This was really an amazing kick off event. It was called the toughest race from Russia and it was easy to believe that Winterhell is bringing the cold from the east.
For you here’s my feedback to this event, which took place today at the Nürburgring- actually one of the fastest places in Germany, Europe. Usually Formula 1 is celebrating its celebrities and having most luxurious parties here. But today an OCR event was opening the doors for a race series with obstacles across a 12k distance.
I have to state, it was early when we arrived. So we were waiting line some other quite experienced Obstacle Course Race Runners till the start. Just in time it started snowing which was amazing. The whole race, the soil, Forrest, streets, fields and obstacles: everything was beautiful white and we had a lot of fun out there. People were great and helpful and the barriers were quite cool.
But immediately after the first hurdles we realized, that you don’t get any punishment for not making it. Even this was my first OCR Race as I am a Long distance runner and triathlete, but I know it’s common to do burpees (at least 30..?!) or get a time penalty before it’s allowed to follow your race. Sport should be far and transparent. This wasn’t. And after the race it got worse: the start should be at 12am. People were already waiting at the start and the operator thought that it was to cold to let them wait, so he send the first group on track without any information for anyone.
While we were starting later (we still had 6min to go and all of the sudden I heard the countdown 10, 9, 8, ... so time measurement failed also here) I passed so many people running so much slower than me. I was wondering were they might come from with that „speed“...
And those people were blocking the obstacles as we had to wait to have a turn. Nobody took the waiting time, forced a punishment or st least notate bib numbers.
At the end of the day we had to wait another 2 hours for the award ceremony. In the meantime (the race or after race catering was fast food) it was possible to read the results on a board, so you already knew, if it is worth waiting for the podiums tribute or better make your way home as the snowy weather became heavier and heavier.
People were freaking out because athletes from the list weren’t honored. People who were far slower than you AND didn’t do all of the obstacles (ands that might be a reason for being faster sometimes) were taking your trophy away. Probably that was meant when they said „ the toughest race from Russia“.
Ultimately the race had the potential to do it far better as the idea was nice and the design is amazing. Unfortunately this is the first race when early boomers cane last as they gave the last tickets for free, because they hadn’t have enough participants.
Sorry guys. Those are no childhood diseases. The industry is on a professional way and it’s people’s choice where they go to.
