On March 31st, 2018 Sierra Meadows Park in Clovis, California played host to the latest event put on by Epic Series OCR. The hybrid OCR/Functional Fitness competition is gaining a reputation for having the perfect blend of obstacles combined with functional fitness movements that make this my personal favorite race series. Epic’s motto of “more fun, less run” means your name doesn’t necessarily have to be Magnus to win, but a strong strength base will certainly help you complete the course.
With several events held each year in the Southern California area, Epic has gained almost a cult following in the ever-expanding world of OCR for athletes who are tired of running the endless miles associated with typical OCR events. Epic’s main course offers 25 obstacles all located in the space of a football field with a total distance of around a mile and a half. The course offers the same obstacles scaled into 3 different categories including competitive male/female and open class. Male and female competitive obstacles must be finished completely while open class is a pretty much a free for all. While volunteers are stationed at each obstacle along the way, task completion in the competitive heats relies mostly on the honor system.
Imagine looking down at a regulation 400-meter track. Epic basically puts their entire event into this small space! The breakdown of their system generally includes running a lap carrying something awkward, then completing a row of obstacles inside of the track area before running another lap. Computer timing is provided on a manual basis and has caused issues from time to time, but they always seem to iron everything out in the end. Awards are given out to the top 3 male and female in the competitive class along with competitive masters. As an added bonus athletes competing in the competitive class have the option to take on either the elite strength or endurance competition following the event. Think of this as more of a Crossfit competition with separate top 3 winners.
Now onto the main course! Epic always starts off their race with athletes sprinting around the first lap while carrying a brightly colored Epic Series flag. After depositing the flag back at the start line the fun begins with a ladder wall traverse immediately followed by the atlas stone over the shoulder flip for reps.
Another lap around the event was now required, this time carrying a medicine ball. Butt to bucket overhead squats for reps with a weighted pipe was the next obstacle in line along with some box jump burpees before taking on the most unique balance beam in OCR. This nightmare of a balance test consists of 4X4 pegs mounted along beams suspended above the ground. The wobble factor here is at a maximum and it usually gets me at least once each event. After a sprint lap around the track, a set of banded bunny hops got those quads burning before moving on to a 20-rep set of Russian twists with a medicine ball.
A keg hoist started off the grip killing section of the course. Right after one more ladder wall traverse athletes picked up a set of jerry cans for a grip killing lap which led right into the rope climb. What a nasty way to completely trash your grip strength! From here athletes moved quickly onto a timed wall sit followed by more box jump burpees.
An inverted wall climb followed leading to another lap with a hard to balance slosh pipe. The ever-popular timed plank and lumberjacks made of 4×4 metal tubing required athletes to start digging ever deeper into their energy reserves. An over and under for reps using plastic tubing started off the last series of obstacles followed up with a bow and arrow shot into a target. If you’ve ever dreamed that you were Robin Hood this was your chance to live out your dream! One last climb over a wall with rock climbing holds led you to one final lap, this time with a keg on your shoulder! Drop the keg at the finish and collect your medal and your breath.
Now if you entered the open class race your day was over. But if you entered the competitive class you had the option, for a small additional price, to compete in either the Strength or Endurance Elite course. This was a scaled event for men and women with the strength course having heavier weights and lower reps than the endurance course, but both courses followed the same WOD in the same format. Top 3 awards were also presented to the winners here with a WWE style belt given to the champ in each division!
- Pull a police SUV for distance
- 5 burpees
- Clean and press for reps
- 5 burpees
- Deadlifts for reps
- 5 burpees
- Farmers carry for distance
- 5 burpees
- Sandbag lunge for distance
- 5 burpees
- Atlas stone up and over for reps
- 5 burpees
- Atlas stone over the shoulder for reps
- 5 burpees
- Dual kettlebell step-ups for reps
- 5 burpees
- Tractor tire flips for reps
- Sprint to finish
A small kids race focusing more on the fun was provided for a small fee and was packed with happy faces all day. Parking was free as were the “Epic” photos of the event. If your OCR roots started with a love of the gym, then this is your race. No one body type is perfect for this event as the great blend of obstacles really evens out the playing field. This event truly looks to find the fittest athlete and makes it my personal favorite. So if you’re tired of all the endless running and seek an event tests your overall fitness give Epic Series a try!
Check out our other Epic reviews!
Scott Brackemyer
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