Another weekend, another excellent locally-run OCR in the books for the great state of Minnesota! This time, my adventures took me to the hilly Zumbro River valleys of Mazeppa at an event called the Steeplechase Challenge.
This is a new-comer to the local OCR scene, as this is only their second year of holding this weekend-long event. The event focuses on the charity Toys For Tots and brings in donations for the local chapter. There’s a 5K or 10K distance to choose from, with plenty of families and weekend warriors alike tackling the course either Saturday or Sunday. Registration and festival area are within walking distance of the parking area, as everything is on-site. Everything was clearly marked and easy to get through.
Course / Venue:
The venue is hands-down one of the best in MN. The family that runs this event owns about 170 acres of pristine Zumbro River Valley beauty at the Steeplechase Event Center (hence the race name), hills and all. The site used to be an old ski resort and chair lifts are still standing to this day but not functional anymore. This paves the way to some truly fantastic trails, mud, hills, single-track (even through what was dubbed ‘Rock Canyon’ where rock boulders had to be climbed over uphill) and… more mud & more hills. Anytime you can do an OCR in Minnesota and get over 1200+ ft of elevation change in a 10K (watches varied, so I’m going with that number as an average) is a huge plus. I’ll let some of the photos do the talking:
Obstacles:
One of the standout obstacles was the addition of a 300-foot water slide, which everyone young to old enjoyed (some of them multiple times, I ran the 10K on Sunday and was told a woman on Saturday went up/down the slide 11 times!). Some fun random ones: hitting a tractor tire 10x, hitting a junked car with a sledgehammer (seriously more fun than you’d think!), and a spear throw that was longer than a standard Spartan Race distance. There were some challenging ones as well, with the signature challenge (other than the terrain) was the log carry up to a shorter but very steep climb towards the end of the 10K distance. Talk about a quad burner!
The obstacles themselves may not be as technically challenging as other races, but the terrain/venue/heavy carries back up the ‘Challenge’ claim in full. It’s a great feeling to see both young and old, newcomers to veteran racers enjoying some of the best that MN has to offer when it comes to OCR racing. See you again in 2018!
Photo Credit: Author
Dan Stowe
Latest posts by Dan Stowe (see all)
- Muddy Warrior Run 2017 - September 6, 2017
- Steeplechase Challenge 2017 - August 16, 2017
- Spartan Race Minnesota Sprint 2017 – The Hills Are Alive! - July 5, 2017
