BoldrDash – 2014

* From: Rob Gagnon
* Event: Boulder Dash
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
Parking was easy, close and FREE! Vendors were available and relevant to the event and lifestyle. Medal and shirt were nice.

* Race Details
So this race was interesting on a few levels.
1st, Location. It was beautiful, very scenic!

2nd No mud at all however there was plenty of natural difficulties.

3rd. The difficulty of the event (in my opinion) was certainly above average. This was due to a few factors: The soft sand made it very challenging to run on. There was a fair amount of rocks of all sizes to run over, some of them being the baseball size variety making it VERY important to pay attention to what you were doing so as not to roll your ankle. Frankly, I’d be quite surprised if there were no rolled ankles today. The obstacles: while there were the usual walls to climb, and a tunnel or two to crawl through, there were some unique and challenging obstacles too such as: a suspended balance beam, which was pretty difficult to do. There was a couple inverted walls with no mid level cleats which meant it was pretty much a muscle up kind of deal (I’m sure this was pretty difficult for many). There was a water bucket carry that was difficult (3 trips to and from the water). There were some large height tire hurdles that were difficult to navigate. The over unders
… This for me was THE most brutal. There seemed to be 100 of them AND to make it extra sucky, they had us carry weighted buoys through them. For me, the even worse part was the fact that I was super sweaty by the time I got there and got totally covered in soft beach sand which left me unable to touch my face the rest of the race. This was awful for me as the sweat burned my eyes the rest of the race (well played boulder dash, well played). There was also a neat little fixed balance beam which you had to carry a slosh pipe across making it more difficult although it was pretty easy (I thought) all in all. Tire climb wall was also unique and fun.

4th Now for the bad stuff. Unfortunately there was a decent amount of what I perceived to be disorganization. First at the check in the people running it said it didn’t start till 8am yet we were told in the news letter to show up 1.5hrs before wave start to check in. They then told the 9am wave folks to enter the starting gate and the folks checking bands didnt realize what color bands they were looking for (obviously not properly informed with a pre-race meeting). After we were all in the starting gate, we were told to leave the starting gate and go get a rock, then come back in again. Just confusing and avoidable, but not a huge deal. There were not nearly enough water buckets available for the water carry and a good size bottle neck formed. The course was not super well marked in spots which led to confusion for many runners including the top 2 who ended up mysteriously finishing 5-6 minutes ahead of everyone else when all were only 30 seconds apart 1/2 way throug
h. It seems that they unfortunately inadvertently took a wrong turn and cut about 1/2 mile out of the race which is a big deal nearing the end of an OCR when the pack was otherwise tight. To me, although unfortunate this should have resulted in a DQ for the 1 & 2 finishers, which is unfortunate. There were a couple spots along the boardwalk in the last half that left me literally yelling “where do I go”. There was some disorganization between placement of vendors by placing a similar vendors side by side. The problem was that one was giving product away free and the other for money. Obviously this could hurt the one who’s charging money and probably paid to be there so it was understandable they were upset. We pitched in and helped to move the “free” vendor to another location.

Other than the negatives mentioned above, it was a difficult race, held in a beautiful location with great competition for athletes. Had the majority of the negatives not happened, this would have been a top notch, fantastic event! However, since there were so many negatives with some of them being pretty significant, I rated this as an “average” race.

