable and unique OCR adventure.
‘The Great Escape’ 10km obstacle race is the brainchild of Joel Whittaker and with the creative input of Deborah Howard they have teamed up together to bring escape fever to Henley-on-Thames on 30th July 2016. Like the movie, the concept is awesome, the journey is riveting, and the ending is exciting. “With the explosion of obstacle course races in the UK now, we realised that we needed to offer something different” said Joel. “The Great Escape is a thrill a minute for all levels to enjoy.” The Prisoner of War (POW) camp, Stalag Luft III, plays a huge part in the movie so we wanted to make the start of the event something to remember. The POW camp will set the scene and transport participants to a time, place and scenario that they would never encounter in this day and age. You will almost feel like you are on the set of the movie. The race is being held at Culden Faw Estate which provides a perfect spot for the re-creation of the camp - a beautiful clearing in the countryside surrounded by dense forest, but enclosed by barbed wire fencing and complete with a forbidding guard tower. To get everyone revved up ready for the race
participants will be put through a structured warm up drill with plenty of sit-ups, push ups, prisoner squats, prisoner lunges, burpees, sandbag passes. You will be briefed by Special Forces legend Duncan Falconer. “You will feel the level of excitement build as people psyche themselves up ready for what lays ahead”. Your escape will start with a series of tunnels named ‘Tom, Dick and Sally’. Each tunnel will be concealed within a hut. Each tunnel will be long, dark and enclosed, not for the claustrophobic! As in the movie, each tunnel comes up 20 feet short of the forest, so participants will need to run for cover as you can expect lots explosions going off. “Having sat and watched the movie numerous times, we tried to pull out some of the famous scenes and incorporate into the obstacle course” said Deborah. “There will be a great mixture of obstacles. You will encounter river wades trench crossings, river crawls, hay bales, sandbag carry to replicate the shifting of dirt, there will be a re-creation of the Baltic River crossing complete with sea mines, rope traverses, sewer crawls, up and overs, Ives Climb, camo net crawl, mud wade, barbed wire
crawl and the opportunity to ‘stretch your legs”. The finale provides one last obstacle which will be to break through the German lines, advance into Switzerland and escape to freedom! Along with a couple more surprises along the way, participants will need to keep their wits about them, remember how in the movie they had to remember not to respond in English… Also you’re advised to hang onto your identification papers that you collect en route from ‘The Forger’ as you may be asked to show them otherwise you will end up in isolation. As befits the Cooler King, he ends the movie in the cooler. If it’s good enough for the Cooler King, it’s good enough for us. So join us after in ‘The Cooler’ bar for a nice cold beer. 'The Great Escape' will hook you in from the beginning and the exhilarating ride will have you wishing it didn’t have to end. Free parking, toilets, bag drop, spectators welcome, jungle showers, the Stag & Huntsman Country Kitchen serving delicious homemade burgers, the Flying Bean Café serving fresh coffee, ‘The Cooler’ Bar, Dog Tag, camping available.
101
FEATURE : HOW TO CLIMB A WALL
HOW TO
CLIMB A WALL 2:
3:
102 Obstacle Race Magazine
FEATURE : HOW TO CLIMB A WALL
THE STAPLE OF MOST OBSTACLE COURSES IS THE WALL. Walls can come in numerous sizes with heights of anything from 6 ft to 10 ft which will require you to use this technique to overcome them. Whether you’re one kilometre into the race or five, a wall still fills most racers with an overwhelming sense of anticipation. This technique will add all the confidence you’ll need to scale any wall you come up against.
WHERE TRAIN: Check out our places to train listing in the back of the magazine for all the places you can trust to help you conquer any obstacle you’ll face while taking on your next challenge.
1:
2:
3:
Grab the top of the wall. Turn your hips to the side which is the same side as the foot your prefer to use as the hook on top of the wall. Try not to stand at a distance from the side of the wall that will allow you to put your foot on it but without fully extending your leg. Use the leg closest to the wall to kick up to a point around waist height on the supports of the wall. And pin this foot firmly against the wall support, it’s now acting as your main anchor point. Once your foot is secure lift your other leg up until the back of your ankle hooks the top of the wall making the heal hook.
