The Great Inflatable Race

1 thought on “The Great Inflatable Race”

  1. Amber

    I discovered this race when I could not make Insane Inflatable thanks to good ole facebook suggestions. I wanted to sign up for it with my daughter. Only requirement 42″ or taller, which she met.

    The website has tons of info – pictures, event details – I really liked that.

    I found a groupon which saved us a ton on registration which was cool since I registered kind of last minute.

    They prefer guests pick up race packets the day before – but being an hour away wasn’t feasible so we had to pay an extra $5/person to pick of day of. Interesting tactic…I just wish they had alternate options for it because driving an hour to get a packet wouldn’t work for me – I wouldn’t have minded paying to have it mailed though.

    The pre-event emails included lots of info and arrived plenty early.

    I had never been to Rentshler field before. Directions were easy, but they could have used a marker at the entrance to advertise. Found it okay and parked at 8 am for our 9 am heat. Got our bibs very quickly and you get a free cotton tee, runner bracelet, and tattoo. My kiddo loved it. No bibs, but color coded bracelets instead to mark your wave time.

    There were full facilities bathroom wise at the stadium which was awesome.

    People started lining up at the start around 830. We got in around 840. At 9 the announced they were waiting for the final okay from the fire marshall. It was reallt tough to head the emcee but info made its way down. The line was getting pretty long.

    Finally started at 915. They only allow 4 to start at a time in lanes for the obstacles and stagger it for safety. Great to see, but made for a long wait (by the time we finished, line was crazy long for later heats). I think we started around 930ish.

    Originally the emails said no water stops, but due to the crazy heat they added one halfway and also had fireman on scene who opened a hydrant and made a sprinkler to run through – great call there and nice to see.

    The total distance was just shy of 2.5 miles. Some of the inflatablea were harder than I expected, but none were overly challenging. The initial staggering helped prevent backups at any other obstacles. And honestly, this race was super fun. I had a blast, my daughter LOVED it.

    No finisher medals. No timing. Just pure for fun event. I wish it hadn’t been so hot – we probably would have done some things more than once.

    The event area to me was nothing exciting, but my daughter loved the ball crossing. For $5 you got unlimited tries to cross the wipe out style obstacle. She did it numerous times until she got it. Loved seeing her determination!

    They had a couple food vendors – Bears bbq truck and an italian ice cart I remember. We were wiped out from.the heat and left though without eating.

    I would say other than the initial delay this ran very smoothly. They did a great job monitoring for safety. Given the extreme heat wish they had tents in the festival area, but they did add misters and the water station. I also wish they had a medal (both of us are bling crazy) – I would pay extra.

    I would definitely do this race again. Just keep in mind, it is totally for fun and family friendly. Not competitive by any means. Go let your inner child out for a day. 😉

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