2013
Interview
Featured Review – Yawgoo / On the Beach
2014
Community Review – On the Beach / Yawgoo /
2015
Community Review – Yawgoo / Kids / On the Beach /
Featured Review – On the Beach
19 thoughts on “BoldrDash”
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I love Boldrdash. This is my 5th event and I’ll keep coming back. First, the venue was awesome. Definitely a runner’s venue. You could go fast and there wasn’t really any elevation change. It was also a beautiful park. The obstacles were challenging without being impossible. Many of them offered varying levels of difficulty so you could choose your challenge. There were also plenty of obstacles, no long boring runs. The Medal was awesome and the shirt is of good quality. The festival was fun with a couple of food vendors, a really good band, and some fun things to do. I love the boulders!
Also, being able to park at the venue rather than take a shuttle like last year was a huge improvement. I hope they go back to Rocky Point but I’ll follow the race to whatever venue they have next year.
Communication. I knew everything I needed to going in.
Wow, I loved this race! I’m still coming down from the high that this course gave me. Not going to be a ton of constructive criticism here 🙂
The venue was beautiful. The festival area was huge. Couldn’t ask for much more. I also got to sign up for Winter Dash for cheap at the merch tent. I’m good with that.
The Course and Obstacles. This is the part that really matters to me, where the bulk of that overall score comes from. And WOW. There were something like 28 obstacles (more if you count out all the walls that were a part of the buoy carry) that I can recall two days later. The course was flat and fast, which is my general preference, and just loaded with obstacles. Roughly 4 carries, so many thing to climb, a handful of crawls… there was more packed into those 3 3/4 miles than some races can fit into 12 miles. Out of my 3 laps I only had to wait at the floating cargo net climb once, and I shared a buoy on my second lap. That’s it for course back up. Just ridiculous. I left feeling drained physically and with a big ole smile on my face, this is the type of course that I could run over and over again.
Swag & Awards. Awesome medal, I’m a sucker for the Lobster, and a T Shirt that I’ll actually wear because it’s of good quality.
This may be my favorite course all year. My second BoldrDash race, my first at Rocky Point… super impressed.
The only complaint, and it was shared by others, was parking. Yes it was on site, but those who arrived earliest had to park farthest away. The opposite is usually true.
Communication:
Information on social media and leading up to race day was typical of what I have come to expect for a race. It was there and in a timely manner.
The reason I rated this a 4 though was due to race day communication. Especially with multilapping. I overheard issues concerning how much the payment was. While it was known in advance, those at the table were confused. I personally experienced issues when I went to pay for my second lap 10 minutes before the cutoff of 12:30 that we were initially told. The woman at the table told me that it was over, I could not multilap that it had ended at 11:40 and now it was only family heats. In the end, I admit I went out with other Spahtens and later spoke with the RD about the predicament and paid her as soon as I finished my lap. However, this communication error caused a lot of headaches throughout the morning.
Venue & Festival:
Great venue with some beautiful scenery. The festival area looked busy and as though it had a little bit of something for everyone. However I did not spend much time there.
Course & Obstacles: This was a fun course, I got 3.83 miles on my garmin. What I liked was that there was a good mix of obstacles. It wasn’t mostly upper body or distance or strength. There was a good mixture. I liked that there were a few different strength opportunities. Over all, the course and obstacles were great! I also liked that there was an option of a trail around the rocky part. Essentially the same mileage but one less technical than the other. I did the rocks on lap one and the trail lap two.
Swag & Awards:
A t-shirt and medals. If you multilapped you got a medal for each additional lap that you did.
This is the second year for Boldrdash Winter Dash. It was held at the Canonicus Camp and Conference Center in Exeter, RI. This venue is a short drive off the highway. It is very easy to find. Parking was 10 dollars and there definitely seemed to be more than enough.
