Athlete
What is a Spartan urban sprint? An urban sprint is an entry level 5km Spartan race with about 20 obstacles held closer to city centres on flat terrain. Urban sprints attract a lot of newcomers to OCR who can try out the sport in a …
If you are considering entering your first elite obstacle course race there are a few things you need to consider before signing up. What is the elite heat? In obstacles course racing, the first race of the day is ordinarily an elite or competitive heat …
Australia is considered an emerging country when it comes to Obstacle Course Racing (OCR). This might come as a surprise to those who have attended OCR events in Australia. Participation seems to be high, festival areas are full and events are run increasingly professionally. So what do we need to do in Australia to improve OCR as an amateur and professional sport?
The global body
World OCR (formerly IOSF) is the global governing body for the sport. It is responsible for forming international standards for safety and participation in an attempt to standardise events to a level that OCR can be recognised as an international sport and eventually become an Olympic sport. Discipline categories offered by World OCR are Ninja OCR, Track OCR, Combine OCR, Beach OCR, OCR (the category most of our races fall under in Australia), and set time OCRs (ie 4, 8, 12 or 24 hour).
World OCR has member countries which are planned, developing or established.
Australia is currently orange which means “In Development”. Becoming an established World OCR member country involves a technical application process. Instead of focusing on this technical criteria which does not always represent a direct match with reality, I am going to focus on what we already have in Australia and steps that need to be taken to develop the sport further.
What we already do well in Australia
First and most importantly, we have high numbers of participants in Australian OCR races, especially on the east coast of Australia. We have mass participation at an amateur level and numbers are increasing. We have a small number of established international brands (Spartan, Tough Mudder) as well as a small number of established local brands (such as True Grit and Raw Challenge). The course design and obstacles in Australia are world class. Australia hosted the OCR Enduro World Championships in 2018 and will host it again in 2019.
What we can do better
1. Competition between OCR brands
At the moment there are only a couple of established international and local brands operating in Australia (including Spartan, Tough Mudder, Raw Challenge, True Grit). This is a very small number of companies compared to countries where OCR is well established like the USA.
OCR as a sport is almost entirely made up of revenue raising brands, which makes it quite different from sports such as trail running where there are many not for profit organisations running low cost events that new participants can use as an entry point to the sport. It is expensive to run an OCR event and making a profit is difficult. It is also relatively expensive to enter an OCR race compared to the average running or trail race. This environment does not encourage new brands to establish themselves or for established brands to step outside what they know works.
2. Increase in mass participation
While it seems Australia is doing well in amateur participation, this is only the case in the eastern states. There is still a lot of expansion to do in WA, SA, NT, Tasmania and regional areas of the Eastern states. Another area OCR can improve on is improving the ethnic diversity of participants. While I have no data on this point, my observation is that OCR participants in Australia are predominantly from anglo-saxon backgrounds. I would be happy to forgo some of the more cult-like characteristics of some OCR events to make events less intimidating and friendly to all cultures. Some of these changes would also encourage more females and families to get involved. The changes I am talking about include removing war cries from start lines, making festival areas friendlier (ie by choosing appropriate music with less volume and allowing people to bring picnics and their own food and drink) and changing advertising strategies.
Junior development also needs some work. The least competitive age group categories seem to be the teenage age brackets. One issue is that the kids races and competitions are geared at making profit rather than junior development, and it is more difficult to create a grassroots development culture in this environment. There is also quite a big gap between kids races and racing in the adult races and unless you have a keen parent to run the adult race with, this transition can be difficult. It is also arguable that the best preparation for keen OCR children is just to play on a playground and run around as much as possible.
3. Increasing and improving elite participation
Improving a sport includes focusing on both mass/grassroots participation and elite competition. The pool of elite racers in Australia is quite small, though the standard of elite racers is relatively high. There has recently been an increase in brands offering standardised elite races where the elite wave is supervised to ensure rules are followed. Spartan, Raw Challenge and True Grit offer elite waves in their races. As well as increasing the number of standardised elite races, the pool of elite racers needs to grow, particularly in the female competition. However, even the most established OCR country, the USA, struggles to get parity with the number of male and female elite racers.