4:
Now start to pull your body up and towards the wall with your arms. You will find that the top of the wall will start to travel up your leg, which will let you then allow you to hook the back of your knee over making you more secure.
5:
You will now be in a position to hook your arm over the wall, this will let you to move your hips with your body following up and over the top of the wall.
6:
Now you’re on the top the hard work is done. Next step is safety, so when lowering yourself down try to hold on to the top of the wall firmly and ease yourself down slowly using your feet to provide some resistance against the wall.
DON’T FORGET TO CHECK OUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR A RUN THROUGH OF THIS TECHNIQUE AND MANY MORE
SEARCH OBSTACLE RACEMAGAZINE FOR MORE INFORMATION
4:
5:
6: Obstacle Race Magazine 103
WHO NEEDS SLEEP? Written by: CARL WIBBERLEY
Stop for a minute, and think: can you recall the best night of sleep you’ve ever had? Maybe your top five nights of nocturnal bliss? One in particular stands out for me, and it happened years ago, pre children. But I never considered the importance of hitting the hay until I became a father. I’ve missed a lot of Z’s over the last 10 years with my 4 since their birth. I’ve always tried running/ training on reduced slumber and found out a body deprived of sleep can only function for so long, especially if you have a physically demanding job too. The Sleep Foundation says that active people experience a significantlyhigher loss of fluids, as well as a breakdown of muscle and loss of energy during training. If quality snooze time is interrupted or cut short, our bodies won’t have adequate time to repair muscle, consolidate memory and release hormones – all important for active people to succeed and find happiness in their sport. Weight gain, depression, and high blood pressure are side effects when sleep is lost. But another symptom that men might not
104 Obstacle Race Magazine
be aware of is a drop in testosterone levels. The Medical Association states that the majority of daily testosterone release in men is during sleeping hours. I know many busy people have to wake before dawn to get runs under their belts. So going to bed at an hour that will allow 7-10 hours of sleep prior, should be considered just as heavily as the amount of miles one is running for the week. The benefits are so rewarding that the importanceof sleep should be reinforced to every runner during training. Reaction time, accuracy and speed can all increase with additional rest. Simply put, when runners push their bodies for extended periods of time, they need to spend an equal number of hours on restoration and muscle repair – there is no substitute or short-cut. What equates to a good night of sleep depends on your environment. Keep the kids and pets out of your bed and in theirs, turn off lights and devices, and make sure to turn down the thermostat. My favorite way to fall asleep is in a nice cool
room. But everyone has their level of comfort and favorite way to unwind at the end of the day. As an active person, you’re probably more aware of this than anyone – being on your feet all day means bedtime is much more rewarding.
CHECKLIST TO AID SLEEP • • • • • • •
TAKE ZMA SUPPLEMENTS NO PHONES/SCREENS IN THE BEDROOM MAKE A COOL SLEEPING ENVIROMENT FIND A BOOK TO READ AVOID CAFFEINE AFTER 5PM ADD LAVENDER TO THE AIR MOST IMPORTANT– TRY TO FORM A HABIT
PREVIEW : GO APE
A FAMILY ADVENTURE LOOKING FOR NEW IDEAS OF WHAT TO DO WHILE NOT GETTING THE KIDS MUDDY AT OCRS? This could be the ultimate family excursion. Why not visit Go Ape – UK’s No.1 Forest Adventure – and let your tribe live life a little more adventurously. Children as young as six can monkey around on Tree Top Junior, while older children can fly through the sky on a zip wire, race through the forest on a Segway or swing through the trees like Tarzan on the Tree Top Adventure. With 29 Go Ape adventures around the country - an experience with Go Ape is all about having fun and getting in touch with your inner Tarzan! So banish the boredom this Easter, and enjoy some family time in the fresh air at your nearest Go Ape adventure
106 Obstacle Race Magazine
ABOUT GO APE: In 2001, ex-Army Officer Tristram Mayhew and his wife Rebecca, discovered how much fun it was swinging through the trees during a holiday in France. They quit their jobs and, with a giant leap of faith, created the first Go Ape adventure – and they’ve never looked back -Go Ape is the UK's No. 1 Forest Adventure with 59 activities across the country including: Tree Top Adventure – for adults and children of 10 and above who are at least 1.4m (4ft 7in) tall Tree Top Junior – for children (normally between 6 and 12) who are at least 1m (3ft 3½ in) tall Forest Segway – for adults and children of 10 and above weighing at least 7 stone