* Rating
Average

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* From: Aaron Farb
* Event: Boldr Dash
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
Naragannset is quite a hike for many of the Spahtens coming from Massachusetts and further north, but a rewarding day for those of us who made the trip. Venue was very easy to find and lots of FREE parking – even an extra lot which was barely used across the street. Parking was close to the venue, right on the side of the course – can’t ask for better! Very scenic venue as well – can never fault a run on and along the beach on a beautiful day. Facilities were nice – preexisting structures to use for the key check and for food service, seemed to be a good amount of porta-potties, the inevitable line developing at times, but always quick moving. It is nice to be in an existing park rather than general field/parking lot with existing buildings/shade and lots of benches scattered about. Spahtens set up a meet area just off the start line, so easy to find us as usual. Lots of different vendors on site, from massage services to wreck bags, honestly didn’t get much of a chanc
e to check out all of them due to time constraints.
A few bad things with the venue: Walking from the parking lot to the check-in was a bit confusing as there was little signage to signify where the actual bibs were – I ended up waiting in the t-shirt/key check line for a bit before being directed around the building to the actual bibs. There is another issue – in order to get your bib, wave wrist band and t-shirt required waiting in 3 different lines on 2 different sides of the building. Why not 1 line for everything, or at least bands given out at the same place as bib packets? Seemed like a lot of extra un-needed confusion. The only other issue with facility was simply in some course layout – the course crossed the only path that could be used for getting from parking lots to check-in and fest area, again, some extra confusion perhaps not necessary?

* Race Details
The course was very fun and much more challenging than a pretty flat course would seem to be. Great use of existing natural obstacles of soft sand and lots of boulder/rock running. Starting the elite wave (a first for me!) was a bit challenging as the PA system was having issues, which was fixed in later waves, and once it was sorted out that we were to be carrying rocks the length of the field to start the day, we were off. Soft sand is much more difficult to run in than I remember, good job putting lots of obstacles on it and not the hard pack low tide areas! A fun and very 3rd grade field day reminiscent potato sack hop started us out on the beach, and then onto the bucket brigade – grab a bucket from the sea wall, run into surf, fill it up, jump up on sea wall & empty in the large tubs, then repeat for total of 3 trips. This was challenging, in part because there were way too few buckets, even on the elite wave – later waves had even bigger backups. The other issue w
ith this obstacle was simply placement, in later waves, this was where the runners coming back towards fest area met the outgoing course closely & wasn’t well marked. If not for volunteers yelling, not much to figure out where to go.
After this area, onto running along the jetty and rocks – very challenging and fun, just had to watch your step on any of the smaller rocks – they varied from softball sized to bigger than vw’s! A little trail running after a steeper climb on solid rock, and back onto the soft sand for a few different obstacles – some very large tire pullovers and followed by balance beams suspending by chains, leaving them to swing and move all over. Great obstacles, but only 2 lanes on any of them – no issues that I saw for elites, but later waves definitely had long delays. Some walls in there as well, a fun chain ladder to go up & down and then interminable sets of over under walls (seriously, must have been 8 or 10 of each!) all while carrying a buoy filled with 35lbs of water. The best and worst part of this was I was nicely sweaty, and now crawling thru soft sand, then carrying a sandy buoy over them. Shortly after this was back onto the fest area (even found a Red Bull girl giv
ing out free samples on the way – mid race pick me up!) and up a tall tire/wall climb, a cargo net climb/roll and a balance beam while carrying a sloshpipe – took me 2 tries and busting my shin to make it. Boldr also did a good take on the air loops from Ruckus, using tires in place of the loops, difficult but fun, and onto the finish line!
Overall, the course was great as a challenge, but needed better marking for sure. One of the big positives I saw were some of the volunteers – a core of ROTC cadets were working and they were great – praising, pushing, cajoling and just being a different kind of encouragement I haven’t experienced since the first Ruckus where the actual Army ROTC members were at obstacles to help. The issues I experienced were all fixable – better markings, easier check in procedures, and either more lanes at obstacles that might require finesses/time or make waves smaller & send them out more frequently. Fix these things, we could have a very excellent race! Overall rating: B-

* Rating
Above Average

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* From: michael downey
* Event: boldrdash on the beach
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
parking for the event was easy and onsite and FREE always a plus, there were a few vendors onsite scattered through out the finish line area wreck bags was one of them and i used the chance to pick myself up a 25lb bag it looks like they were giving away zico coconut water at the finish line but by the time i got there they were already gone ( fine by me i am more a fan of vitacoco). one thing i noticed were trash barrels were very hard to find on site and by mid afternoon the few you could find were way over filled and making a nasty mess.

