Tuesday, October 17, 2017

OCR World Championships 2017: 15K Standard Distance

Today was the day to take part in the OCRWC and really embrace the experience. After the difficult obstacles of yesterday, I refocused on having fun and enjoying myself -- no expectations. I would do my best, try hard, have as good of an outcome as possible, but also not beat myself up. This was a world-class course, and I was lucky to be participating.



The women’s 30 - 34 heat went off at 10:35 a.m. The weather was semi-cool at 60 degrees but the much dreaded rain held off for the entirety of my race, making the weather really quite good for a day on the course. To start the day, I headed over to Blue Mountains ski resort with fellow Spahten, Shaina, who is a great athlete, keeping her band on the 3K short course. We had time to watch some of the elite women come through. It had been misting all morning, right up until around when we started, and there were definitely some struggles that we saw.


About half an hour before we were set to race, we headed inside to check our bags, use the washroom (as they call it in Canada) and then make our way to the athlete room. There, we waited until it was go time. Fortunately, the time at the start line was brief, since it was cool to be standing around. We were off at 10:35 a.m. exactly!

The 15K course made more use of the limited elevation at Blue Mountain than I could have even imagined. The course was a huge challenge, though an engaging one. The mountain was muddy from the rain overnight and during the morning. Incredibly so. This made for some of the most difficult climbs I’ve done, where, at times, I was on hands and knees smashing my fingers into the clay mud to try to get a grip and keep from catapulting down the hill. My Altra Lone Peaks were good friends on the course, but it was still slippery, with downhill sections that required a rope so as not to slide all the way to the bottom at a catastrophic pace.

The race started with the same hurdles as the 3K course, though with a few more thrown in for good measure. Instead of taking us up to the inclined wall, the course zagged in another direction, taking us to our first climb of the day. This climb began with the first crawl on the course. All of the many crawls for the day featured actual barbed wire (caution!) and some jacks to keep it at even height. I was immediately coated in mud on my hands and knees.

We scaled some walls before headed up the biggest climb of the day. Here was the climb that required all hands and feet to be engaged in the hill. The women around encouraged each other as we tackled a serious climb. We clawed and mud and slowly made our way up, looking for any grass available on which to gain a little purchase. The final section had some ropes to grab. I was happy to be able to stand at last and make it to the top of the hill.


At the top of the mountain, which we would do two more complete ascents of, there was an over-under-through before a rope drop back down the mountain a ways to another crawl. All of this climbing was more engaging than I would normally find it due to the intense conditions. This was not a death march uphill. This was grabbing at the ground around you to keep from sliding down the mountain. Engaging to say the least.

Down at the foot of the mountain was a much needed water stop followed by a slanted wall with a rope. Everything was so incredibly muddy that the walls were definitely giving people more trouble than usual. Directly after the wall, was a set of quintuple steps, which all of the competitors I saw were treating as two poles to walk across with hands on one and feet on the other.
It was back up the mountain -- this time the trip back up seeming less of a good experience. Couldn’t we be done with the hiking already? At the top, we were greeted with another wall and crawl, followed by another slip wall, and another ramp wall. These were not back to back but instead separated by some trail running, which was a nice way to mix up all of the walls. It was an interesting choice by OCRWC to group all of the walls with the climbing of the mountain and then all of the rigs at the end. It would have been nice to mix it up, but I think this course design was intentional so that the course could be ready for tomorrow's team relay. Following was another quarter pipe (with short ropes at the top) and vert, another inclined wall.



The course next met up with where we had done the second and third obstacles of the 3K the day before. The inverted wall gave me some trouble. My shoes, caught in the clay-like mud were practically suctioned in place, making it difficult to jump and grab the thick ledge of the wall. After a number of attempts, I finally got it, and pulled myself over. It was then back down the hill to the monkey bars. A woman and I completed our two lanes in tandem and stopped to share a high-five before jogging off to the next challenge.