Zip Trekking Adventure – for adults and children of 13 and above who are at least 1.4m (4ft 7in) tall and weigh a minimum of 7 stone Any child under 16 must be supervised by a participating adult (18 years +). One adult can supervise two 10-13 year olds, or up to four 13-15 year-olds In 2015, 860,000 people came to live life a little more adventurously at Go Ape – a 6% increase year on year. Go Ape plans to open new adventures during 2016, bringing the Go Ape experience to millions more
FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO BOOK YOUR PLACE GO TO: WWW.GOAPE.CO.UK
REVIEW : WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN
WINGS FOR LIFE
WORLD RUN Written by :Louise Clifford & Kevin Meredith
108 Obstacle Race Magazine
REVIEW : WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN
WINNER: G. CALCATERRA MILANO, ITA 88,44KM
WINGS FOR LIFE WORLD RUN IS A GLOBAL EVENT RUN BY WINGS FOR LIFE CHARITY AND RED BULL TO RAISE MONEY FOR SPINAL CORD RESEARCH. The Event is a simple but brilliant idea! The competitors get a 30-minute head start and then a catcher car (driven by David Coulthard) sets of at 10mph, gradually speeding up at specific intervals. Once it passes you, your race is over. The person that gets the furthest wins. With both Louise and I fresh out of long term injuries we were both sceptical about distance as neither of us had done any real running training but we were sure going to give it our best.
PARKING/FINDING VENUE Louise (Driving): Location was easy to drive to. The first multi-storey by the park the queues were very large so drove onto the next one. Parking worked out £10 for the day. Last year at Silverstone parking was much easier lots of spaces and no queues and it was free.
REGISTRATION Kevin: The queues were really long and we had to queue in 3 separate areas to get everything we needed. This took nearly an hour in total and was certainly not a strong point of the event. However the sun was out so it made it more enjoyable.
EVENT VILLAGE Kevin: I was surprised out how small the village was for such a large event, there were not many toilets and only one or maybe two food outlets. The atmosphere was nice though and
we bumped into a few friends which was a nice surprise too. Louise: I thought the event village seemed a lot smaller than last year. Definitely not enough toilets and too far away from the start line. We all know nerves kick in and you need a last minute wee!
EVENT Kevin: I pushed ahead at the start and decided to see what I had in me after 3 months without running. It was 25 degrees so I decided to sit at a steady pace and aim for between 15k 20k depending on how I felt. The atmosphere during the run was fantastic. As we ran through Cambridge centre the crowds clapped and cheered, this continued throughout the event, with the various villages all coming out to cheer. The water/food stations were very regular and the event marshals were always picking up litter as it was dropped which was a nice touch. I managed to reach 19.3k before I was caught. We were then dropped back at the event village within 25 minutes to collect our belongings and a great goody bag. Louise: Personally I preferred last year’s location at Silverstone as it made a much more exciting start being out on the race track and rather fitting for being chased by car. I’m still recovering from my fractured coccyx which has greatly affected my running, so today I was
just seeing what my body allowed me to do. I loved running through the villages. Everyone was out on the street clapping you along and some very kind people standing out on their lawns hosing runners down, this was very gratefully received. I did declare my love for an old lady spraying me down as I ran past. I managed 7.57km this year. I was disappointed as last year I made it 10.89km however my hip was in agony running on the road. I felt given the heat there should have been more water stations. It was so hot by time you reached the 5k water station looking around some people seemed to be totally overheated. Once you’ve been caught by the car there’s plenty of buses to take you back to the start.
SUM UP Kevin: I thought on the whole this was a fantastic event, although I won’t be taken up road running (love the trails too much), none the less it was really good to take part and to see so much money raised for a wonderful charity. I highly recommend the event and can’t thank Carl enough for the opportunity to take part. Louise: It is a really great event, very well organised and a lovely atmosphere. After my run I enjoyed sitting watching the rest of the runners around the world still running on the big screens. Really enjoyed the day would recommend you give it a go and all the money goes to a very worthwhile charity.