So far, OCR has not been as successful as other sports such as triathlon in enticing elite athletes in similar sporting codes to try out OCR or make the switch. There are so many sports to tap into including track and field athletes, cross country runners, trail runners, road runners, gymnasts, orienteers, the military, strongman and strongwomen, crossfit boxes and functional fitness lovers.
4. Increase strength of local brands
It would be great to see Australian brands strengthened. True Grit and Raw Challenge in particular appear to be growing and offering more races each year.
5. Insurance and the need for standardisation of obstacle safety
The entry to most OCR events is around $120. This is a major deterrent in trying out the sport. There are a few reasons that the entry price for OCR events in Australia are so high, including the cost of set up which requires transportation of obstacles over long distances and the set up and dismantling of obstacles, the need to make a profit, and insurance requirements. OCR is a relatively new sport, with a variety of obstacles. Over time, insurance companies work out appropriate rates of insurance which will enable them to cover claims and make a profit at a lower price for the event organisers. OCR events are not standardised between brands and the sport has not been around long enough in Australia for insurers to provide more accurate insurance rates in Australia. The result is that insurance companies charge higher premiums. This cost is reflected in the entry price for events. The development and implementation of standards by World OCR and the passage of time will enable lower insurance costs and the ability for entry prices to drop. This has already happened in the developed USA market where the OCR insurance market is well established and entry prices are significantly lower than in Australia even when taking into account currency adjustments.
6. Variety in courses and offerings
Australia has a lot of OCR races in the 7km to 17km distance bracket. If you like super short races such as stadium races or longer distances, there are not as many options for you. Contrast this to the USA where there are plenty of stadium races, events that mix OCR with crossfit style elements, and endurance events for those who like ultra distances. As participation increases, the variety of course offerings in Australia should also increase.
We already have a thriving OCR community in Australia but we are still a fair way off catching up to established OCR countries like the US. If you believe I have missed anything we should be doing to improve OCR in Australia please comment below. The more conversation the better on this topic.
On 26 November 2017 I lasted 9km of the Perth Spartan Asia Pacific Championship Beast before I became unconscious with heat stroke and woke up about half an hour later next to an ambulance. There are many reasons why I got heatstroke that day including …
Numinbah Valley is nestled between the mountain ranges of Springbrook National Park and Lamington National Park, offering some of the best trails in Australia. Having never competed at this venue before I was pretty impressed with the lush rainforest single trail and great course design. …
About the races
The Bright Alpine Club has hosted 4 Peaks event since 1979 with runners taking on one mountain a day for four days in a row. The mountains are Mt Buffalo, Mt Feathertop, Mt Hotham and Mystic Hill. Mystic starts and ends at the same point. The other three races start at the base of the mountain and finish at the top. It is a dream for mountain runners, especially those who prefer ascending to descending. I entered Mt Buffalo and Mt Feathertop for training purposes, as the Spartan Bright Trifecta was only 10 days after the 4 Peaks series ended. I had one day of rest on the Friday when I drove down to Bright. I had a cold and was destroyed after the first two days so did not do Mt Hotham or Mystic in 2018.
Mt Buffalo – Eurobin Creek Picnic Area to Mt Buffalo Chalet – 10.6km, 1340m ascent
My first impression on arriving at Eurobin Creek was that this is a massive party for mountain runners from all over the world. In the women’s field at least, this was definitely the most competitive mountain race I entered in 2018 including the Buffalo Stampede 20km Skyrun and the Hounslow Classic 21km Skyrun. The calibre of mountain runners was unreal. Having only had Friday off running, and at the end of a nasty cold, this was a struggle of a race, but the scenery was unreal.
The race is almost solely on single trail, following the Big Walk track up the mountain. About 50m after the start there was a narrow swing bridge followed by a steep 2km ascent on very narrow single trail. The course was super crowded and overtaking was difficult on the single track. I went out too hard and by the time we got to the fire trail at 2km I was already tanked and getting passed by people I had overtaken earlier. From 3-4km the trail becomes less steep, and the soft ground and ferns made for nice single trail running. From kilometre 5 to kilometre 7, the real fun starts, as the single track winds its way around the granite formations which Mt Buffalo is famous for. This is the more techy part of the climb and super fun with all the switchback climbing and boulder hopping. Although I was struggling, I was lucky to be constantly just in front of or just behind Penny Deacon who kept encouraging me despite me being unable to say much in return. There is then another couple of kilometres of running in shady single trail, with soft, rooted soil underneath. The last 1.5km is on the top of Mt Buffalo and relatively flat, so you can really take off and gain a lot of time in this section if you have anything left in the tank. There are fantastic views and beautiful river crossings (on bridges), and before you know it, you are running up the flights of stairs leading to the finish line at the Chalet. I overtook a few people in this section.