* Race Details
this course was deceivingly tricky and in a good way, when you got there you looked around and it was for the most part flat so you were thinking this will be a quickie, but what you couldn’t see was the id have to guess .5 mile secion of sea boulders and concrete sidewalks the sea was destroying that you have to navigate through and that alone was a calf and ankle burner. the race started off with a quick down and back run with a rock you then dropped down into the beach and started towards the first obstacle a VERY large wreck bag carry i am guessing in the neighborhood of 100lbs, then a potato sack hop, then to the first obstacle that was causing a log jam the water bucket carry where we had to take a bucket go to the ocean fill it bring it back 3 times, by the time i made it here i was at the back of the pack for the heat so by that time they were backed up bad and cut it to 2 laps sadly this was really the only time you got to interact with the ocean. i would love to see
more done with the ocean next time but i know that can be tricky with dealing with tieds, weather and marking. next was the long trek through the rocks and that ended with having to scale a steep lil rock face. there was a bit of trail running that brought us back on to the beach for a 8ft wall then a few walls with tires on them that you had to get over and the tires would spin a bit making it trickier. 2 swaying balance beams followed up by a tube crawl then they had over under with a twist you had to carry a 35lb water filled booey the entire way and that lil extra really wore you down. the last section brought you up into the field where you had a 20ft wall climb with tires on the up side and wood steps on the down side, then a 20 ft A frame to climb over, a cargo net structure, balance beam with slosh pipe and the last was a tire swing you had to go from tire to tire and then the finish. overall a very sold local race and i plan to do it do it again next year

* Rating
Above Average

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* From: Jessica Wohlen
* Event: Bold R Dash on the Beach 2014
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
The event site was great!
Free, and plentiful, parking – we arrived early and locked in a parking spot close to where everything was going down.
Port-a-potties in reasonable areas – since the beach wasn’t fully open for the eps wason the on site facilities were not an option.
A spacious festival area – I saw WreckBags, Zico, but not much else beyond food items. Though I should mention I didn’t walk around in the festival area at the peak hours of activity.
Schwag consisted of bling and a Tshirt.

* Race Details
We arrived early and had to hunt down registration as there weren’t any signs to direct us where to go. It was fairly easy to find. Before checkin opened, there was confusion as to whether it opened at 7:30 or 8, but the process went smoothly once that was squared away. Upon receiving my packet, I walked around the building to find Tshirt pickup. There were signs but they weren’t really visible. I found myself fielding questions about registration and Tshirt pickup most of the morning from others.

Packets contained a bib and an ankle bracelet. These anklets were fastened with a strong Velcro and once attached I forgot it was there. This was much better than the chips that SR uses and I felt like it was on secure enough that had I taken to a sloppy mud pit, it would have stayed with me!

The course itself was great. Some fun and different obstacles. Balance beams secured by chains to make them wobbly. Rock Traverse. Buoy over and under. Tall walls, tire walls, chain walls, inverted walls. Tire swing traverse. Balance Beam while carrying a slosh pipe. You see where I am going! There wasn’t a lack of diversity, fun, and challenge.

There were many times I didn’t know exactly where to go and when there was a volunteer around to help, they weren’t always that helpful. For example, at the buoy over under, I had no idea there were different weighted buoy options. I chose the first one I saw, and later found out it was the smaller one. There were many times we would end up on the boardwalk only to literally switchback and head down a ramp to the beach and switchback again to either continue down the beach or perform an obstacle. When I returned to the field to hit the last of the walls, I had no idea where I was supposed to go, and it took 3 direction changes before I was finally on the correct path. (Granted, this can be attributed to race brain…but it happened, so full disclosure here folks!). Later on, I actually jumped in to help on course where there were no volunteers helping out at 2 relatively close obstacles.

I realize there seems to be a lot of negative, but really it’s not. From the beginning it felt like everything was disorganized behind the scenes. I’m not sure what was going on, but it certainly didn’t feel like this was an event that had happened before. It was my first time running a Bold R Dash, and all things considered the event was great. I will definitely be signing up for future events, and I know next one will be more on par with what we’ve come to expect from our veteran RDs.

