Green Goat Gauntlet 2012

 

• Name: Em
• Event details (parking, facilities, vendors, schwag etc):

There was plenty of parking, a nice warm building to stay in before/after the race, with relatively clean restrooms. They provided a free plastic mug for all runners, as well as free hot cocoa/coffee and cookies/yogurt. I really enjoyed all of that.

• Race details (course, obstacles, difficulty etc):

The course was rather difficult, but not the obstacles. It was mainly up hill on the mountain, which was actually kind of a fun challenge, although painful. But, the race was lacking in obstacles and good directions. There was no course walk, or a map online to look at ahead of time, and some parts involved going up one way, and back down it, which became insanely confusing during the race. Also, there were a few fun obstacles, like the slip’n’slide and the army crawl, but I wish there had been more, and more interesting ones. Two of the obstacles were also very similar, involving ducking under/climbing over planks of wood, which was fun on the last one but boring on the first of the two. Overall, it was extremely fun – especially for my first obstacle course race, but I do wish there had been more obstacles.

• Rating: Above Average

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• Name: Lisa Davidson
• Event details (parking, facilities, vendors, schwag etc):

First I would like to put a disclaimer out there, I am related to the people who put on the event.  Having said that I will be honest in my review.

There was plenty off free parking.  The facility, Lost Valley Ski Resort, was a nice facility.  I will say I was surprised that the resort seemed to be unheated.  It was a chilly day and would have been nice if there was a warm place to wait for the race to start.

Although some of the obstacles were still being constructed when I arrived the race started on time.

• Race details (course, obstacles, difficulty etc):

The race definitely needed volunteers along the route.  Although there were flags mapping the route it did get a bit confusing. I actually was in a group that ended up going the wrong way and missing the obstacles.  I did try to go back onto the course to get to the obstacles then ended up turning around so not to get lost up there.  The part of the race I did get to do were the hills, let me tell you they were a killer.

I wouldn’t count this race out.  This was their first race and it should be chalked  up as a learning experience.  The price of   $15(if you got the deal on living social)  $30 was affordable and what I ended up doing (no obstacles) was worth the price.

I am not going to rate the race.  As stated above this was their first race and I do believe that if they get constructive honest feedback  next year, if there is a next year, the race will be better.

• Rating:

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• Name: Daron Bryant
• Event details (parking, facilities, vendors, schwag etc):

AT Lost Valley Ski resort in Auburn Maine. Free, plentiful parking, indoor clean bathrooms, free snacks& a cup for a souvenir  DJ playing requests and good start and finish in front of spectators. 2 minute walk to car. EMT’s on standby.

• Race details (course, obstacles, difficulty etc):

I don’t know if this counts since I worked on holding this event myself, but I want it out there and hopefully another review will come in from someone who ran it.
The course started up a very steep hill which was “a killer”, at the top were flags directing you where to go. There was a spot in the middle where you were either supposed to go under the rope and then stay to the right of it and go left, or stay to the left of it. I am not sure myself on this, there was no sign directing you to go left, therefore roughly half the people went the wrong way and finished in half the time it should have taken. There needed to be a volunteer at that spot and we were a little short handed. Obstacles included a crawl under, a slide, stepping stumps, a ramp, and equestrian jumps. The slide didn’t have much slip left after 50 people (who would have thought you needed sooo much soap!). Overall, response has been great that the majority are satisfied, some people said they got lost but had too much fun to care, a few said they were disappointed with the mile markers missing in the middle and causing confusion, and the rest seemed satisfied. There were a lot of runners who had never done an OCR before, and they had a lot of fun but some also were wondering about prize money. That’s not something OCR’s usually have, but being the first one there probably should have been gift cards or some other prize. The difficulty was high, the hills were steep even for the most trained. Overall, I would rate it fair. I’m not sure how I feel about it, if I was a runner showing up knowing nothing and just going for it, I think the hills would have killed me and honestly I might have gotten “lost” on purpose to quit. but obstacles are always fun for everybody. They were sturdy could hold. I would like the affordability but be disappointed it wasn’t just like the others. I do know what areas need to be worked on, including holding a couple where a lot more people will be familiar with it(like around here!), but the mountain was great and I think next year this will happen again, with more volunteers and swag.
Rating this “above average” because if it isn’t compared to a monster like TM, spartan, or warrior dash, it was! Unfortunately, there was zero need for EMT’s, and no talk of injuries, which tells me it was not hard enough.

• Rating: Above Average