If you are reading this post, it’s likely you race. A lot. Keeping track of all these races can be a bit of work. Figuring out when you’re racing, where, and what weekends are free (so that you can sign-up for more races) requires some logistics. Yes, you can use your Google Calendar, but it’s kind of a hassle to organize everything so that you can query for all your races at once. Plus, how do you know where your friends are going to be?
Enter OCR Buddy, an app designed for tracking and organizing your race schedule, plus it lets you know which of your friends will be at whichever race you’re planning to attend. For $1.99, it’s a must for any racer serious about organizing their race season.
OCR Buddy fulfills two main functions — it’s a personal race calendar, and it’s a database. When you open up the OCR Buddy app, the home screen gives you a sense of the primary functions of the app. There are areas for finding an event and then a “My Events” area for viewing the races you’ve RSVPed as attending. The app features social aspects as well. You can join a team (i.e. NE Spahtens) and then see the members of the team for easy friending. You can also view a list of your friends under the “My Buddies” tab.
Have a free weekend and want to know what events are available? Here’s where the race database in OCR Buddy can be an asset. Click, “Find an Event” and you’re off and running. You can browse through the dates or search based on specific criteria. Select a date and all the available races are displayed at the bottom of the screen. You can scroll through them or just click on a dot to skip to a specific event. Races that your buddies are attended are highlighted with a heart to allow you to give them priority. If browsing isn’t your thing, you can search events by brand, country, region, state, length, and other criteria. If the race you are looking for isn’t listed, you can add it, thus making it available on the calendar for all other OCR Buddy users.
Once you click on a race, you get to view more detail about the event, including discount codes and a link for registration. There is even a space to add notes. As a bit of a futurist, I love that the app includes a countdown tracker at the bottom of each event. (21 days until Shale Hill’s Polar Bear Challenge — yay!)
Hands down my favorite part of OCR Buddy is the “My Events” section. This is where you can see all the races that you’ve RSVPed for in the app. When I’m thinking about signing up for a new race I like to take into account not just what weekends are free on my personal calendar but the time between races, as I’m not keen to travel too many weekends in a row. Having all my races listed together in an easy-to-view format is a great way to plan for any additional races and to figure out my key races so as to sync my training schedule.
OCR Buddy just received an award from the 2016 Best of OCR: Runner Up in the category of 2016 Best New Product. The award is well-deserved. For $1.99, why haven’t you downloaded OCR Buddy yet?