* Rating
Average

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* From: Leo Nevar
* Event: Boldr Dash on the Beach 2014
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
(+) The event couldn’t have been at a nicer venue: Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett, RI. The weather was phenomenal as well.
(+) The medal was pretty cool and different
(+) There was ample FREE parking but…
(-) …there was a good chance you were parked pretty far from registration/starting line, which also was not very clearly marked.
(-) The lack of a bag check (though known ahead of time) combined with the far away parking was the one hassle that I certainly could have done without.
(-) Vendors and post-race refreshments were sparse.
(-) There were no free shirts for late registrants. (also known ahead of time but a bit of a bummer)

* Race Details
(+) Amazing course and terrain: running on the beach, trail, rocks, water, sand, pavement, stairs, etc. was a real challenge and treat
(+) Obstacles were varied and fun, including a brutal stretch of 5-6 obstacles stacked up right at the end… love it when races do that!
(+) I would say the race was quite challenging (in a good way) with having to run 1/4 mile with a large rock right at the start and running on sand.
(-) Since we were right on the beach, I wish we got to go in the water more. (Probably a safety thing?) The only time in the water was knee level to fill buckets for the bucket carry.
(-) It was at times confusing where to go with some volunteers being clueless and also having to double back on the course a couple of times
(-) Due to this being a public state beach, there were spectators walking about in the middle of the course in places

In spite of the few issues, the amazing location and very fun course make this a “must do” on any OCR enthusiast’s race calendar.

* Rating
Above Average

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* From: Heather Gannoe
* Event: BoldrDash Beach
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
Parking: free!

Port-a-potties: plenty!

A few vendors selling various items gave a nice festival feel. We didn’t have time to check out the food, but I saw plenty of it available for purchase. No free beer at this race as it was a public, state park with strict “no alcohol” rules.

Schwag: If you signed up late like we did, you were charged $5 extra dollars for a shirt. They had women’s and men’s specific fits, which is nice, but had long run out of smalls and mediums for women by the time I got there, so I didn’t get a shirt and saved my $5. The finishers medal was race specific, so that was nice!

* Race Details
The good: the race itself was awesome. It could not have been a more beautiful day to run on the beach! The varying terrain of dry sand, wet sand, rocks, sea walls, and grass made for a fun challenge. The obstacles varied in difficulty…but most obstacles had options for both beginners and those who wanted an extra challenge. This was definitely a beginner friendly course with no penalties for skipped or missed obstacles, but still gave enough of a challenge to those who like to push ourselves. Many unique obstacles, like the over under walls with buoys, the bucket carry, and the balance beam on chains, were a fun surprise.

The bummer but possibly unavoidable: lines at obstacles. Some short, some significant (up to 10 minute wait!) . I chalk this up to the fact that there were a lot of first timers, and also that no one was enforcing wave start times.

The bad: utter chaos between racers and spectators, as there was zero separation of the course and the venue. This is dangerous for both racers and spectators a like. Course markings were confusing, there was a lot of backtracking, a lot of frantic volunteers trying to point you in the right direction. It would have been VERY easy to miss obstacles.

OVERALL: BoldrDash is a *great* race series and a lot of fun. I am going to chalk up the wait time, course markings, and spectator issues to the fact that this was the first time this race was held at this specific venue. I will absolutely return to a boldrdash race, with faith that the race directors will rectify the above issues.

For a more in depth review of my experience: http://relentlessforwardcommotion.com/2014/05/boldrdash-beach-review-recap/

* Rating
Average

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* From: Jeanine Peirce
* Event: Bold R Dash May 2014
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details

Schwag etc: Thank you to Bold R Dash for having a women’s cut T shirt. This means I will wear it out in public because it will be comfy. I LOVE getting a medal at races. I purchased a 50# Wreck Bag too.

* Race Details

This was my first beach OCR. I had no expectations, other than fun, going in. I left with a new appreciation of sand and will be sure to hit the beach more often on my morning runs. I’m getting to the point where I am ready to try a 2nd time around at many races. I felt good when I finished, but not ready to go back out–credit goes to the sand for tiring out my legs.

