It was fantastic to discover the crisp escapism of an autumnal run. No one around, just the squirrels diving across my path of endless orange leaves.
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Bear Grylls Survival Race really offers does activities and tasks that I've not seen elsewhere. One of the most unique obstacles is the sock tube which you find at the top of an incredibly tall structure named the Mountain. You slide down the sock to get to the bottom, pushing out to control your speed. The unusual task did bring a sense of excitement with the unknown, good fun. (See the three images below). For two of the obstacles they use big containers to try and take you to different environments such as the Arctic and desert zones. The Arctic was definitely better executed with the foam machine used for wintery effect. For one of the obstacles a very devious kid thrusted a cup into my hand with a very wicked laugh. It was a cup full of mealworms. Little does he know I actually have a pack full of these in my kitchen cupboard! A very tasty nutritious high protein treat. (See my Mealworm Flapjack post). The event village stood apart from other events with a whole multitude of free activities such as Segway and DTV Shredder. I think this brought value for money to the overall entry and why I've scored this event higher than some of the other recent events I've been to. Overall this event was incredibly good fun. It was let down with the use of Trumin for their sign up process which I've used in the past with much hassle. I would however recommend this event for newcomers and regular OCR racers alike. Don't let the extremities of Bear's adventures put you off, as no you don't need to drink your own urine!
It was great to revisit this event and see how much Rough Runner has improved since its first race. Rough Runner has become an extremely refined OCR. Events always ask you to arrive an hour before your wave and so we did. We weren't expecting to be offered to run an extra race for free though! The organisers were looking to see how fast people can complete their 5k course. My friends declined but I stepped up to this. I took the lead very quickly in my wave so it ended up being quite a lonely race for the most part, occasionally overtaking someone from an earlier wave. One big bonus is that there were no queues! It certainly had a different event feel with no one around but I enjoyed the banter and encouragement from the marshals. My time wasn't the fastest overall that day but I managed to make it back in time to join my friends for the warmup of my actual race. I was glad to have got the speed element done as my friends were taking it much slower than I anticipated. At least it was nice to have the company for the 10k and it also allowed me some extra camera time! So do I prefer to race an OCR or complete it as a group? From a sport point of view I do prefer to run and attack it. Although I do equally enjoy the social aspect, but the obstacles do make a difference. If I'm waiting around for people it can reduce the adrenaline kick and I can be left jumping up and down just to keep warm, especially if I'm soaking wet. In certain races it may give me an opportunity to go back around and complete the obstacles again if there are no queues. For some events the obstacles have to be completed individually so it lacks the camaraderie of proper group obstacles. To answer the question above is hard to say, I guess mixing things up is good, keeping whatever I do engaging and fresh. All in all Rough Runner is very good, I just feel the price may be major deterrent, especially for people on the fence and new to OCR.
So this story is true to the letter. I joked to my friend showing him a video of Toughest asking him if he’d like to join me. He laughed and said “I’d do it if it was 5k and you had to eat a doughnut every kilometer.” I made my other friend confirm witness to that statement before pulling up the Doughnut Dash webpage… “Gotcha!” I think having done so many races this year the Doughnut Dash 5k race didn’t really give something to shout about. Having said that a lot of people looked like they were having a great time. My friend I ran with already said that he wants to do it again next year and take his daughter along for the kids race. Ironically the Doughnut Dash’s official charity is Kidney Research UK. Whilst the actual event cost is very good at £16.00, my train ride to Colchester came up to £27.00. So putting that into consideration it’s quite a pricey long trip for me to do a 5k event, even if food is included. My general gripes I guess are personal and I think a lot of people will enjoy this sugary pursuit, especially with a big group of friends. I’ve heard so much positivity about Toughest that I had to do this event. Their inaugural UK event was in “London,” which like so many other OCR organisers was nowhere near London. Upon further research it appeared that their Copenhagen and Olso events were quite convenient to travel to via public transport. With the London event it would involve an expensive taxi ride so paying a little more to experience a different country just seemed a lot more appealing. As I’d never been to Norway it was an easy choice to make Oslo our destination. Our flights with SAS came to around £110. We made a long weekend of Oslo and stayed 3 nights at the Saga Poshtel which was around £100 each. The event