Registration and the festival was set up inside one of the buildings which was greatly appreciated with the bone chilling cold temps outside. The registration table was a breeze to go through with mulitple lanes included a dedicated lane for NE Spahtens and multi-lappers. There was a room for the biggest team which was off to the side. It was a great place for everyone to hang out before we started and a good place to stash stuff for easy access before laps.
I didn’t take much time to look around the “festival” but there were some raffle baskets you could buy tickets for and enter and there was food for sale that smelled delicious and looked like it was going for a reasonable price. Warm bathrooms with running water were definitely a great perk for the day.
The course itself was ~4 miles long with a variety of obstacles ranging in difficulty. The trails at the center are nice and wide so there isn’t a lot of issues not being able to pass people as needed. The trails are also relatively flat with one decent climb that was used for the sandbag carry. Many of the obstacles were fairly what you would see at most races, walls of varying height and difficulty, monkey bars, traverse wall, sand bag carry, cargo a-frame and slack line to name a few. There was also the signature boulder carry that a racer finds in all of the boldrdash races. There was a small scale version of the loom that was definitely one of the more challenging obstacles at the races. There was also a traverse wall that utilized pegs instead of handgrips which proved to be more difficult than it looked.
One thing I love about boldrdash is that it caters to racers of all abilities. There are multiple lanes to choose from at many of the more difficult obstacles so everyone can pick what works for then. I always find it more satisfying to be able to get over an obstacle on my own, even if it is a little less difficult then to have to have a teammate or stranger hoist me over.
The only complaint for the day was that there were a few backups on the course. The first obstacle was the teeter totter tunnels and it was only .3 or so miles in to the course. If you were not in the front of your wave there was definitely a wait there. I encountered a wait at a couple of the walls because most people wanted to go for the easier option but there was only a single lane for the easy option. It would be nice to see more lanes available to prevent these waits.
Finishers got a nice medal that was shaped like a snowflake and there was an additional medal for multilap finishers that you could pick up at the end of the day. There was an assortment of fruit, water, hint water, and energy gels available for runners at the finish line. The biggest team also got a special t-shirt with the NE Spahten logo on the front and the race print on the back.
Overall this was a great, well run local event. It was definitely more difficult than the first year and a ton of fun. I will definitely be looking out for this to return in 2018.
Communication:
Pretty good. Plenty of talk on facebook. E-mails kept me up to date. The parking was really confusing. Where to go and why. This was the first BoldrDash with waivers on site, however, there were no pens to fill out the waivers.
Venue & Festival:
The venue was awesome. Anyone who grew up in the area knows Rocky Point. Very nostalgic. The festival had a number of vendors. No where to sit though. Check in was seperated into 4 lines by bib numbers, and the lower numbers backed up FAST. Not the quickest moving line. Due to the 50% up-mark over every other multi-lap RaceLocal event, I chose not to run multi-laps at this event. I didn’t see the value in $15/extra lap. This also means I cannot provide feedback on the process for RaceLocal.
Course & Obstacles:
The course, aside from the nostalgic location, was OK. Mostly flat, a lot of pavement, and an almost dizzying confusing last mile of switchbacks on the open field. It was advertised as a “maybe barely over 3.1 mile” course, and was actually closer to 4.1 miles. While I don’t mind the added distance, I don’t care much for the misinformation, as with the weather, running prepared (more water and/or electrolytes), this information is important, especially for those who are multilapping. The obstacles were plentiful, though, and there was a great mix of easy and hard obstacles as well as easy an hard lanes, allowing you to make the race as difficult as you want. Overall, it was fun. She included a section of games that you would often see at amusement parks, which was fun and thoughtful.
Swag & Awards:
The medal was OK, not too small, but not big. Colorful. Fairly generic. The lanyard was blue with “Rocky Point” on it, which I enjoyed. We all got t-shirts, which, other than the color, I absolutely loved. Female cut in a blended cotton that is soft. Something I absolutely could wear and feel comfortable in.