I was impressed with the variety of uses for tires. The tire swings were too much fun (as noted in numerous NE Spahten photos). The trio of tires to hop up and over on the beach was a greater challenge than I expected. The columns of stacked tires with wood on top to hop across was another interesting variation. I appreciate that Bold R Dash put tires to use rather than tossed in an ankle-twister pile as I have seen at many ocrs.

The balance beams took the boring aspect and threw it out the window. The one suspended by chains was quite the challenge to cross. The 2nd beam was set at an incline and required carrying a slosh pipe just to be sure it was no cake walk.

Possible improvements:

Place starter rocks at the entrance to the start line, not beyond it, outside the ropes.

The Wreck Bag 90lb with up to 4 people carrying it was under utilized. I hope that Bold R Dash extends the carry distance or requires it to be up on shoulders. (2nd race I’ve done that used Wreck Bags and yes, I bought a 50#).

The walls were all excellent. The taller walls would benefit from a step up for those of us not ready to elite-fly over. This would have prevented some of the back up seen at these, though it was not major.

The bucket carry did have a massive back up. Kudos to the volunteers recognizing this during the 11 a.m. heat and telling racers to take 2 trips rather than 3 because of delayed time. More buckets were needed as well as volunteers making sure the empty ones were being moved down to the waiting racers or require racers to hand them off to the waiting racers before leaving the obstacle. There was no mention of different size buckets and because of the chaos racers simply grabbed whatever was on the wall. This was also an issue at the over under walls with the weighted buoys all thrown together in one pile with no volunteer to explain.

The area along the beach walk/building was very confusing for racers. There were not enough volunteers to direct us and we were left standing or getting directions from spectators or visitors (they were bonus moving obstacles as it was a public walkway). There was a possible obstacle involving tires being pulled or flipped, but no volunteer to explain, so we moved on. There was a traverse-type wall that we had to hunt down a volunteer for and ask if it was an obstacle and what to do.

The finish line had no water available. The t-shirts were distributed over by the start line, but we figured that out much later.

I am giving Bold R Dash an above average rating because of the variety and ingenuity of their obstacles. The scenery and weather were bonuses for the day.

Special thanks to the NE Spahtens who helped fill up a giant trash bag provided by a volunteer with discarded bottles etc in the announcer/t-shirt area. Bold R Dash will need more trash cans next year to encourage racers leave no trace, better yet, leave race venues cleaner than when we came in.

* Rating
Above Average

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* From: Craig Ingram
* Event: BoldrDash Beach 2014
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
Parking was onsite and free! Can’t get much better than that. It was a little confusing to find registration and we ended up nearly walking through the course while the elites were running (and later while I was running I had three spectators walking along the course blocking the way), but not a huge deal.

Registration for me was quick and easy, with a fast moving line. I think the kids registration could have used another person helping out and handling pre-registered kids as unfortunately one volunteer was handling same day signups and pre-registered kids, which made the line backup a bit.

I love the t-shirt we got. They’re standard cotton tees with a really cool design front and back – I’ll definitely be wearing this one a lot. Our medal was great and the kids medal with the option to be a keychain was very cool and unique!

* Race Details
Kids Race:
My son has done several kids races – basically every event I do that has one, he does, as well as some kid-only events. He said this was by far the most challenging one for him! He loved it! The distance was great with plenty of volunteers at the obstacles helping guide them along. No real mud or water other than the soggy field, but he didn’t mind and neither did I, being the one who’d have to clean him up after. Being 8 he is really looking forward to hitting the longer course next year with the 9+ year olds and the bigger obstacles. There was a little confusion here as the e-mail stated “Kids under 8 MUST run with and adult” so I had planned on him running on his own, but was told it’s actually 8 and under when we got up to the start. Not a huge deal – I needed the warm-up jog anyway.

