From: Nicole Landry
Review: This is the first app of it’s kind that I’ve seen, where I can keep all of my races in one place! I have an iPhone, so I can only speak to the functionality of the app on apple devices. Previously, I have kept multiple versions of my race schedule throughout the year: excel spreadsheets, day planner, google calendar on my phone, iCalendar, a white board…and invariably, I double book at least one thing every month. It’s a pain, and too time consuming to keep cross-referencing every place I keep my schedule.
With OCR Buddy, I can log in, hit “My Events,” and it gives me the list of every race I am planning to do. It also stores the races you have done in the past. When you search the calendar for events, you can click on an event, see if any of your “buddies” (they have to be using the app, as well) are attending, and you can either click “attending” if you have registered, or know you are going to register; or, you can click “interested” so it adds it to your event list.
Each event that you add to your list has a section for notes, so you can add whether or not you have paid the reg fee (or any other info you want to add).
When an event is finished, there is also a place for you to add your finishing time. This makes it easier to go back and compare finishing times, if that’s your thing.
The app itself is really easy to use. You can update your profile with a pic, your regional information, the teams you are on, and your social media “names.” The profile page shows you how many buddies you have and how many races you are attending.
If you’re looking for an event, there are events listed throughout 2017 already (as of this review, there are 911 upcoming races). If there is an event you are going to that isn’t listed, you have the ability to add it, and the moderator will review and add it to the calendar. I’ve actually expanded my race calendar from just looking through the published events and finding races that I wouldn’t have originally planned on running. And the events are nationwide, and international..on vacation and need a race fix? Look at the calendar and find one in the area you’re vacationing in. 🙂
The app also has filters, so you can narrow down your search by only your events, events your buddies are attending; race brand, country (currently US, UK, Canada, and Australia), region, state, length of race, whether or not you’ll get dirty, and whether or not you’ll get swag.
Under the settings tab, you can find a FAQ on the app. It tells you everything you need to know to use the app. It has a clickable menu, or you can scroll through the whole FAQ (which I recommend, there are a few tidbits in there that I didn’t know!). It’s not overly verbose, and it doesn’t miss any of the points you may be looking for.
The only thing the app is currently missing is the ability to export to your daily calendar on your phone. I hear they’re working on it, though. I’ll be very excited when that happens. One less cross-reference to worry about!
The best thing about the app, is I can literally just tell someone to hold on a second when they ask if I’m free to do something, and I can look at my events and give them an answer right away. Before I had to say…Oh let me go home and check my race schedule. Pretty cool.
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The OCR Buddy app allows you to search and track obstacle course races. Once purchased, a simple click retrieves hundreds obstacle course race options around the world (US, UK, Australia, Canada) with more added continuously.
Prior to this app my race tracking consisted of emails, a scratch sheet on paper, notes in a phone calendar, Facebook events, etc. None of this made it easy to keep track of what was coming up or if I had registered. It certainly did not tell me if my buddies were going to be racing that day too. The OCR Buddy app is simple to use. Should you require more assistance there is a FAQ page found on the Settings page or you can join the Facebook group OCR Buddy Community Support.
OCR Buddy options will to make your ocr life easier:
Find an Event: Click the button and a calendar appears. There are stars to indicate events on the day and hearts to indicate buddies are attending the race. Orange stars indicate you are attending the event. With races listed from around the world, a specific date may have 20 races listed. The Filters option helps eliminate and hone in on exactly your race needs: Brand, Location, Length, Dirty, Swag, etc. Note that the filters must be cleared because they do not automatically reset (at this time). This may cause you some confusion the next time you use the app later and cannot figure out why only your home state races are showing when you are looking for something in another country.
When you click on an event in the calendar view, you see the event details. The race brand’s website link is included on this page. You have the option to select attending, maybe, or not. The countdown to event day is on this page too which is a great reminder when you know your training needs a boost. You will be able to see the list of OCR Buddy users and your personal buddies attending from this page. The Your Notes feature is a great place to add important reminders to yourself such as “registered, multi lap.” There is a place for discount codes here which would be added using the edit button. Definitely something to check prior to registering for the race.
My Events surpasses the calendar view as a quick reference list sorted by date. This also has a past events feature. This helpful recalling races previously run. You can edit your notes to add post race comments to give you the advantage the following year (best deal on price, more fuel, which shoe worked on the terrain). You can also enter your results here so you know what you will need to PR next time.
OCR Buddy is your best enabler. You could spend hours searching the web for obstacle course races, but why bother? Russ Blatt has done it for you. If you happen to find one that does not exist on OCR Buddy, you simply add it, and in short time it will appear.
I use this on an Android phone and have not had any issues thus far. OCR Buddy went live in November 2016. It is an exceptional tool for $1.99.