So here
we are again, another one in the books. Challenge #19 has been conquered, and a
lot of fun it was too. The Reaper was the event, a 10km obstacle race mainly
through woods and a lake. There was a day version and a night version. I signed
up to do both but unfortunately Rick couldn’t make it in the end so I ended up
just doing the day one as I didn’t want my “fans” waiting around too long!
I now therefore
present Part 5 of Team MUBU’s "Seriously, How Good Was
That?!" Obstacle Course Race Review.
THE
REAPER
10km
Obstacle/Mud Run
18th October
2014
Nr Corley,
Warwickshire
Just me this time, my first ever solo obstacle race - if you don’t count Men’s Health or Deerstalker which weren’t supposed to be solo but ended up that way due to my various ailments. I did have a fan club with me though which helped me battle on through.
General
Event Organisation
Dead
easy to sign up for, plus I actually got both races for the single price so if
I had actually done the night one too it would have been excellent value for
money. No pre-race pack but plenty of emails with details came through and everything
you needed was provided.
8 – Very
Good
Event Facilities
No
merchandise stall until registration was complete and nowhere to buy any OCR
gear. This was a small event though so that was no surprise. OCR Magazine had a
stall where you could sign up for their packages and there seemed to be plenty
of toilets, free parking and a burger stall for after.
6 – Above
Average
Registration
Probably
the only poor thing about the event. There simply wasn’t enough room in the
tent nor enough people to run the desks. Plus there was a strange “double queue”
system where you registered and got your number at one desk and then had to
queue at another desk to get your wave start time. The problem was that no-one
seemed to know who was in which queue and it was all a bit cramped. Add a few
more people onto the registration desks and re-jig the layout and most of the
problems go away.
4 – Below
Average
Location
Right
off the M6 at the Heart of England Conference Centre. Couldn’t get much more
central and it was very accessible. No signposts to the event but because it
was a recognisable venue (rather than a field) I don’t really think it needed
them.
8 – Very
Good
On
Course Facilities
Only
one water station at about 5km. There were plenty of marshals where needed and
the course was marked out very well. No distance markers but every obstacle had
a number on it so you could gauge where approximately where you were on the
course.
6 –
Above Average
Warm-Up
One of
the features of the race. A continuous “rolling” warm-up where you could join
in whenever you wanted and do as much or as little as you like. Very thorough
and well organised with a couple of people from a local bootcamp running it.
This sets the standard for warm-ups.
9 – Excellent
Variety of obstacles
Plenty
of obstacles but not the greatest variety. Lots of climbing over things and
crawling through things. It did however have a water slide into the lake and it
never felt repetitive or unimaginative.
7 - Good
Obstacle/Run mix
My kind
of race, no hills. Loads of obstacles (25) in the first 5km with no real long
running sections. The running sections that were there came in the middle of
the race and you felt like it was nice to get your legs stretched for a bit. A
couple of the later obstacles had 15-20 minute queues which might have been
fixed with a slight re-route but sometimes these things can’t be helped
8 – Very
Good
Terrain
Really
good use of the woods and the lake. Plus the big “feature” obstacle (the water
slide) was two minutes wander from the main event village. The terrain was well
used to create natural obstacles and this was supplemented well with man-made
ones where needed. Also, NO HILLS!!
8 – Very
Good
Post-Race
Another
very nice medal and a very distinctive technical T-Shirt (which you actually
got at registration). There was a decent goody bag with recovery drinks and
sweets and a good photo opportunity with the Reaper himself.
7 – Good
Difficulty
Probably
one of the easiest races for me, mainly due to the lack of hills and the
minimal long running sections. Took me about 1h45m to do the race but a good 30m
of that was additional waiting on top of what you would normally factor in. None
of these races are easy but I didn’t really struggle at any point on this one
so it won’t tax the hardcore racers. Though the night version might!
Course:
5 out of 10
Obstacles:
6 out of 10
Overall Thoughts
Really
enjoyed this race, the only thing missing was a buddy to race round with. But my
fan club cheered me on and the banter with folks on the way around was enjoyable
and friendly. I would definitely like to attack the night version of this one
sometime and I’d happily do it again with a group. This is a pretty good “first”
mud race for someone as it is a decent length, has plenty of obstacles and you
get a nice post-race pack when you finish.
Overall
Score
75% -
Tough to put my finger on why this one is rating the best so far but I just got
a really good vibe from it. The early bird prices for next year come in at around
£30
A
reminder that the scoring goes like this:
90+% Sell organs and/or children to do this event every single time
80+% A very good event indeed, try to do this every year
70+% Will definitely do this again if the timing/cost is right
60+% Very enjoyable but would probably won’t do again unless cost/time work out and there is nothing else on the calendar
EVENT
REVIEWS SO FAR
75% Reaper Day Race
70% Tough Mudder North West
70% Spartan Sprint Yorkshire
65% Total Warrior Lake District
60% Stockton River Rat Race
Next
one up is Manchester Men’s
Health Survival of the Fittest on 8th November. I did this one last year (in
fact it was my first ever OCR) and managed to injure myself after 2 of the
10km! Really looking forward to attacking this again, will be running with my
sister and her friend too which will be fun – a couple of new Mubus for the
team!
Till
next time,
DT
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