Course:
This was my first race in 2014, and I ran it with my father in law and brother in law, two OCR newbies who I was excited to introduce to the sport. I think it says a lot that they can’t wait to do another one based on their experience at BoldrDash.
Not that it was under anyone’s control but we really lucked out with the weather – a perfect, sunny, warm spring day and we were spending it at the beach!
This was a tough race for a 5k OCR. Running on the sand and the long trek across the rocks took a lot out of you before the obstacle heavy second half. There were 4 obstacles that I think were great ideas, but could have some improvement in execution, that I’ve seen other reviews mention too:
The sandbag carry – This was a giant Wreck Bag with four handles and you really needed at least one other person to help out (yay teamwork!). The group in front of us carried the sandbags down the beach and left them, and then we had to run down, bring them back, and run down the beach again – so half the people were doing a little more distance than the others. It seemed a little awkward. Everyone carrying them down and then back to the start would have made this a little clearer.
Water buckets – great obstacle! but the shortage on buckets caused a backup and for some of us to only do 2 trips instead of 3.
Tire swings – This was a lot of grin-inducing, groin pulling fun. But, it caused a bit of a backup. I heard some people say they had burpee’d out, and I might have as well if there was some direction on how many to do.
Going across the rocks – this was great! but more course markings would have made this even better.

Some of my favorite obstacles would have to be the seemingly never ending line of over/under walls with the water-filled buoy (my father in law’s favorite as well), the inverted wall, and both the suspended balance beam and slosh pipe balance beam were challenging and fun.

We ran the 11am heat and by the time we hit the finish line there was no water (coconut or regular) which really wasn’t great as I was kinda thirsty.

Overall this was a challenging and unique event that I would signup for again in a heartbeat. There were some logistical issues around a few obstacles and course markings (on the course and for the spectators) but those are far from deal breakers. While it’s not a new race series, this was a new venue, and there are always going to be things to work out. If you do an OCR and don’t have a backup at SOME obstacles – you must be running in an elite wave, because it’s otherwise it’s just going to happen. I can’t wait for BoldrDash Beach 2015!

* Rating
Above Average

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* From: Stephanie Santucci
* Event: Bold R Dash on the Beach 2014
* Date: 2014-05-03

* Event Details
– Love prerace bib pickup at REI. Easy. Plus makes it easier at express checkin.
– Parking for the event was great. . . it was easy to get in and it was FREE!
– Bought a burger before the race at the snack bar. It was yummy and reasonably priced. I wasn’t expecting to even have any food available, so I was pleasantly surprised.
– Never waited for a porta potty even with the prerace jitters.
– Love the new shirts for the adults and kids. Nice colors!
– The organization of the vendor tables could have been better laid out. People mentioned the availability pf coconut water and power bars, but I think I missed some of them. I wasn’t really looking for them, but they should be in a place where everyone can peruse. My son also loved his face painting and it lasted all day!
– Would have been nice to see the start and finish lines closer together. The distance and separation by a building make it difficult to cheer people to start the race, while cheering people to the finish line. This would have made for a better “party” atmosphere for the event. Bold R Dash at Yawgoo is a good example of how this should be done.
– Availability for spectator viewing was great. My husband and son could watch and cheer me on nearby many of the obstacles.
– I’ve read other reviews about spectators in the way of runners. I saw a lot of people scattered around, but not once did someone end up in my way. I ran the 12:00 heat so maybe that made a difference.

* Race Details
I ran the 12:00pm heat and did not have some of the issues that others have mentioned. This race was super hard, but super fun. . .just the way I like it.

Good:
– Running on the beach wasn’t as hard as I had heard it would be. Such a great day to be running the beach while the waves were rolling in. Mother nature was on our side.
– “Running” along the rocks was crazy challenging. Easy to roll an ankle there, but I survived. It seemed it would never end and then it finally did with a vertical natural rock wall to climb.
– Sturdy, well-built, and creative obstacles. It doesn’t get much better than these. Top notch obstacles!
– While I hated it while I was doing it, the over/under walls with the buoy was really a great obstacle. Super super hard, but provided the challenge!
– Love love the cargo net at the end. I prefer to roll across the top!
– Availability of water was good. I got regular water at the end. I only mentioned because some reviews mentioned it wasn’t there. Perhaps this got resolved mid race.
– I did not experience the obstacle backup (except bucket carry) as others mentioned. Again this was 12:00 heat so maybe that was the difference.