One of the interesting aspects of OCRWC was the difference I notice in the athletes. I spent the first half of the race with more-or-less just the women’s 30 - 34 group. There was lots of chatter among the athletes and words of encouragement. People connected and cheered each other on. Midway through the race, I found myself separated from my female athletes and with a lot of the male athletes in their mid-20s and early 30s. The atmosphere was much more intense and competitive. There was a bit of an “every man for himself” sense with people pushing to the limit. It was great to watch these men give it their all, but the vibe was quite different from how the women athletes were tackling the course. Throughout, it was fun to hear people talking in a myriad of languages and accents (though pretty much everyone from every country seemed to be able to say, “On your left,” in English). OCRWC is a world event, and I got a good feeling for that today as I focused on spending more time appreciating my surroundings.

The course wound its way back to the festival area where there were spectators-a-plenty to watch me tackle the 14’ warped wall. Fortunately, it had dried off a bit since the earlier waves had gone through, and I was able to make it in the first attempt. This led directly into the farmer’s sandbag carry from the day before, this time double the distance and with a mud-soaked course to contend with. Racers were skipping and sliding everywhere, so the crew at OCRWC had opted to have people take one 25 lb. sandbag instead of two. The only rule was that racers could not put the sandbag on their shoulders. You had to carry it. I wrapped my arms around the sandbag and held my wrist to grasp it to my chest. Midway through, my back tired from the effort of the climb with the added weight, I took the opportunity to turn around and walk backwards for a stretch. I was glad I did! The view from the mountain of the town below and the water was a great sight to see (and not to mention a good distraction from my discomfort). I did what you do in heavy carries, and suffered through it, happy to get down to the bottom and drop my burden.



Next up was La Gaffe, otherwise known as the Northman poles. The first set I stepped on had pucks on the second pole that were covered in mud. I slipped off, but got the obstacle without any issue the second time through. It was a trip midway up the mountain to an 8’ wall right into a traverse wall. The first time I attempted the wall, I was faced with block that were so far apart my arms and legs could hardly make the reach. I’m good at traverse walls in general (and can do the entire wall at Shale Hill); however, I fell off this three panel wall. I moved to another wall at a volunteers suggestion and found this blocks more manageable -- I made it to the end.

Devil’s steps. This is an obstacle I had never conquered before. Always, the steps were too far apart or the transition at the top was too long a reach. I had kept my band through almost ¾ of the course and if the Devil’s steps were the end, well, I’d give it my all. I approached the obstacle and grabbed the first step with my hands. I pulled myself up and grabbed another, and another, and another, until I reached the top and -- what do you know -- the steps were close enough that I could make it across. I reached, grabbed, and worked my way down the platform below, finished the Devil’s steps for the first time. I was overjoyed to say the least! No matter what happened that day, I would know that at the OCR World Championships I had, for the first time, been able to conquer an obstacle that had plagued me.

From there it was time for another crawl, uphill and, thank goodness, to another water station. This climb brought us to a new rig-style obstacle, Urban Sky. This obstacle featured three sections that athletes had to traverse, with three bells to ring. The first section had a trapeze to two horizontal trapezes. While I was unable to make it to the third trapeze the first time through, a second attempt got me through this section. Next up, was a set of rings corkscrewed along a rotating center pole. Beyond that where two wheels with a ring in between. Despite my best effort, I was unable to make it beyond the set of rings. I gave it another few attempts but decided that efforts to do more would only serve to make me unable to continue later on. I walked up to the volunteer and handed in my band. It was sad, and I was disappointed, but I was also having a good day, and had completed some obstacles well. I was satisfied. My goal was to finish and have a good race. I was going to focus on realizing that objective.

Beyond Urban Sky was an a-frame cargo climb followed by the infamous obstacle, Dragon’s Back, which forces racers to scale a slip wall and then jump across an expanse high in the air to grab a pole hanging off a platform. For some reason, I was unable to get up the wall, slick as it was with mud. Too bad, as I know Dragon’s Back is supposed to be a mentally interesting obstacle. Another year perhaps. Right after that was another quarter pipe and an obstacle called big wall, which was a 10' wall that was very thick on the top. Fortunately, it had a few kicks to help racers get over.