Overall:
This is definitely a race series that is great for new comers and has a great following. It was nostalgic. The price, in my opinion, is one of the highest cost for all of the RaceLocal events, and I’m not sure if the value is there. It is, without a doubt, a race you can have fun at, though, and being at Rocky Point again was great.
Communication/Venue&Festival: The amount of communication leading up to the event was great. Some of the information given was a little off. I’m not sure if this was an issue with coordinating the volunteers. We were told the onsite parking wouldn’t be open to the first wave. When I arrived at the the onsite parking (from the off-site), It WAS open, and there were already several runners who had taken advantage of that fact. At the off-site parking, the email said it would be open at 7:15am. I arrived at about 7:20ish, and the volunteers had not yet set up the signs directing people to park, were still trying to coordinate with the bus drivers the easiest route for them to drive, and no one was set up to take the $10 for parking.
Course&Obstacles: The course itself was challenging, seeing familiar obstacles and some newer obstacles. It was a good mix of easy, intermediate obstacles. All talk of the length of the course leading up to the event (even as late as the morning of) said the course was a 5k. My gps clocked it at 4.33mi. The extra mile and change may not make a difference to all runners, but it does to runners who are in a time crunch with other events planned for the day. The terrain itself wasn’t terribly challenging, but the heat and humidity made the race a little more taxing. Also, Water Station #1 (during the boulder carry) wasn’t set up when the first wave went out, so there was no on-course water until Water Station #2. We had to cut across the tape to get water and then get back on course. The ladies at that station, though, were troopers!
Swag&Awards: The women’s cut t-shirts ran ridiculously small. I don’t know how the men’s shirts ran.
Overall: BoldrDash puts on a good event. It’s family-friendly, which is important to people with children. I love that the cadets get to volunteer. It looks like they are incorporating ideas from other local race venues (the bucket carry is reminiscent of Wason Pond; the Over Under reminds me of a scaled back Loom at Shale Hill), which I think will help them continue to grow.
My two biggest “issues”:
1. You have to pay for multiple laps up front. I know the money goes to charity, which I LOVE. However, if you don’t have the opportunity to run your multiple laps, you’re out the money. It’s a hard pill to swallow on top of the price of the event. Maybe consider taking payment as runners start a new lap.
2. Penalties: This is my biggest disappointment. The fact that they’ve incorporated a “penalty” system for missed obstacles. Most of the volunteers were good-natured when someone failed an obstacle, or didn’t feel comfortable trying it. There were a few that were down-right nasty about it, demanding burpees or push-ups or whatever the penalty was at that obstacle. I run local courses more than the big names for a lot of reasons; one of them being that RDs aren’t (insert bad word) about missed obstacles. I refuse to be “penalized” for something I’m paying to do.
Good event, though. I’ll certainly be back for more 🙂
Overall, the pre-race logistics were just fine for us. Good communication, and we didn’t wait long for the shuttle. One suggestion for registration – you need to know your bib number to get in line, but the waiver doesn’t have a spot for it – if they added that, then anyone who filled out their waiver beforehand would have had this info. The line was short when we got there, but still seemed oddly slow, and we couldn’t quite figure out why. We were in the first wave, so perhaps it was a learning curve. The line grew quite long not after we were done. Bag check was quick, convenient and free; porta-potties were sufficient and also convenient.
The starting line was not obvious – there was a big flag that said start, but then we realized it was for the kids race. We asked someone where it was and they pointed us to the kids race; we asked someone else and were put in the right direction.
The course clocked in at over 4 miles, and had over 30 obstacles. Many of the obstacles had varying degrees of difficulty, so you could make your own challenge. I love that option! We were in the first wave, and found hardly any lines at all (not so on lap #2). We thought the race was a 5k, and when we came out of the woods at around 2.5 miles we thought we were nearly done – but that was the longest end to a race ever! 🙂 Obviously it went on for another 1.5+ miles, quite a bit of this easily accessible to spectators in the festival area. Volunteers were plentiful and awesome – everyone gave encouragement and seemed to be having fun.
