3 thoughts on “ROC Race”

  1. Googs

    My first ROC race, the race itself was really fun, I do agree that there isn’t too much as far as venues or shade, but really my friend and I were excited just to run through. She had a blast and our friends who also came to support us are now going to do it next year 🙂

  2. mikedlif@gmail.com

    Dont let some of my low numbers fool you. The race itself is very fun but its a lot of the other things that kinda chip away at the numbers. To start the festival is non existent, there are a few sparce vendors but i think i could count them on one hand and this takes place in the parking lot ACROSS from the stadium and they provide zero shade and there are no tents set up for people to get out of the sun so this in itself almost forces people to show up right before the heat time run and leave right afterwards. i ran at 8am and was in my car heading out by 9:05 . Granted if you run later in the day Patriot place is open and you can go there to hang out before and afterwards.

    One of my largest gripes since 2014 with this race is they charge you $5.00 to pick up your ” bib” and shirt the day of the race and the only option for pre pick up is at the staduim the day before, as most of you know getting south of the town on a friday is a large task . the only saving grace is they dont charge for bag check although the bag check is just you dropping your bag in a semi fenced in area in the parking lot.

    the course itself is the same exact path they have used the 2 previous years with very similar obstacle placement. they claim 4 obstacles were upgraded but i did not see any change or upgrade in them. they added 2 new obstacles for 2016. barrel bounce – this is bassicly a bouncy house version of the spartan mllitary hurdles we used to see in stadiums and leap of faith a 10ft high inflatable version of the leap from tough mudder and superhero scramble, they also had a slide for people who got to the top but opted out of the jump. there were 3 obstacles i feel like they made hidden changes but not for the better cool runnings, the hippo and foam of fury i feel they changed the surface of the obstacle and really slowed down the speeds you would him and most people could not make it to the end of the obstacles and would stall out.

    One interesting change was they do not give you a bib they give you a wrist worn RFID chip that when you get to certan obstacles there is a yellow RFID receiver and you tap the box and it time stamps your photos for you. its a great idea and for races like this but its not practical for someone like spartan or tough mudder. but MAJOR loss of points for not including any free photos in the rather high registration fees. This year they offered a medal automatically ( in 2015 it was a extra $30 something for a medal, a headband and tee shirt)

    overall this is a fun race as long as you can get in for about $60.00 but over that you may feel shortchanged

  3. Ann

    This is the second time I’ve done ROC (Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge) Race. To start, the race itself is a blast – water slides, bouncy houses, and some Wipeout-inspired obstacles. New this year was a jump onto a crash pad which was scary but fun. We got the first wave of the day and had no delays at all after the first obstacle, and even that was just waiting for a couple people to get over the wall. The course was around 2.75 miles and the obstacles were spaced out well – never too much running between them.

    New this year they went to an RF wristband instead of bibs. Each obstacle with a photographer had a little box at the top to put the wristband against to record what time you were there. The system worked absolutely perfectly – I clicked the link for pictures they mailed out and everything was right there. No searching around at all.

    Outside of the race there are unfortunately still a lot of issues. They did include medals this year instead of offering to sell them to you after the race like last year, which was a nice improvement. There’s a fee for packet pickup unless you go down to Gillette the night before, but there’s no charge for parking or bag check so the fees kind of even out. They also still charge for pictures. And the festival area is not great – it has all the necessities but nothing else. And there was a strange lack of trash cans.

    I had a lot of fun at ROC Race – it’s a super fun, beginner friendly race. I just wish they would get rid of the extra charges for things that most other races give you for free.

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