The low rig was next. It seemed to bemuse people, as it consisted of a set of short ropes on a frame about four feet off the ground. The ropes alternated between foot and hand holds. I fell off the rig the first attempt because I had yet to figure out how to get my motion going; however, a second attempt ended up being successful. This obstacle was different from ones I've encountered before and quite a fun time. I liked getting to try something new.

From there, we went to the log hop. After doing the log hop at Shale Hill, I was kind of concerned, but this was fairly easy with the logs quite close together making it possible to straddle two with your legs. We then had to wind our way through a section of trails. The trails were slick throughout and featured bridges that were slippery with mud. I took a slide or two and find it hard to imagine how people who took part in the later waves found this section of the course, especially with the rain that took over around 3:30 p.m.

At the bottom of the hill was the rope climb. The end of course was within 2 miles, and I was relieved because I was getting tired and the five hour time limit was ticking down. I was just over four hours and needed to get this done. Fortunately, there was limited pressure because I had lost my band. I was motivated to do my best and kept jogging to make sure I made the cut-off.

The rigs from the 3K race yesterday were up. The first rig was the orange rig with rings, low monkey bars, and ring. Unlike the previous day, there was a cargo net at the end. I had made this rig the day before; however, at this point I was tired and only made it half way through.



I kept moving toward the Wreckbag carry. The carry was the same general format -- 50 lb. bags only -- as the day before but double the distance. I got the bag on my neck with some difficulty and then was not going to take it off until I reached the top of the hill. Despite some slipping, I made it. The way down, was so slick, I opted to sit down and slide along with the Wreckbag leaning against me. A fellow racer zoomed down behind me and stopped until I told him he was welcome to push me along, and off we were to the bottom of the hill. I re-shouldered the Wreckbag and quickly got to the end of the loop.



It was time for the second rig, where I had failed the previous day. I knew it would be a no-go this time around. Fortunately, some modifications had been made and the vertical pipe at the end had been replaced to make it a bit easier for racers. I might have made it through this set-up on yesterday's 3K, which makes me feel a bit better. I got up on the monkey bar section of the rig and gave it a good try but was ultimately unable to make it too far, exhausted as I was.

The final stretch included Skull Valley and Skyline from the day before, followed by the Floating Walls, and finally The Knot wall to take you to the finish. As with the day before, my experience with Skull Valley and Skyline were unsuccessful despite multiple attempts. I would like to see the Skull Valley obstacle be adjusted to allow for greater parity for athletes of differing heights. The challenge should be the obstacle, not getting up on to it, something almost impossible for someone of my height. The Floating Walls are still a favorite, and I made it across without any issue. One try got me up The Knot wall, which was very pleasing. I was so happy to go from there across the finish line. Done!


The 15K course was a brutal test of endurance. The mountain was used more than anticipated (and perhaps more than I would recommend); however, the obstacles were excellent and the experience unrivaled. Room for improvement? Sure. One more water stop would have been ideal, several obstacles really disadvantaged shorter athletes, and I think it might have been nice to have some of the grip-intensive obstacles broken up. (Though I know they were placed this way with the Sunday team race in mind.) The OCR World Championships is the Olympics of our sport. Different from the Olympics, it is for a larger body of racers -- it is not just an experience for a few elite people, but also for the masses, and balances the difficulty of obstacles for elites versus age-group athletes, must be a challenge. It is one that the OCRWC team takes seriously.

Going to the OCR World Championships and having qualified was a great experience. I did not do all that I wanted to do out on the course, and was unsuccessful in keeping my bands on either course. In a way, to me, my medals from OCRWC will always have as asterisk because of this. It is great to see everyone who kept their bands and hear people telling them that their hard work training paid off; I agree. This is a great accomplishment. The hard part, I think for me, is that all that hard training, a year's worth, didn't culminate in the shinning idea of success I had for myself. Maybe qualifying should be enough, indeed in some ways it is; however, I still wish I could have performed just a bit better. And, perhaps, this is the ultimate success of OCRWC -- that it's a race that challenges me in a way that makes me want to be a better athlete. Maybe my 2017 medal isn't the culmination of a year of training but the beginning of a new section of hard work in trying to achieve my next goal.


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