* From: Jason Dunham
* Event Details
The Reviver Challenge was held held at Diamond Hill Park in Cumberland, RI. Parking was free, and on-site(which I loved) Registration was quick & easy, and the staff was so friendly. They had free Starbucks hot & iced coffee before the race, and free fruit, water, and Nature Valley bars after the race. They also gave every runner a free key-chain made out of beads. Other than that I didn’t see too much in the way of schwag. They were selling T-shirts for $5, and hats for $10. Plus they were selling jars of dirt (which I didn’t really get!!)
All in all, I thought it was a great event. It was for charity, it was very affordable, and the staff & volunteers were all very friendly & helpful. They seemed to really care that we were enjoying ourselves. The MC was pretty funny, and they played decent music all day.
I also think this a great event to take your kids too. They let you run any, or all of the 3 heats for the price of 1. So if you’re like me, and you want to put up the best time you can. You can run hard for the first heat to get your time, and then you can run either of the 2 later heats with your kids. That way you can help them with obstacles, take your time to really enjoy the course, and just have some great family fun. They also had an inflatable obstacle course for kids & adults to play on before and after their heats.
* Race Details
As far as the course itself goes, it wasn’t super challenging compared to a lot of these events, but it was fun. There was a good portion of the trail where the trail was the obstacle, just as you would find it naturally too. There were some very steep rocky sections, both up & down hill. In fact, I believe the down hill section was the steepest I’ve seen “in the woods” at any of these races. There have been steeper sections, but they were always in an open field scenario, not on a woodsy, rocky trail. The only thing that brings the challenge level down at all was the fact that at 2.5 miles, it’s just not a very long race.
The man made obstacles were pretty simple. Although this is the first time I have ever crawled under a truck through the mud, or used a Sno-Tube(other than in Blizzard Blast) at an OCR, so that was pretty cool!! Plus I always love the Wreck-Bag challenges, and they had one of those as an obstacle!
I would highly recommend this event. It is super-affordable, and well worth the money. It’s perfect for kids, and beginners. The volunteers on, and off the course were as friendly as they come. If you wanted too, you could be in and out in under an hour(including parking, and registration) Or you could spend the whole day there with your family, and have a great time! I know I’m taking my family next year! 🙂
* Rating
Excellent
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* From: Greg Barton
* Event Details
www.reviverchallenge.com Reviver Challenge is a 2.5 mile family friendly OCR that was held at Diamond Hill State Park in Cumberland, RI on June 7, 2014. This event is a fundraiser and all the money raised goes to charity. Reviver claimed to be family friendly and they meant it. There were a lot of kids that ran this race. Some ran with a family member and others ran alone. The youngest finisher was six! For the kids that didn’t want to do the race there was a kid’s race area. I didn’t get a good look at it but I think it was a blow up course. The parking was on site and seemed to be large enough to accommodate the size of the crowd. I was worried about parking here because I had to leave as soon as I was done. I was afraid I was going to get blocked in but they did a great job directing traffic in the lot. After parking it was a short walk to registration. Registration was in a building at the center of the parking lot. It was extremely painless. Walk in get a free Starbuck
s coffee then get your bib and you’re out the door in no time. After getting my bib I walked over to the starting line which wasn’t too far from the parking lot. There was a band playing by the pond. A few vendors were there. If you wanted to have a before and after photo taken there was a table setup. The photographer would email the photo for a dollar per person after the event. Also next to the starting line were the park’s restrooms. No port-a-potties needed. Now the Cons. I had two. First, no bag check. I think this could have been done easily. There was plenty of room to have one in the registration building. I’ve seen it done with less space and more people. Second, no schwag. I don’t have too much of a problem with this since all the money goes to charity. I’m just disappointed I don’t have a medal to hang up.
* Race Details
The Race was three waves. The first was at 10am then 11am and 12pm. If you finished in time you could run the next wave. I ran the 10am wave. I made a huge mental mistake before this race. I was convinced it was going to be easy. I was thinking “Family friendly so lots of kids will be running.” and “It’s only 2.5 miles.” I regret thinking like that. I’m going to try to tell you all the obstacles in order but I’m sure I’ll miss something. After the start the first obstacle was a pile of tires. You could jump it or step on the tires to get over. Then you had to crawl under the Spartan Race truck. After that it was up the hill and into the woods. All the trails in the woods were rocky steep up and downs with a bunch of switchbacks. The early trails were wide which made for easy passing. There were two obstacles in the woods. The first was running by people using padded backpacks to push you. The second was two five foot walls. Then it was out of the woods and onto the road. I’d
say we ran around half of a mile on the road then back into the woods. The trails later on were mostly single track and more difficult. I found myself ducking under branches a lot (I’m 6’3). Once back into the woods you had to go through a ten foot tube in the mud. I think they used tubes that were too big in diameter. I was able to bend over and get to the other side. Next were two balance beams then a lot of running on the trails. After exiting the woods there were two eight foot walls and two five foot walls. Then you had to zigzag between a long row of trees. Another ten foot tube in the mud. Up a steep hill with a Wreck Bag. Across a traverse between a bunch of trees. Get drenched from kids with super soakers and hoses. A short run up a hill and slide down a tarp on a pool ring. Then a sprint to the finish. The obstacles at this event were all fun except the tubes. They need to be smaller in diameter and force you into the mud. The hardest obstacle was definitely Diamo
nd Hill itself and they used it. I would absolutely run Reviver Challenge next year. Hopefully I won’t have to leave so I can run all three waves.
* Rating
Above Average
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* From: Christine Ganci
* Event Details
Parking was free and nice and easy no back ups or delays. For $1.00 they emailed you a picture of yourself crossing the finish line. There weren’t really any vendors. On vendor selling Reviver hats and mudd.
* Race Details
Was a nice 2.5mile course around Diamond Hill Park. The obsticales weren’t difficult to me but that doesn’t mean I didn’t leave with a few bruises. My friend who joined me had a difficult time with some of the trails and the wall climbs. The tallest wall I believe was 6 foot. The toughest obsticale for me was crawling under one of the Spartans truck. I just wish they had some challenging obsticales.There were 2 mud tubes so you ended up being covered in mud after the mud was a nice refreshing water slide. All in all it was a great time, beautiful day and a nice family event.
* Rating
Average
