News: Events

Tough Mudder AlUla: The biggest event of the year. With probably the most stacked elite field we’ve ever seen in OCR. Came and went in February. If you want a rundown of athlete’s results. Check out Tough Mudder Arabia’s results page.
And it appeared fun and exciting on the ground. Lots of positive reviews from the athletes.
But to fans of the sport. And with potential to pull in outside viewership.
It was lacking.
Significantly…
If you jumped onto YouTube to check out the action, you’ll understand.

That Live Coverage reminded me of my Tinder dating life.

We matched and I was ecstatic. 
She had all the signs of being real. 
We had mutual friends. And they told me, 
She's "like a million bucks". Okay... maybe half a million. 
But still better than anything I'd experienced before. 

I was so excited for our date. A full day to spend with you. 

The day came. And first impressions were.... weak. 
Talking was awkward. You would go quiet on me. And you seemed to move in slow motion. 
It's like you were buffering. 

The potential was there and so I waited. And waited. 
And nothing changed. 

Was I being pranked? 
Was this a new version of Love on the Spectrum?!?!
I looked for cameras. 
For anyone filming. 
But Not a Single Rabbit to be Seen. 

I couldn't go on. This was too depressing. 
And so I left. 
I didn't say anything. I just left. 

My expectations have forever been compromised. 

Will I be back? 
Will I respond to "come on, it'll be better next time"? 

Yeah, probably. 
Like an addict. 
I can't stop. 
Even if the product is volatile AF. 

Okay, apologies for the brief interruption. Back to the News.

Spartan National Series – Jacksonville: The first US National Series event kicked off in the ‘Home of OCR’, Jacksonville, FL.

Unfortunately, numbers are looking weak this year. With overall finishers for the weekend dropping from 4.7K last year to 4K this year. And competitive racers over the weekend dropping from 900 to 600.

Many of the elite OCR athletes we would expect here were in Saudi. Giving an opportunity for some new faces to pop up and make a splash in a National Series race for the first time.

Reception coverage was horrible at this new venue. With The OCR Report putting out race coverage a few days later. They are still working to develop the best live coverage product for everyone. And taking suggestions for commentary vs no commentary, live vs delayed, graphics, etc. Be sure to hit them up with any thoughts you have.

Thankfully we were able to see some decent battles in the men’s and women’s race. In the swampfest of Jacksonville OCR racing.

Beyond the National Series racing.
The Z-Wall was a surprise over the weekend, adding an extra panel and putting in giant black ropes. It was extremely difficult and a game changer to the racing. (Pro tip: it looks like going to the Right Side of Z-Wall gives you an advantage here. In case we see this at future venues)

Courses were short. Have we seen this before?
The Sprint, Super and Trail all clocking in below their expected 5k and 10k distances.
Hopefully we don’t see more of this. As other aspects of Spartan race this year seem to be lacking.

On a positive note. The National Series race medals look awesome.

Rugged Maniac: Sad news for the OCR community as Rugged Maniac said they’re shutting down. They had started way back in October 2010 and always had lots of positive views from the community as a beginner friendly and fun type of race. They had 2024 planned out and the first event was supposed to happen a couple months from now, so this news comes as a surprise.

News: Athletes

Some athlete highlights from the events discussed above.

• Jon Albon who has become a badass trail runner in recent years decided to come out and show he can still do obstacles. Crushing the Tough Mudder AlUla 8-hour course. Running 10 loops / 100K and walking away with $80K. Hopefully we get to see him again at a future OCR event and this wasn’t just a one-off. Ryan Atkins and Mark Batres rounded out that TM 8-hour podium, both also hitting that 100K distance. The top three men were not a big surprise.
  What was a surprise was that Nicole Mericle has some ultra distance skills. Running in first the majority of the race, only to be caught in the last hour or so by Alisa Petrova who ended up hitting 9 laps / 90K. With Janka Pepova slowly moving up through the race and achieving that 3rd spot.
• Two OG’s of the sport came out and handled the Jacksonville course. Annie Dubie and Kaci Monroe with a 1st and 3rd spot. And we had Lawrence Taylor and Ethan Brown hit 1 and 3 on the men’s side. As for 2nd place on both sides, we had Hannah Franciosa and Mike Strobel. Two OCR athletes who didn’t used to be seen as a threat in a race like this in the past. But have been very consistent over the years and starting to make some big moves. Their consistency and hard work looks to be paying off with big podium spots in this National Series race. They’ll be two to keep an eye on. We’re looking forward to seeing what else they tackle this year.

News: Products

News: Coming up

• First Savage race of the year coming up this weekend in Florida. March 2nd.
  Will we see anything new from them?
  Obstacles, sponsors, finish line handouts?

If you have any news to share with us for our March edition, feel free to Contact us.