Obstacle Race Magazine 109
EVENTS
Events page
June - July ‘16 For a more comprehensive list of upcoming events go to
WWW.OBSTACLERACEMAGAZINE.CO.UK/EVENTS
1 The Royal British Legion Major Series 5km/10km
7 The Willow Warrior 5km/10km
13 Total Warrior 12km
12th June 2016
25th/26th June 2016
4th June 2016
Essex, CM24 8UD
Leeds, LS23 6LT
Scotland, FK8 3JY
www.williowfoundation.org.uk/willowwarrior
www.totalwarrior.co.uk
www.majorseries.com
From £34
From £62.10
8 Warrior Beach Assault 10km
14 World War Run 5/10 miles
18th June 2016
25th June 2016
5km/10km
Whitley Bay, NE26 1BQ
West Sussex, RH5 4RW
4th June 2016
www.beachassault.co.uk
www.pukkaraces.co.uk
Birmingham, B31 1AE
From £40.05
From £47.00
9 Battle Run Events 30km
15 Summer Ram Run
18th June 2016
8/12/24km
Cumbria, CA16 6PA
2nd/3rd July 2016 Warwickshire, CV8 2LG
Cardiff, CF5 6SF
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/battle-run-obstacleendurance-race-tickets-22499529699
www.thegauntletgames.co.uk
£90.00
from £35
From £54 2 The Adrenaline Rush
www.theadrenalinerush.com From £40 3 Gauntlet Games 4th June 2016
From £35
www.ramrun.co.uk
10 Parkinsons UK Muddy Mission 5km 4 Airfield Anarchy MUDFEST
16 Brutal 10 Enduro Run 10km
18th June 2016
2nd July 2016
5km/10km 10 miles
Surrey, RH5 4RW
Nottinghamshire, NG24 2NY
www.parkinsons.org.uk/content/muddymission
Surrey, GU17 9UF
10th - 12th June 2016 www.airfieldanarchy.com
From £27
5 Gelt Gladiator 3km/6km/10km
11 Tough Mudder 10/12 miles
11th-12th June 2016
25th June 2016
Cumbria, CA1 1SY
Scotland, DG3 4AQ
www.geltgladiator.com
www.toughmudder.co.uk
From £23
From £109
6 Wolf Run 10km
12 The Suffering 5km/10km/10 mile/19 mile
11th/12th June 2016
25th/26th June 2016
Leicestershire, LE17 6DH
Leicestershire, LE16 8TH
wwww.thewolfrun.com
www.thesufferingrace.co.uk
From £49
From £43
110 Obstacle Race Magazine
www.brutalrun.co.uk From £50.00 17 iNVNCBL 10km 2nd July 2016 South Wales, SA16 0EJ www.invncble.co.uk From £46 18 Total Grit Xtreme 10km 3rd July 2016 Liverpool, WA11 7LX www.totalgritxtreme.co.uk £40.00
19 The Adrenaline Rush 5km/10km
28 The Cornish Cider Run
36 Go Hard Survivor 15km
9th July 2016
10km
30th July 2016
Glasgow, G43 1AT
16th July 2016
Exeter, EX6 8BB
www.theadrenalinerush.com
Pillaton, PL12 6QY
www.gohardevents.co.uk
From £35
www.dbfitnessandnutrition.co.uk/db/cornishcider-run/
£35
20 X Runner Water Wipeout 5km/10km
£39
37 The Adrenaline Rush 5km/10km
9th July 2016
30th July 2016
Nottingham, NG12 2LU
29 No Ego Challenge Trial Challenge
www.xrunner.co.uk
10km/Half Marathon
www.theadrenalinerush.com
From £49
17th July 2016
From £35
Leeds, LS17 9LG
North Yorkshire, YO18 7LT 21 Badass Mucker 4 5km/10km
www.noegochallenge.com
9th July 2016
From £23
Lancaster, LA2 6PD www.badassmucker.com
30 Mens Health Survival Of The Fittest
From £34
10km
38 The Great Escape 30th July 2016 Henley-On-Thames, RG9 3AP www.intrepid-events.com £55
23rd July 2016 22 Man V's Lakes 26.2 miles
Wembley Park, HA9 0WS
9th July 2016
www.ratrace.com/mhsurvival2016/
Lake District, LA12 8BA
See website for details
www.ratrace.com From £145
31 Spartan Race Sprint 5km+