We didn’t find any water stations on lap #1 until mile 2.75 or so (we passed it earlier and deviated off course to get some water). We learned that everyone was missing the first water station so it was being moved. Sure enough on lap #2, there was no missing it. It was much warmer than we expected, and we found by lap #2 that several of the obstacles also had water being doled out by the volunteers at them. The “on the fly” adjustment to the heat and water situation was really impressive – and very much appreciated!
When we were done with lap #1, it was clear where to go to register for lap #2 – though it was not clear if we were supposed to hand in our timing chip when we finished with lap #1 or keep it for the second. Since we had a GPS tracking watch and didn’t particularly care, we just handed it in and went on our way. We did not have to wait for another wave to start, so off we went – for ¾ of a mile or so we had the course to ourselves, but then we caught up to earlier waves and found some lines. Only one line was sufficiently long enough that we just skipped the obstacle.
We had a great time doing this race and felt it was worth the 2-hour-each-way drive. Came home and signed up for WinterDash, so I think that says it all!
Here are the obstacles to the best of our ability to remember and describe:
*2 giant gravel-sand hills to climb up and down
*monkey bars (thick or thin bar lanes) or lanes with hanging grip ropes (hard!)
*herc hoist with varying weights
*rope ladder climb – very twisty and bouncy when lots of people were on it – a nice challenge
*a tall wall with varying degrees of foot assistance
*a traverse wall with pegs – there was only one easy lane, and the other levels of difficulty were a giant step up from the easy lane. This was the obstacle with a long line on lap #2 that we skipped.
*tall wall made of tires to climb – longer legs helpful!
*bldr carry – generally not very heavy, but lots of options – carried up a small hill and around
*pickup a pipe with water sloshing around in it and walk with your legs on the outside of a row of tires, turn around and come back. People were struggling with directions here – most wanted to walk in the tires, and people would start behind the person still doing the obstacle – who needed to come back the way they came. This obstacle need to be moving in one direction only.
*fill a bucket with water and carry it to be dumped in a tub and repeat – or carry two buckets and do it once. This required you to get your feet wet to fill the buckets.
*tire pull or flip – the small tires were like a feather, and the medium and larger tires were really heavy!!!
*sandbag carry up a hill and back
*my favorite obstacle is hard to describe – basically an inclined frame with metal bars across it; you had to go over the first bar and under the next (and repeat until done) without touching the sides or the ground. It was tricky, especially all sweaty, but I liked the challenge quite a bit and have never seen an obstacle like it before.
*a tarzan swing – stand on one platform and swing over to another – I didn’t see anyone land on the second platform, but I’m sure plenty of people did
*a sack hop out and back – oh, this one sucked! 🙂 We did a mixture of hopping and shuffling and complaining. On lap two what we did did not qualify as “doing the obstacle”. 🙁
*over-under-thru walls – and you had to carry a water-filled buoy (which means you had to pick it up a lot). This went on and on and on. I’d say the “over” walls were 4 or 5 feet. A nice challenge.
*an inverted wall
*parallel bars to shuffle down on your hands – or scoot down on your legs
*a slip wall that was indeed VERY slick. Even my icebugs were like “what up?!” excellent grip strength required to hold yourself in place as you transitioned over the top.
*a couple more tall wall variations
*tubes that you crawl through, and halfway they flip from being an uphill climb to a downhill one
*loose tires around a beam that you had to throw yourself over – if you don’t throw yourself far enough, the tires just spin you back down. I had the same trouble here that I had at this obstacle at Winter Dash, but I seemed to have it figured out on lap 2. Lots of people struggled with this (but were laughing the entire time).
*a couple of balance items that I found impossible. The first lap people attempted them as individuals. The second lap people were doing them in teams of two, which seemed much more reasonable.
*tires hanging from ropes, and you had to swing and switch from one to the next – very challenging. I had a couple of false starts before I got it.
