6 thoughts on “Warrior Dash”

  1. jmegillon149

    This was my first Warrior Dash, but 20th OCR, I ran both a Competitive and Morning Heat

    Communication: The sent clear emails beforehand, no issues there.

    Venue & Festival: Free Parking, and a huge festival were hard to beat – it would have been nice if they arranged the course and festival area so that specators could see more of the action – in particular, some of the signature obstacles. My mom came to watch me race, and it was a waste for her, because all she really saw was my start and finish.

    Course & Obstacles: It started out on the speedway itself, looped onto the infield, and then out onto a grassy field at about the first mile. Outside of jumping two jersey barriers, the first full mile had no other obstacles, and relatively un-interesting terrain. This was a huge area of complaint – though in later waves, it served the purpose of spreading the crowd – seems like one simple, yet significant obstacle could have been put in – maybe bridge the gap. It was definitely fast moving as I kept up a pace as fast as I road race for the first mile.

    After that first mile, there was an obstacle every quarter mile or so, some fun ones. Two of them – Fisherman’s Catch (multi rig over cargo) and Pallet Jacked (hanging platform balance) were actually technically tougher than expected for the beginner race, (I failed the former my first try) while a third – pipeline (cargo tunnel) was easy to compete, but could really slow you down, which made it a challenge, especially if you were pushing yourself.

    Otherwise, standard stuff, mud crawls, slip wall, cargo climb to slide. I did two laps with no back ups at all – which is great.

    I had been under the impression that the first heat was timed and ranked, it really wasn’t. The top 3 men & women to cross the finish line qualify to the OCR World & US Pro Wave, 4-7 to Age Groups. Beyond that, no track was kept – I could have been 14th, I could have been 50th, I honestly don’t know.

    Swag and Awards: Wooden cube medal, nice shirt and fuzzy helmet were all great and unique – great job there.

    Overall: It didn’t blow me away, but it was fun enough for me to pay the reasonable $20 and go again, since I was there anyway. If you haven’t done it, it is fun and great for beginners. If timing is right, I’d do it again, but its not a priority race by any means.

  2. Googs

    This was my first obstacle race and I have to say it is definitely a fantastic beginner race. Gives you a chance to experience a challenge without. This race got me hooked on the obstacle mud runs 🙂

  3. Amber

    This is a nice beginner race without any difficult obstacles. Be prepared to get muddy.

    Nice medal and swag.

  4. Huskieholic

    Pro: Great beginner race! It was a lot of fun and the obstacles were good for anyone. It’s not timed so there is no pressure to get to the finish line (which will be in the con section). This was a nice in between race prior to Barre Sprint which is on the horizon. Transportation was quick and easy, they had good direction and it was organized nicely. The layout of the venue was nice but I agree with Carlos that the showers could have been placed better. The race/ trails were nice and felt like an afternoon hike.

    Cons: If you have been to a spartan race, you do expect a little teamwork and friendliness and that was lacking. When we were at the start line we had to walk the first 0.5 miles because there was such a bottle neck. Luckily for us, there was a stream and we just ran through it and the got us ahead of the pack. They also placed the changing rooms on a hill which made it extremely difficult to change. The porto-potties also had NO toilet paper at 1pm which was frustrating. They closed the slide because apparently three people already were hurt in the morning due to the location of the incline. Although participants were not spartan like, we were and thats all that matters.

    Overall, I really enjoyed the race and the beer (which is huge for me because I am not a drinker). I wish they had better signage for the bag check because it was a little confusing. It was weird because I could get my hat and shirt because I even put my bib on. By the time we finished it was clearing out (2:30p) and there was no more muscle milk and I had to get my medal off of a table. I wish there was a photographer at the finish line because it would have been nice but we were able to go elsewhere to get a group shot.

  5. Carlos

    Pro: this a good race for beginners and people who want to run inbetween serious races. I’ve never done a WD before, but was told it was cake walk, they weren’t kidding. Parking was onsite, but included in your registration fee. Registration was quick and easy, I changed my time and bought a second lap. FYI, they didn’t check bibs at the start line and you didn’t have to buy a second lap, you could’ve just walked back to the start line for the next wave. The obstacles are very easy if you’ve ever done any other OCR.

    Cons: little disorganized, my biggest pet peeve was they didn’t have the rinse off area near the changing area. You had to walk out of the festival area to the rinse off area, then back to the changing tent. The festival area itself was pretty cramped, one line for food or beer spilled over into the next one. Another thing I spoke to a teammate about was there was no helping each other. A guy rolled his ankle and everyone ran buy. 3 of us stopped and helped him through half a lap until his friends caught up to us. On the second lap, a kid was having trouble with the rope wall, he couldn’t get his feet under him, so a Spahten asked to cut in front of a woman to go help the kid, but was told no. There was no Spartan mentality where you help someone who is struggling.

    Overall, I think it’s a nice race, I wouldn’t spend $79 plus all the fees they throw on it. If I can get it for $39 like they offered on Black Friday like they did last year, then I’d do it again. It’s a good little race to do to stay active on “rest” weeks from Spartan or #racelocal events.

  6. Ann

    This was my second time doing a Warrior Dash. It’s a short but fun course that is excellent for getting people out there to try an OCR.

    Venue and Festival: The event was held at the Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. Parking was onsite and free. Everything in the festival area was well marked. Registration was quick, as was signing up for additional laps. My friends also had no trouble changing their wave times to run as a group (though it turned out that they weren’t doing any checks at the starting gate). Bag check was also free, though I was a bit unhappy to see that later in the day they seemed to have given up checking numbers.

    Course and Obstacles: There were I believe eleven obstacles over about 2.75 mlles – using their official names: under the wire, warrior summit, trenches, mud mounds, shocktop unfiltered, fisherman’s catch, risky business, goliath, muddy mayhem, warrior roast, and pipeline. I’m guessing that due to the chilly temperatures, mud mounds was not filled with water. All of the other water obstacles were in the last half of the course which was nice.

    I ran two laps – the first on my own and the second with a group from my gym, including many OCR newbies. The lap I ran on my own was good – nothing super challenging but a fun little race – but doing the course with so many people who never thought they would be doing something like this was where the event really shined. The obstacles are a great combination of being doable by most people but still feeling like an accomplishment.

    Swag and awards: T-shirt, fuzzy helmet, beer, and a really cool medal.

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