X Warrior Black Ops 12 Hour in Barrhead Alberta

X Warrior is a new obstacle course company that is making a name for itself. It originated on Canadian soil in Calgary. From 2016 X Warrior Challenge has been testing the waters with their own obstacles. They also have an OCRWC qualifying race. On June 23, 2018, The X Warrior Challenge had its first Black Ops race. It consisted of 12 hours of running during nighttime, from 10 pm to 10 am. It was amazing, and some of these obstacles were very unique and fun.

This race consisted of 5.5km laps with more than a dozen skillful obstacles. I very much like this race as it had penalty loops. The Penalty Loop aka Recovery Lap was the place to retrieve your wristbands.

At the start of the race, everyone received 2 bracelets. If someone could not complete the obstacle after multiple attempts, they turned in the bracelet to the obstacle volunteer. After a certain distance at a specified marked location, if you did not have all 2 bracelets you were to do either 1 or 2 penalty loops (depending on the number of bracelets you have). Once completed the penalty loop, you receive your bracelet back and continue finishing the lap. There were 3 penalty checkpoints throughout the lap. The penalty loops consisted of carrying a sandbag down and up a hill, going down and up a further steeper hill, and carrying a propane tank in 200 meters circle before proceeding. In addition to a regular obstacle race, they have added a strongman lap. I will explain this in a different section of the blog.

The outlook of the beginning of the race was really something special. It looked like a rave with all the tents set up. At the entrance to the event, athletes set up their own tent/materials in a 10×10 square feet grid. The spectator and pit area called the Base Camp was nicely located in the center of everything.

From this area, you can observe multiple obstacles such as the X Dragon, Cargo, X Warp, X Tarzan, Rope-a-Dope, and Monkey Bars. The whole course was marked beautifully. All the stations were marked clearly. The X Warrior Challenge is now one of my favorite obstacle races! A huge congrats to Darcy for putting such a fantastic event! It also has one of the best start lines I’ve ever seen!

Strongman laps
Additionally, black ops offered a strongman lap. This was a very unique idea which I love. This consists of carrying a sandbag the whole lap. If you were running individually, you would carry a 40-pound sandbag through the whole course. If you were on a team, you would share the 40-pound sandbag through the whole course. Complete 1 lap like this and you received a strongman patch! Each lap racers were to check-in at the sandbag tent to let the organizers know if they are taking the bag out for another run.

Obstacles worthy of mentioning

Next, there are many obstacles to name that were fun, skillful, and challenging, but three come to mind that were unique and I haven’t seen in any other race!

X Peg Board- The Peg Board! It was shaped into a Z wall with timber construction. The distance was fairly long, contained around 25 peg holes, and 2×4 blocks of wood scattered for your feet. This obstacle took a fair amount of strength and time.

X Axe- The Axe throw! At a distance of 4 meters, we threw a hatchet at a wooden wall stump. After a couple laps, I got the hang of it, it still is a hit or a miss. This is one of 2 obstacles that has only 1 attempt. If you succeeded you carry on running, if you miss, however, you give one of the bracelets to the volunteer.

X Sniper- We shot pop cans with an Airsoft Gun! This was the other obstacle that also had only 1 attempt. The guns were pre-loaded with pellets. At a fair distance of 15 meters, the organizers placed pop cans. Again, if you missed, you gave a bracelet to a volunteer.

Medals, Patches, and Podium

Medals were amazing. Each finisher who crossed the finish line between the 11th and 12th hour received a medal.

The bibs were fantastic too! These were running bibs that you get to keep. I feel like an ultra runner. After 12 hours, patches were given out to those who completed a Strongman Lap, and those who’ve reached 25km, 50km, 75km, and 100km. Finally, X Warrior celebrated multiple podiums.

Podium for most laps overall for male and female.

Most laps over the age of 40 in males and females.

Most laps for Teams in all-male, all-female, and coed team.

Most Strongman laps for male and female.

To finish, the male over 40 category had something special. 1st place received a green suit. It is told that this green suit will be up for grabs in the next Black Ops.