itself was very well organised. Plenty of well spaced obstacles, which a lot of them required good grip and upper body strength to complete. The whole penalty system with multi lane obstacle options worked really well. As two of us ended up waiting around for our other teammates we actually went around to try out all the obstacles if there wasn’t a queue for them. For the hanging hoops the harder option is with every other hoop missing, so skipping a hoop on the standard lane made me realise it was possible for us to complete the fast lane version. On other occasions we just went around again to get a better camera shot! It wasn’t till I was reviewing the GoPro footage that I realized just how clear the water was at Toughest Oslo. UK events usually feature much browner water! They had the salmon ladder but they weren’t enforcing any penalties for us with this. So I had two attempts. On the second attempt I actually manage to kip up, even though it was just one notch I was incredibly ecstatic to have done this. “It is possible!” The dragons back obstacle was the first obstacle that I did not even attempt at a race. You had to leap from one platform to the other. Looking at it now I feel I could have done it but if the confidence is not there at the time it’s not worth risking it, especially as my gloves were soaked at the time. My friend François completed no problems though. A lot of the obstacles I felt it was just about in reach for me, so for shorter people it would definitely have been a struggle. The final obstacle was unique to the Oslo event, the ski slope. It took us a good 4 minutes on our hands and feet to scale. The last ten metres allowed you to stand up right but my legs felt super heavy, like gravity had been ramped up. Certainly one of the most memorable finishes at an OCR. All in all it was a fantastic weekend with a new event and experiencing some new culture too. One last thing, on our way back to the city the metro train ahead of us derailed (no serious injuries as far as we are aware) so we had to hail a taxi. Quite difficult when so many others were doing the same. On the plus the train operator will pay NOK 550 for any journey that you are delayed for twenty minutes or more if it is their fault. They at first were not going to pay the full taxi fare but we argued that we actually saved them money by the four of us getting a taxi together, which they agreed to. Happy ending! Nuclear Races today hosted an event with no running, but plenty of obstacles including their infamous Deathslide and Ziplines. The Nuclear Summer Party was great fun. You could go on the obstacles they had out as much or as little as you wanted to. This was brilliant from a filming perspective in order to get multiple shots and fantastic as a participant as it gave you a chance to hone your technique and get more daring with your approaches, such as Superman-ing it off the Deathslide! Some guys from Southend Parkour came down to give a talk on their approach and philosophy to training and fitness. It was interesting even though some things contradict what others teach. For example they shot down the leg technique to get over a wall which I often use. Their reasoning is that "technique can only get you so far." I'm sure I've heard that being said the other way around too! Although I see their point in that we shouldn't use a technique in place of reason to get stronger. Whilst I have already been exploring other ways to scale a wall and I want to be able to muscle up, I will still be using the faithful leg technique for the walls if I'm going to save my strength for some of those more demanding upper body obstacles during a race. Race smart! Got to say the parkour guys really do show us up when it comes to obstacle flair! The Nuclear Summer Party was a fun day out and very good value at £22. It was a real shame however that the 'Gorilla bars,' were not accessible even though they advertised it. My friends I went with today are not fans of running or mud, so it was great to spend the time with them, as they definitely won’t be joining me on future Nuclear Races.
For me I prefer the actual obstacle races as there’s something satisfying and purposeful about getting from A to B through a much bigger variety of challenges. I think the running gives you a boost of adrenaline and makes tacking the obstacles a lot more fun. I realised this when I was walking down the path to the zipline, it just all seemed to make more sense when I started running! Adrenaline Rush (Event has now unfortunately folded) at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was the first event from which I've altered the rating from out of 10; to out of 100. So I've also updated all previous events so it's in line with this. It’s becoming a little tricky to rate these events given the similar benchmark organisers are hitting, plus as I become more experienced with OCR events my expectations are altering too. Did the MC get confused as to what event he is at?! "Go on Tough Mudders!": |
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"Any tips, reviews and advice are my own opinions and are not to be taken as professional view points. The information on this site is what has worked for me and is here for guidance only, but I hope you gain insight into the various activities I partake in." Jonathan Chen Archives
December 2019
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