Wow. Challenge #20 has now been
completed. Who would have thought I’d have got that far. And this week’s
challenge turned out to be my 10th OCR – almost exactly a year to
the day since I did my first. It is a fantastic hobby and I have failed to meet
anyone who has done one and not caught the bug. Go do one people!
So anyway, it is now time for Part
6 of Team MUBU’s "Seriously, How Good Was That?!" Obstacle
Course Race Review. The scoring criteria and categories are covered in
a previous post which is somewhere on this blog (see bottom left in the
Archive).
MEN’S HEALTH SURVIVAL OF THE
FITTEST
10km Urban Obstacle/Mud Run
8th November 2014
Manchester
A bunch of us did this in 2013 and decided immediately to sign up for this year at the bargain price of about £25. There have been various ailments and illnesses along the way but we got pretty much everyone to the start line. I ended up running with my sister and a few friends who had a combined 2 obstacle races and 1 marathon (I think) between them. And it was SO much fun – thanks Team “Kinda Competitive”!
General Event Organisation
It is a Rat Race event so you know
exactly what you are getting. The online sign up was dead easy, my
brother-in-law was able to add everyone’s details in no problem and we had
everything we needed sent to us via email the week before. We become so used to
how good it is that we forget sometimes that not all races are this well run.
8 – Very Good
Event Facilities
Your typical merchandise stall
with the usual T-shirts, hoodies and other assorted branded goodies. There
wasn’t quite the big selection of food and drink establishments as I’d like at
these events but there was a bar, somewhere to have a wee and get changed. The
only concern was the bag drop, which was unmanned and uncovered. You could put
your valuables in a valuables tent (which had great security) but I like to
have a towel in my bag for after and it would have got soaked if I’d left it
there this time.
6 – Above Average
Registration
Quick
and easy. Bring your ID, get your race pack and t-shirt and you are good to go.
We were early but it looked like they had plenty of people on hand so I don’t
think the queues ever got too long or too chaotic. I’d prefer them to open up
the Friday evening registration like they did last year
but in truth it didn’t really matter too much.
7 – Good
Location
Based at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester
(Manchester City FC’s ground for those who don’t know) you would struggle to
find an easier location to find. Plenty of parking a short walk from
registration and easy to get away from afterwards.
9 – Excellent
On Course Facilities
Only one water station at about 5km. There were
plenty of marshals who braved the terrible weather and they were all very
friendly and encouraging. Distance markers kept you on track and the route was
well marked out.
7 – Good
Warm-Up
Slightly disappointing in all truthfulness.
Didn’t last very long and it was a good two or three minutes after we were
“warm” before the gun went off. So I was cold again!
6 – Above Average
Variety of obstacles
Easy to get carried away by the 100m or so
“river drift” obstacle which was definitely a first for me. The rest of them
were pretty standard fare with a reasonable mix of arm/leg/over/under/through.
7 - Good
Obstacle/Run mix
Plenty of running early doors to try and stretch
the field out. The first 4km of the race are essentially a road run with the
odd obstacle chucked in to break things up. It gets a bit more obstacle heavy
in the later stages and once you get off the roads and into the park.
7 – Good
Terrain
Being an urban race you would expect the terrain
to play a key part. It is used pretty well here although sometimes it feels as
if a few tricks have been missed. But overall there is enough up and down to
keep me happy (though readers of these reviews will know that I’m not a hill
man so that means it’s pretty flat).
7 – Good
Post-Race
Rat Race can always be relied upon for a half
decent medal and a good quality technical t-shirt in the goodie bag. Black was
the colour this year which felt a bit lazy it is all personal preference I
guess. The medal is a bottle-opener aswell and the “adult” surprise provided by
Durex was a bit unexpected!
7 – Good
Difficulty
Not the toughest course out there, though
measurably harder than last year. If you have the will, you will finish this
and you will get through most if not all of the obstacles. It is still a
challenge though and the typically friendly Manchester weather always adds an
extra element that has to be considered
Course: 6 out of 10
Obstacles: 6 out of 10
Overall Thoughts
This was all about the team though. Great
banter, some priceless moments and a massive sense of achievement felt by all
at the finish line. For me, that is what these events are about. I’m never
going to tear the place up, but I’m going to have a lot of fun doing it.
Overall Score
7.0 – A good event, an
excellent price (<£30) and a well-run event all adds up to another 7 out of
10 on the Team Mubu scorecard.
The overall scoring has had a slight overhaul
though only in the way it has been represented. I think the scores are still
the same in most if not all cases. It is still a combination of the 10 criteria
scores plus a little bit of “fine-tuning” based on gut feel and general
enjoyment.
It is now in increments of 0.5 as below:
10.0 Nothing will ever get
10.0, you should always strive for better
9.5 Sell organs AND children.
And everything you own. About as good as it gets
9.0 Sell organs and/or
children to do this event every single time
8.5 Highly recommended
indeed, this gets booked as soon as it is released
8.0 A very good event, only
money or illness would stop this being a yearly thing
7.5 Definitely one to
recommend. Not much would keep me away
7.0 On the list for another
go, though not necessarily an automatic selection
6.5 Would do this one again
if the stars aligned, but wouldn’t break the bank for it
6.0 Was fun but only a very
cheap deal and a free weekend would tempt me again
below 6.0 Not found one of these
yet. Hope I don’t
EVENT REVIEWS SO FAR
7.5 Reaper Day
Race
7.0 Tough
Mudder North West
7.0 Survival
of the Fittest Manchester
7.0 Spartan
Sprint Yorkshire
7.0 Total Warrior Lake
District
6.5 Stockton River Rat
Race
Next OCR is the Ram Run on 10th January next year. It’s not all
sherry and mince pies till then though, there are still a couple of non-OCR
challenges on 30th November and 14th December to fit in.
I am
however going to do post-race reviews for the other 3 OCRs that I’ve completed
prior to introducing this rating system (Pandemonium, Mighty Deerstalker and
Yorkshire Warrior). So the next three or four posts will be “mud-heavy” to say
the least!!
Till next time,
DT
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