*cargo net A-frame
*a series of three games – when you got to the end you had to tell the volunteer how many you had “failed”; you got a chip for each failure to put in a slot that bumped its way down to a slot – you translated the slot into your penalty. This was very confusing and required a lot of explaining and clarifying. It was a cute nod to the amusement park, though.
*bucket carry
*traverse wall with hand holds
*crawl through a tube, over tires but under a net, through a tire – all under a truck
*two walls inverted away from each other – you put your feet on one and your hands on the other and shuffle down. A nice challenge
Wow. Great event! Loved the tribute to Rocky Point with the midway obstacles. Loved some of the new obstacles and you used the terrain very well.
Really the only minor things I can say were the reg lines were longer than I have experienced previously and moved slow. A couple of the kids obstacles needed kids versions (tire swings for example). Nothing huge though by any means.
Later in the day there were back ups at a few obstacles for some reason, but it wasn’t an issue early in the day.
Despite the heat I some how managed 2 laps and then did the kids race. I am now sitting on my couch barely able to leave a coherent review…so yeah, it was that good!
Great job Lynn and team as always. Love your events.
What a great race. Very challenging with a lot of varied obstacles. I liked the tribute to Rocky Point with the midway style obstacles. They added a lot of fun to the end of the race. Good use of the terrain along the shore and through the woods. Solid well built obstacles and lots of them.
Communication was great, I got a racer’s guide and cheat sheet. As well as I saw that Lynn was answering questions on Facebook really quickly.
The venue was great. What a beautiful park they have created there. Definitely plenty of space for a race and some fun rock hopping as part of the course. The festival was decent although some more onsite food options would be cool. I did go to the off site restaurant for the free beer and BBQ special though and it was worth the short trip.
As I said the course was fun and the obstacles were well built. I liked the varying penalties instead of one constant punishment. As seems to be standard for Boldrdash, the volunteers at all the obstacles were great. Another strong point in Boldrdash’s favor was that it was hotter than expected and extra water stations popped up on the course to keep runner hydrated.
The swag was a nice t-shirt and medal.
I will be running Boldrdash again in the future.
Completed the Final Bold R Dash in the Mud at Yawgoo on May 14. Wow what a race. They pulled out all the stops for the final event. Crazy amounts of obstacles, lots of hill climbing, and great swap. Given the heat, my only complaint could be I wish there had been more water stops. Great race! I hope they find another location for the mud race in the future.
I made the decision to drive down the day before, so I didn’t sign up until the day of. So I have no idea on pre-race communication other than what I saw in the event page on Facebook, which told me what I needed to know. I gave communication an 8 because I had to ask several times at a few obstacles what I was supposed to do.
Overall, the course was gorgeous, I hope to see more of it. Obstacles were fun and it was nice to see some variety we don’t always see. There was a great balance of trail to obstacles, although I almost always think there could be more obstacles (I am spoiled by Shale Hill’s 10k with 70+). The festival area had great music, fun props for photos, interesting challenges, a coffee truck!!!!!!!, and great snacks and water. The heated lodge to hang out before and after really made a difference as well.
Cannot wait to see another course at this venue.
My one comment on communication
Check out the Featured Review here!
https://www.newenglandspahtens.com/featured-review-boldrdash-winter-dash/
This was my first experience with any BoldrDash events. I signed up to volunteer one week before the event. My info email came the day before the event, with some generic info. The venue was an amazing campground. Unfortunately when I arrived, I missed the turn-off (sign was small and not very legible until right up next to it). Thankfully, in my info email, a satellite map was included so I knew where to find my parking. The building utilized for registration was a welcome sight (indoors and heat for a winter race!). There was some slight lack of communication as to where the volunteers were to sign in, and what we were to be doing. I helped where I could before being assigned to a captain. Once assigned, I took the time with her to walk out to my obstacle and see some of the course. This was extremely helpful. Even though I had the course map in hand, it is a completely different experience attempting to find a location not by following the course, but going directly there.
