My inner 12 year old has been excited to run this race for a long time. Less than three miles on familiar terrain with a bunch of inflatables? I am so in. I decided to add my daughter, aka Smalls (aged 7) to join me. It is important to note that Smalls thinks she is the jam as she has several OCRs and 5ks under her belt.
Keep in mind that in my mind I am an elite OCR runner. In reality, a group of tipsy terrapins are faster than me.
The race was held at the Georgia International Horse Park on Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2018. The Horse Park is home to many Metro Atlanta OCRs. I know the terrain like the back of my hand. I finished the Spartan Sprint there a few weeks prior. I was interested to see if it followed the same routes as previous races.
Upon registration, I chose to have my packet mailed to me versus going to the designated pick up. Easy peasy, right? As the date of the race came closer, I received an email stating that some packets were not mailed and that we would have to pick them up at packet pick up. My daughter received her packet, but I did not. I emailed customer service and they told me to pick up the packet on race day.
Another email was sent saying that medals would not be at the race and would be sent after. Keep in mind that I race for medals. I am totally vapid when it comes to a few things when it comes to OCRs. Medals is one of them.
The pick-up tent was pretty easy. Got my shirt and was ready to go. I quickly reviewed the festival area and it was sparse. There were some vendors, but the inflatable village they promoted was not as big as I thought it would be as there was only one large inflatable.
The race corral started by climbing a tall slide that was a similar, yet smaller version of the one at Rugged Maniac. The course didn’t take us too far back into the woods. It literally outlined the festival area.
The overall course was pretty easy. I clocked 1.73 miles and 10 obstacles in 30 minutes. The obstacles were a bit wet due to the previous day’s rain. It did get a bit crowded. Some volunteers kept us spaced out and some didn’t. There were water stations mid-race and again at the finish.
This is how the race went according to Smalls:
- “This is fun”
- “Oooh. This is like a Spartan Race” – Oh honey. She doesn’t know.
- “I am gonna do this again”
- “Where do we go next? This is confusing”
- “This was a good race. Kinda easy for me”
The end of the race offered no fanfare, medals, or anything.
My biggest issue with the race was how things were handled. We were told that we would get our medals on race day. Then it changed to picking them up at packet pick up. Then I was told that they would be sent via FedEx. I was also told that since my packet was never sent, I would be refunded the fee I paid to have it sent home. I probably spent more time following up than I did racing. Side note: I just received the medal today (Dec. 10th).
I will honestly say that back-office issues colored my experience quite a bit. However, I can see the race for what it was. It is a great way for all ages and abilities to start off with OCRs. The actual inflatables were quite fun. The distance was perfect. They took care to keep the course pretty flat. There were some minor hills, but nothing like they could have incorporated for that course. If you want to start your OCR experience, this could be a good one. I would say it is much easier than Warrior Dash and Rugged Combined. Just go into it as a good time and keep expectations low.
I am not sure if I would do this race again, but it was a fun race to end my 2018 OCR season.
Rhiannon G
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