Not so good:
– Bucket carry didn’t go over so well. First we were told to do it twice, then only once because there was a huge back up. We were all begging for a bucket like sad puppies wanting a biscuit. That was the only hangup for my particular race and it was only a few minutes. I would have gone elite if I really was worried about this.
– sack race was fine, but by the time the 12:00 heat came around, I think we had like 15 feet to jump back and forth. I think it gradually got pushed down the course.
– I saw a tire pull thing but no one was doing it at 12:00. Perhaps it got pulled out during the day.
– Course markings could have been better, but I found my way in a few seconds. On and off the boardwalk is not recommended going forward. That’s where any confusion came in.

I will continue to race Bold R Dash and would recommend this to my friends!

* Rating
Above Average

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Name: Michael Carr

Event details (parking, facilities, vendors, schwag etc)
Parking: plenty, free, 2 minute walk to registration and starting line
Facilities: plenty of porta-potties, changing area, oh and miles of beautiful beach, $5 key check (incl. free BoldrDash car air freshener!)
Vendors: VitaCoco (free), Kind bars (free), Wreck Bags, several gyms, PT, and pre/post-race massage
Schwag: race medal, t-shirt (cotton, would have preferred a tech shirt, the cotton ones just sit in my drawer in the summer)

Race details (course, obstacles, difficulty etc)

Let me start this review by saying that of the 20-25 OCRs I have done, this may very well be the funnest I have ever done. My kids agree. It wasn’t the hardest I’ve ever done (Shale Hill), or the fastest (MuckFest), or the muddiest (SuperHero Scramble Amesbury 2013). But it was the best combination of all around hard work and good fun.

It started out with Lynn’s signature rock (“boulder”) carry down to a cone in a grassy field and back, drop the stone, and hit the beach. Smart runners stayed close to the water’s edge where the sand was firmer and faster. Immediately we were met with a series of obstacles in the sand: the potato sack hop (LOVE IT), the giant Wreck Bag carry, and then the water bucket carry. There was a bit of a wait for a free bucket, then it was three trips down to the surf to fill the bucket up and then carry it to te retaining wall and dump. Hard work! Then back to more beach running, a wall to climb, and then about a quarter-mile of tricky, technical rock hopping. Pay attention or twist an ankle. Then back towards the main area along a quiet nature reserve with a little mud. After that respite, back down to the beach, this time mainly in the sift sand which is very hard to run in. Immediately met with an 8′ wall, followed up by a clever suspended balance beam (new favorite obstacle), hung by chains. Then a pair of inverted walls, the 11′ wall (very hard), and the rib-breaking suspended truck tires (up and over!). The hardest obstacle was next, the dreaded over-and-under walls. First, grab a water-filled buoy (25# women, 35# men), and throw it over a 5′ wall. Then jump over. Next roll the buoy under the next wall and crawl under it. Repeat. Forever. Or twelve times. Then carry the stupid buoy back to the start of the stupid obstacle. And try to run again. To the chain ladder A-frame. Then finally on to the obstacle-filled main grassy area. Clearly arranged this way for maximum spectator bang-for-you-buck. There was the high tire wall, the cargo net structure (up, over, and down), the huge A-frame, the swinging tires, and the balance beams carrying a slosh pipe.

The race was very well broken up with obstacles. No boring stretches, no 20-minute death marches. The obstacles were well-thought out, well designed, and well constructed. People familiar with the Yawgoo event will recognize the craftsmanship. I will say that the Reservists that helped at Yawgoo were better than the team at this event.

So, like I said, this event was just plain ole’ fun. And lots of it. The race director is friendly and approachable, and a large portion of the proceeds benefits local RI charities. My only complaint about this event is that there was no registration table at the finish line to sign up for next year’s event! I will certainly be back!!!

Rating: above average