My station/obstacle was the tire drag. Thankfully I have participated in a few OCRs before, so I knew what was expected of this obstacle and of volunteers. Otherwise, instructions given to me were very vague. There were 8 tires, 4 large and 4 small. As the day wore on, I realized there really wasn’t a good “medium” tire. Either they were too light for the average racer, or more on the deceptively heavy side. Initially it was difficult to find the end of the ropes in the pile of leaves. There was no clear mark indicating the “drag-to” lines. For the larger 4 tires, the ropes were of all varying lengths, which also made it difficult to determine where the lines should be.
There were other volunteers, Sea Cadets, who were randomly assigned to help at locations. I don’t believe they were given any instructions. They were pulled/dismissed off course around 12 noon, with no warning to my area captain. This left an unmanned station at a crucial point for the family wave (just beyond where I was stationed).
My only complaint about this event is regarding communication. This was a great event at a beautiful location. I will volunteer for BoldrDash again, and would love to race at the venue once more!
I’ll start by saying this was a fun race manned by the a great group of volunteers. I ran with my wife and she commented multiple times how these were the best group of volunteers we had encountered in a while.
Venue- Canonicus Campsite was a beautiful venue with a great mix of terrain. great trails and beautiful scenery. Some of the narrow trails around the lake were really cool. The only minor issues I had were that the parking was pretty far from registration not that big a deal and that the signage on the road could have been better. I almost drove past. Other than that the music was playing all day and there was a fun party atmosphere that made the start/finish area a fun place to hang out.
Course – This wasn’t the most challenging race overall but that’s ok. The mix of obstacles was good. I liked the heavy carries at the start and the cargo net traveerse was more of a challenge than I thought as a big guy. The tire ring toss beat me (I was so close) and the teeter totter tunnel was fun. Overall my wife and I were happy and had a great time on the course.
Swag – The customized biggest team shirt was a nice touch. The medal was ok. Not the best but still looks good on my board.
Overall – This was my second Boldrdash event and it did not disappoint. Definitely worth the drive down to RI. Lynn and her team put on a great event.
New race in a new location for BoldrDash this year, and I have to say, overall, it was a hit! The venue was easy to get to and offered wonderful views during most of the race. There was a wonderful group of volunteers today that made everything all the better. With this race being the 4th racelocal race this year, a large crew came out to check out this race. We didn’t leave dissapointed!
Communication:
While communication from this race wasn’t the best, it wasn’t bad either. The race info e-mail came a little later in the week than I’d like, but I know part of that has to do with the new system they’re working with. Some information (such as multi-lap cost) was MIA, but her and her volunteer captains were great at answering any questions on the facebook page in good time. One way or the other, I found out where I needed to be, at what time, and how much money I needed, so I was happy.
Venue & Festival:
The race was held at Canonicus Camp Ground in Exeter, RI, which offered a diverse amount of trails, a beautiful pond to run around, and most awesomely, a heated indoor facility. Bag check was offered, but knowing I needed to grab food out of my bag on the whim and in little time, I had no problem leaving it under a table. There were games outside, photo-opportunities, and a merchandise tent. There was also music playing for a majority of the race. It was a great venue! My only complaint is that runner’s parking was actually a good walk from the festival area. After all the laps I was incredibly thankful for a ride back to my car!
Course & Obstacles:
The course was great. Not too flat, not too hilly, not too rocky or stumpy. Just a really nice course with great views around the water. The obstacles were great. A lot of innovative stuff, such as the tire toss (which defeated me all 4 laps), and the teeter totter tunnel (which I never got sick of!!). A number of challenging obstacles (monkey bars and a rope climb), and a sprinkling of obstacles in between. The spacing of the obstacles were good, there were a decent number of obstacles too. I found the course a ton of fun!