39 Apollo Rocket Race 5km/10km/15km 30th July 2016 Somerset, BA8 0PH www.rocketrace.co.uk From £40
23rd July 2016 23 Dirty Dozen Races 6km/12km
Edinburgh, EH26 9NA
9th July 2016
www.spartanrace.uk
Usk, NP15 1HS
See website for details
www.dirtydozenraces.com From £60
32 Payne Games 5km/10km
40 One True Grit 6km 31st July 2016 Hertfordshire, SG2 7DG www.onetruegrit.com From £44.99
23rd/24th July 2016 24 Holme Howler 10km
Friston Forest, BN25 4AJ
10th July 2016
www.paynegames.com/payne-games-seaford/
Lancaster, LA6 1QL
From £37.50
www.holmehowler.co.uk £20
33 Muscle Acre Summer Madness
41 Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 8 miles 31st July 2016 Wolverhampton, WV6 7HB www.toughguy.co.uk £85
5km/10km 25 Mucky 5 & 10 5km/10km
23rd July 2016
16th July 2016
Friston Forest, BN25 4AJ
42 Back 2 The Trenches The Western Front 5km/6km/10km/12km/18km
Colchester, CO7 0ST
www.paynegames.com/payne-games-seaford/
31st July 2016
www.muckyraces.co.uk
From £25
Wales, SA32 7PF
From £38
www.back2the trenches.co.uk 34 Spartan Race Beast
From £42
26 The Adrenaline Rush
21km+
5km/10km
24th July 2016
16th July 2016
Edinburgh, EH26 9NA
Middlesex, TW16 5AQ
www.spartanrace.uk
Continue on page 112
www.theadrenalinerush.com
See website for details
Map of locations on page 112
From £40
35 Go Hard Terminator 1
27 Shropshire Mud Run Series Round 3 10km
0km
16th July 2016
30th July 2016
Newport, TF10 9AT
Exeter, EX6 8BB
www.fitnessexperience.co.uk/events
www.gohardevents.co.uk
From £30
£32
Obstacle Race Magazine 111
EVENTS
19
1 11
31
5
9
34
8
21
22 24
13
18
37
4 20
27 12 41
29
2 15
6
40
42 30
17
3
16
23
14
38 10 39 35 28
112 Obstacle Race Magazine
36
32 33
26
7
25
3KM, 6KM AND 12KM Next events:
SATURDAY 17TH JULY SUNDAY 18TH JULY (LADIES ONLY)
MUDDY FUN FOR ALL THE FAMILY
5F £ OF *
USE CODE: ORMIS14 WWW.MUDDY-FURLONG.CO.UK Long Furlong Farm, Catesby, Daventry, NN11 6LW. Stag, Hen & Corporate party bookings also now being taken, tel 07971 686506 for details * Not valid on junior and Christmas events
BOOTCAMP LISTING
Bootcamp
LISTING Find your perfect OCR place to train situated near you with our handy listing. Would you like to be included in this listing? For more information on how you can do this contact carl@obstacleracemagazine.com
NORTH
1. UK OUTDOOR FITNESS “BOOTCAMPS AND OBSTACLE TRAINING” Leeds, Bradford, York, Sheffield, Castleford, Huddersfield 0796 478 7981
ukoutdoorfitness.com Facebook: UK outdoor Fitness / UK Indoor Fitness
NORTH WEST
2. PRIME HEALTH & FITNESS Ellesmereport CH65 1AE 07885764077
info@primehealthandfitness. co.uk Facebook: Prime Health and Fitness 3. Origin Inspired Origin OCR South West Manchester 0161 973 6479
www.origininspired.co.uk
114 Obstacle Race Magazine
MIDLANDS
4. THE OBSTACLE GYM Lutterworth 0726912988 info@reaperevents.co.uk
Facebook: The Obstacle GYM
WEST MIDLANDS 5. O.P.T OUTDOOR PHYSICAL TRAINING Redditch, Bromsgrove, Rubery, Alcester RFC, Droitwich RFC 07885 416446 outdoorpt@hotmail.co.uk
outdoorpt.co.uk Facebook: O.P.T Outdoorphysicaltraining
EAST ENGLAND
6. FORTITUDE FITNESS CENTRE Highfields Farm, Caldecote, Cambridge, CB23 7NX 07876635234