I am glad I had a go at Mt Buffalo, as I will definitely approach the race differently next time. There are four main sections when breaking up the race:
I came 9th female which is my worst result of the year but I was still glad to be able to race such an iconic mountain trail. There is a road to the top of Mt Buffalo, so we drove back down to save the quads. After the race we had a swim at Ladies Bath Falls. The La Sportiva social was at Wandiligong Pub that afternoon. If you are ever in the area I highly recommend the Big Walk, even as a hike, it is one of Australia’s classics.
Mt Feathertop via Bungalo Spur– 12km 1,652m ascent
This is a course I had practised earlier in the year in April, the day after Buffalo Stampede. But on that Saturday I could not reach the summit because of really bad weather (snow storm). I was keen to reach the top at Four Peaks. I woke up feeling pretty average with my cold still pretty severe. But I was staying in Harrietsville only 100m from the start line, so did not really have any excuse not to race. The race starts in Tavare Park and goes along a grassy oval before following a road upwards for about 1km where the Bungalo Spur single trail starts. This piece of road is great because it gives runners chance to spread out before the single trail. Despite the lead in to separate the field, the single trail was still very crowded for the first two kilometres. One good thing about 4 Peaks is it taught me how to overtake in crowded single trail situations, something I haven’t had much experience in before. Where I live in Canberra, there are so many trails to run on, it is rarely crowded, and even during races on single trail I have never had issues with overtaking.
The Bungalo Spur Track is an old donkey cart track, so although it is now narrow single trail, the gradient is consistently steep most of the way. The flora is stunning, starting with wet ferns and thick forest and changing every two or so kilometres until you get to the sub-alpine eucalypts and finally the alpine heath. Despite the runnable nature of the track, I was struggling, and frustrated to find myself power walking in parts that I had run up when I practised the course in April. My calves were not happy and my blocked-up nose and head made breathing difficult. By the ninth kilometre, we were well and truly in the alpine zone, and the track got progressively rockier and more technical underfoot. This was a nice change from the relatively even surface of the single trail up to this point. Federation Hut is soon arrived, and there were about 20 spectators at this point to cheer us on. The hut itself serves as emergency shelter and a place to have a lunch stop or shelter from the wind in winter where the area is very popular for back country skiing. Federation Hut is also where you can veer off to go to Mt Hotham or continue to Mt Feathertop along the Razorback. The Sprint portion of the race started here, ending at the finish line on the top of Mt Feathertop. I was not in a condition to sprint, but I definitely perked up as I love ridge running, and the last 1.5km is along Australia’s most iconic ridge with drop offs on all sides and some real rock scrambling. Mt Feathertop is at 1,652m and in November there were still large areas of snow that had not melted. Mt Feathertop has a very sharp and small peak, and it was so great to finish there. I have never been to such an awesome finish line. I love peaks that you can only get to by foot and the views are the best I have experienced in Australia. Truly 360 degrees. Better than Mt Hotham. About ten times better than Mt Kosciusko.
The summit party was also something else, with bells ringing, catching up with friends and playing in the snow. They say this is the closest you can get to European skyrunning in Australia. Just be warned about the jog down. It is 12km of continuous descending and you need more energy than you think to make it even at a jog or walk. Bring extra fuel. This is definitely a course where you need to be 100% self-sufficient. There are no water stations. The only way off is on foot or by helicopter, and the only place a helicopter can land is Federation Hut, and only in good weather.
I really underestimated how much of a taper I would need for these races. I rested on the Friday, the day before Mt Buffalo. When I spoke to my friends about how they tapered, one of them had not run for four days beforehand. Tapering is all about doing what works best for you, but I would taper more than you think you will need. I would also do much more power hiking practise for my next attempt at 4 Peaks. By the time you are running Mt Hotham it is really more of a hike than a run, and hiking efficiency can be important for getting a good time.
Four Peaks is essentially a massive party for mountain running lovers. If you love mountains you will love these races.