Savage Games is a new, monthly competition being held at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville, MA. This two hour event has a ton of obstacles, and a competitive format – that covers everything from walls, to parkour to ninja warrior – and a ton of “in between” stuff too. In it’s last couple of months it’s already become a huge hit with members of the New England Spahtens – so we wanted to gather some reviews and feedback from people who’ve been – and why you should check them out!
From Stephen Rodericks
Last year spartan race had three free workouts, the second and third ones were held at Brooklyn Boulders in Somerville . This is a pretty cool rock climbing gym. they are pretty close, not far off of the pike, and there is a free parking lot around the corner from there (20 dane st) it is about a three minute walk, but get there early so you do not miss a spot, the lot is not that big. pretty recently they have started a new monthly event, taking place the first Saturday of every month. I just did the March one and it was a blast! You register online up to the day before, and it is 25 dollars, at the facility it is 30 dollars, then do the typical wavers and check in. The event goes from 8am to 10am, and they run down what obstacles they have, how to do them, and explaining the point system. they have volunteer counting points, and give out a prize for first place. You compete in teams of four, as best as can be accommodated, and you choose your teams when you get there. Us Spahtens had 10 people so we were the only two groups that had 5 people, so they scaled our points down 20% to make things even with everybody else. There were close to 30 stations (obstacles) and they had different influences, some were parkour, some were ninja warrior, and some were ocr.
some of the obstacles were:
Ninja warrior walls (4 hanging walls with grips near the top and you have to transfer to all 4)
Cargo Net Climb
Short walls (run down and back going over 3 foot walls)
Getting your team up on a small platform without touching the ground
Parkour monkey bars (it had a pipe traverse and monkey bars and such, no touching the ground)
Parkour wall set up (going over various heights of walls)
Balance beam type metal contraption
Tire Hoist
Tire Flips
Handstand (free standing got 1 point, against a wall for 30 seconds equaled a point)
Yoga block pass (lying on your back, gripping with your feet pass end to end each round to the start is a point, and this was for all 4 people)
Rope Climb (knotted and no knots)
Rings (spaced far apart, and kind of high off the ground maybe 6/8 total)
Buddy Carry
2 person Heavy Carry (100 lb dumbbell)
Hop up stairs, bear crawl down
Selfie Station (with funky wigs and costume pieces)
Up a rock climbing wall
Spear throw
Broad jump
ninja warrior short leaping walls (usually seen at the beginning of the first level, but smaller)
Traverse Rope
Salmon LadderI am Sure I am missing some of obstacles, but you get the idea, loads of fun! they are still early on in creating this kind of an event, and they are making changes from previous ones from what i heard. But it was so much fun, and for me it is much closer than it would be to go to an ocr, and much cheaper, and you can meet new like minded people there. I forgot to mention that each station you only get 3 rounds to get as many points as you can. They encouraged you to help out your teammates as needed, and explained what you could do and what was against the rules. Overall it was a very fun, and well pit together event, full of a unique mixture of fun and challenging physical activities, one that i have not seen elsewhere. If you ever find that you do not have a race to go to on the first Saturday of the month, as long as this is going on you should give it a shot, i know ill be going back next month. My team came in third, and we had such a blast, laughing the whole time, and still challenging ourselves. That is also a part of the appeal of this event, The woman that was explaining to us all what we were doing was wearing a funky plastic tube wig on her head that lit up. So think Goofy, Challenging, Parkour, Ninja Warrior, OCR, and an A.M.R.A.P. style workout/challenge and you have a fairly accurate summery of Savage Games. And it is worth it to check it out.
From Marc Ford
* Event Details
savage games is held at Brooklyn Boulders, a rock climbing facility, in Somerville. Parking is limited. The facility is primarily for rock climbing, but has taken on several other avenues, such as parkour, obstacle course and American ninja.* Race Details
They created an intense competition that incorporates them all. The event starts at 8am with some announcements, warm up and a run through of the stations. You compete in teams of 4 and go in order through the several challenging station non stop for 3 minutes per station accumulating points. The stations include traverse ropes, cargo nets, monkey bars, wall climb, rope climbs, tire flips, carrying weight, tire pulls, bear crawls, balance beams, buddy carries, salmon ladder, over under areas, core and even a selfie component. The pace is intense, the music is booming and the energy is electric. The winning team gets an event tshirt and a prize that can range from an OCR entrance up to a month of free classes at Brooklyn Boulders. The obstacles are challenging and you can typically get assistance.* Rating
Excellent
From Nele Schulze
* Event Details
Parking is a slight hassle because you have to park about a 1-2 min walk from the venue. Not a huge deal, just unexpected. The facilities were GREAT. They have a coffee shop, lots of climbing facilities, loads of water fountains etc. No schwag unless you win (or purchase)* Race Details
2 hours broken down into 3 mins on each obstacle with 1 min to transition to each area. The obstacles were very good ranging from rock climbing, body weight exercises, obstacles, ninja warrior style obstacles, and parkour obstacles. Some obstacles were easy (eg selfie station) and others were pretty darn tough (eg salmon ladder). There was about 25 different obstacles to move through during the 2 hours.* Rating
Excellent