fortitudefitnesscentre.co.uk Facebook: Fortitude-Fitness-Centre
7. Fit 4 OCR Hertfordshire SG7 5EN 07720 82611
www.fit4ocr.com Facebook: Fit 4 OCR
WALES
8. STEVE WALL PERSONAL TRAINING & MOTIVATION Rhondda, Merthyr Mawr Dunes, Caerphilly 07940 343387
Facebook: Steve Wall
SOUTH
9. BOOTCAMP REVOLUTION OBSTACLE COURSE Rayne, Essex 07963202339
bootcamprevolution.co.uk Facebook: TheBootcampRevolution 10. ENERGISE MUD RUNNERS LTD Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire 07592750709
mud-runners.co.uk Facebook: EnergiseMudRunners
SOUTH WEST
11. HODGE HEALTH & FITNESS BRISTOL 07855 465 872
hodgehealthandfitness.co.uk Facebook: hodgehealthandfitness
SOUTH EAST
12. WILD FOREST GYM OBSTACLE TRAINING CENTRE Nuclear Races, Brentwood, Essex 08454561336
wildforestgym.com Facebook: Wildforestgym 13. WELLFIT OUTDOOR FITNESS
18. 5 STAR BOOTCAMPS 07525 843326
fivestarbootcamps.co.uk Facebook: 5STAR BOOTCAMPS 19. PT BARN Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, CM15 0 07515 413906
theptbarn.co.uk Facebook: The PT Barn
NATIONWIDE 20. FIT CAMPUK Ltd
Redditch, Wythall / BIrmingham, Edgbaston & Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Tamworth, Lichfield , Barton / Burton Upon Trent
Turnbridge Wells, Kent
07966 638 009
07886 035773
fitcampuk.co.uk Facebook: Fitcampuk
wellfitoutdoorfitness.com Facebook: Wellfit outdoor fitness 14. SAM WINKWORTH ACADEMY “BOOTCAMP EXTREME” The Vine Cricket Ground, Kent 07817403398
samwinkworth.com
21. BRITISH MILITARY FITNESS Outdoor sessions in 140 Parks Nationwide 020 8996 2220
britishmilitaryfitness.com Facebook: britishmilitaryfitness
15. IMMORTAL FITNESS MARLOW/HAMBLEDEN/HENLEY 07792 881255
immortalfitness.co.uk Facebook: Immortalfit
1
3 2
16. GUARDIAN FITNESS OCR TRAINING SE London 07584 414206
5
guardianfitness.co.uk 17. SPARTAN GROUP X ORPINGTON ORFC Leesons Way, Orpington, Kent, BR5 2QB 02037315351
toughlove.mobi/sgx Facebook: sgxorpington
4 7
6
10
9
8
18 11
16
15
17 14
12
19
13
Obstacle Race Magazine 115
TM
EDINBURGH SAT. & SUN. 23-24 JULY Spittal Farm is the exclusive venue for the Scotland Sprint and Beast where you will be tested with proper Scottish Hills.
PETERBOROUGH SAT. & SUN. 3-4 SEPT. Elton Hall is an historic site situated in a 3,800-acre estate, in which the River Nene runs and will be home to both a Sprint and Super this year.
MIDLANDS SAT. 28 MAY Our Midlands Super will be held at Aston Farm, home to some stunning south Cotswold valleys as well as mature woodland, providing a varied and challeng ing course for Spartans.
LONDON SAT. 9 APRIL
-
We’ll kick-start our 2016 Season at the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park - an exclusive venue reserved only for Spartans.
WINDSOR SAT. & SUN. 1-2 OCT. We’ll round off our 2016 Season in the grounds of the Royal Windsor Castle - the oldest castle in the World and another exclusive for Spartan Racers.
BOOK NOW USING CODE : ST-IUBU-HR2D FOR 10% OFF EVERY ENTRY WWW.SPARTANUK.UK ST-IUBU-HR2D includes 10% off + free parking, free bag drop, 10% off any merchandise and free fast pass.