Swag & Awards:
The medals were definitely a bit on the cheaper end, but I loved the look! The shirts were great looking, but again… no XS and its too big on me. ::Insert spiel on why RDs should invest in shirts the little people will wear as well… you get promoted, I get shirt I’ll wear, everyone is happy::
Overall:
I had FUN today. I accomplished 4 laps and regardless of how I felt I smiled the whole time. Ok, except that time I did a half ringer with the tire and Lynn told me it didn’t count, but that frown only lasted 10 seconds. I didn’t have a single issue with today’s race and I’m happy I got out and enjoyed myself! I hope all of her races are this successful! This isn’t the hardest race you’ll ever take on, and completely family friendly. Plus, BoldrDash is a non-profit organization and the money goes to charity. Worth giving it a try for yourself!
I am more than happy that BoldRDash created a March event keep our winter season going. I raced this as part of #racelocal, as did my 13 year old son. He had a cold that got the best of him resulting in walking the majority of the course. There were about 400 participants and no back ups, plus plenty of chances to “play” on some of the fun obstacles (teetering tubes, rope swing, balance beam section). The most challenging obstacle remains the triple tires. Alright, if you can ringer a tire horseshoe style, please post a video of the technique. There were no walls. None! Yes, this was strange, but not noticed until post race. Sure there was no food, but I can and will survive of caffeine. The coffee truck made grade A lattes. I hope this race returns. It was truly a day of fun.
Parking was $10 & the walk was about 5 minutes. Indoor area with tables and a fireplace. Pre/post race games and challenges were entertaining too.
Leading up to the race the communication was a little sparse, with the runners packet going out less than 48 hours before race time. This wasn’t a huge deal but I always appreciate getting the information a little earlier. The race venue was easy to find and parking was 10 dollars a car. Parking was “short” walk to registration. The race paperwork said that it was close enough to leave items in the car and walk back but personally it where I parked was further than I would want to trek to drop stuff off and pick stuff up. Registration took place inside a nice warm building. Registration was quick with a separate line to pay for multiple laps. There was some confusion over the cost of multiple laps at first but it was quickly resolved and we were on our way.
The festival area had access to a nice building, outdoors there was the boldrdash gear for sale, a pull up bar and some other games to play. This event was “untimed” but they did keeps some basic generalized timing at a table at the finish line to keep track of who was on course.
The course was BEAUTIFUL. The trails were great, some of the nicer trails I have run at these events. The obstacles were creative. I actually appreciated the fact that there was not a single wall in the entire race. The tire toss was something I was not excited about when I first heard about it but it was actually fun and didn’t cause the jam I thought it would. The teeter totter tunnels were a nice twist on that obstacles and even though I knew the switch was coming it took me by surprise every time. The course could have been a little better marked in a couple of places but overall, if you were paying attention, it was pretty easy to stay on course. Volunteers on the course were awesome, enthusiastic and helpful all day.
Multiple lap finishers were able to take medals for each lap finished which was a nice touch. The medals were fine, nothing super special, but definitely unique to the race. The shirt is black and has the Spahten logo on it for the biggest team.
My only complaint was that there was no food for sale on sight. There was a hot beverage truck that was gone by the time we were done but I would have loved to been able to grab some food and sit and hang out after running. Also, a few more port-a-potties would have been nice.
Overall a great day. I would definitely do another winter dash if it came around again next year and would DEFINITELY do another race at this venue if one ever goes back there.
This race is fun. And Challenging. And more fun. Consider this: 380ft water slide down a ski hill. Drainage pipes suspended over the ground to crawl through. Lots of walls. Lots of running. A sack hop. A swinging balance beam. And… some mud. This race is just a fun, local good time waiting for you. I really enjoyed this race – I feel that experiencing a local race on a local ski hill with good beer and friends is just a great way to go. This race was challenging – it has so much of everything and I can not name all the obstacles here – surprisingly I had race withdrawal in the days following this course. Lynn, the RD and owner, has been receptive to me and my feedback. When I have made suggestion she and her team have listened. I find that for a local race this is a GREAT one for the value and I will continue to make this a part of my calendar. Give this one, or Boldr on the beach a try – they always have something fun and unique to look forward to!