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Glack Attack 2015

13/10/2015

2 Comments

 
This was one of my favourite OCR events of 2014, we could not wait to head up to Aberdeen to do it all over again. More obstacles and a longer than 5k course this year with an added Ninja Challenge and Tyre flipping contest at the finish line, what more could crazy OCR people want.

Travelling to Aberdeen is about a 300 mile round trip for us, the furthest we have to travel to any Scottish OCR, our wave time is 12pm, the first wave of the event and the Elite wave, you had to race in this wave to be in with a chance of being the Glack Attack Male/Female champion. We had to leave the house at 8am, it was a glorious sunny day so the drive up was beautifully scenic.  

We arrive at the event site, Glack Hill, at 11am. Car Parking is in a field and a short walk away through part of Glack Wood to the main event village. The walk is well sign posted and before we know it we are in the events village, John got to the event village before me, he was in desperate need of the toilet facilities.  

The event village was well set out with everything we needed, toilets, changing, registration, bag drop, catering and merchandise. There was a great cheery atmosphere and we got to catch up with some of our OCR friends before registration. The registration process was quick and easy and all the volunteers were extremely happy and helpful.

Once registered we got our bags dropped off and our wave got called so we headed down to the start line. On the way down we passed the Ninja Challange, this got John very excited. At the start line there was a huge fire set up, a great way to help keep spectators warm and to heat up wet and muddy racers post race. A last call was made for wave one to make their way down to the start line then we went straight into the warm up. The warm up was done by Stix Body Blitz, a good mix of body weight exercises to get the blood flowing and the adrenalin pumping. The warmup lead straight into the countdown and then we were off.

The first part of the race was a short trail run up hill then onto a forest track that then lead down hill towards the first obstacle, this was a 5 foot log wall and then a crawl under a huge log. At this point in the race John was in lead and I wasn't far behind him. 

We ran onto the next obstacle, Big Ben, this was a huge cargo net Apex, this really took it out the legs but it was nice to get a break from running after a speedy start. We ran on through a wooded section to a cargo net crawl, a balance beam and then up and down some steep slopes called the Corrie Clamber. I was pushing myself all the way, feeling it tough as my body was still slightly fatigued after 50k of running and obstacles the previous Sunday. 

We continued a trail run through the woods until we hit Glack Bog, a thick and muddy bog section, this slowed me down a bit, it made tired legs even more fatigued. I was glad to make it though the bog still in the lead. The bog lead straight onto the Black Trench, a dark, muddy, wet and cold crawl through two tunnels. This section was relatively flat.

When we got out the Trench the trail run started to climb up again, this time leading us onto Hay Bale Hurdles, a set of three double round hay bales, this was tough due to the climb, my legs were screaming at me to stop but I kept going. At the top of this climb we were then running by the start area, spectators had the pleasure of watching us make our way through a Tyre Mangle and then through a very muddy Net Crawl. Very muddy we ran and jumped into the Open Tomb, this got us even more muddy, if that was at all possible.

The next section of the course sent us back down the trails again making our way over Lodgepole Lane, a series of fallen trees and logs to make our way over and under, in the middle of this was a house with a very small door to go through, creepy. 

Then it was Sheep Dip, a nice long jump into more dirty muddy water. Even more wet and mucky we had to climb up Quarry Climb, this was a rope climb up a slippery rock face. At the top we had a short run through the Tyre Gauntlet, a run through hanging tyres. We then ran up hill past the main event village and over Giant's Stepping Stones, stepping over huge round bails and then over a huge pile of tyres. 

Then we ran further up hill and that took us to the top of Wipeout, a long slippy slide into a massive pool of mud. I went down and plopped into the mud, as I plopped in the air plopped out and made a huge fart noise, a young boy watching shouted "that sounded like a BIG FART" I shouted back "it was" then jumped into another huge pool of mud, climbed out and ran on, shaking my muddy hands.

At this point I was still lead female and 2nd overall, I was fatigued and covered in thick gloopy mud but I kept going as much as I was hurting. The next obstacle was Timber, a climb over a massive fallen tree and then Devils Dyke, a big climb up a log wall. Then another climb up Guerilla Ramp and down via a cargo net. Next was the first of two carries on the course, Log Lift, we had to carry a log up and down a hill. I found this manageable and coming back down I was able to see I had no other competition in sight.

I ran on and came to a Spiders Web, I made it through and ran to what myself and many others though was the most physically demanding obstacle on the course, Hogs Back Ride, this was the heaviest sand bag carry I have ever done in an OCR up and down a hill. I started to make my way up the hill, the track was on a curve and I couldn't see the top, I was glad to get to the top and pick up my speed on the way down again, it nearly broke me.

So this was it, The Final Furlong, the home straight and it starts with a steep climb to the top of Glack Hill before we make our way down to the finish line. I was hurting all the way to the top and I was sick in my mouth. So glad to reach the top and start the final descent to the finish line, the last obstacle was The Final Drag, a very muddy cargo net crawl then a sprint to the finish. I was so glad to get over the finish line, I was done and I loved every minute of it, even if it did hurt it was worth it, the sense of achievement you get from completing an obstacle race is amazing, well done to everyone that completed the course.  

I was delighted that both John and I had won and we were both thrilled to receive our gorgeous sliced wood trophies and bottles of Moët. We got our picture taken and then hosed off by the lovely men at the Green Goddess. John then wanted a shot at the tyre flipping contest, as a team we had to flip a huge tyre as many times as possible in 1 minute. We got 21 and found out a day later that we won that too. John then went on to complete the Ninja Challenge (Quintuple Steps), he was the first person to complete it.

We then went and got ourselves changed into clean cloths so we could go and support our friends and other runners out on the course. My PT client Louise was running with her friend Kirsty in a later wave, they also both enjoyed the course and will be back again next year.

Glack Attack was attended by around 900 people who by entering the event all helped raise funded for Friends of Anchor a fantastic cancer charity.

The event is organised by the Ratcliffe Family who along with the volunteers from Friends of Anchor did a fantastic job of organising and running such a successful event. It was our pleasure to take part in such a hugely successful event that supports such a fantastic charity. A huge well done to all involved, we will be back next year and we would advise anyone looking to do the same to sign up quickly, this event always sells out. 
2 Comments

Bing Blazer ParkLife OCR 240 2015

6/10/2015

2 Comments

 
ParkLife was going to have two firsts for Scotland, firstly a multiple lap OCR endurance event, as many laps of a 10k course as possible in 240mins. Also Keep it Simple Timing (KitST) were using GPS to track athletes as they take on the course with a live link to allow people from all over the world to watch athletes battle it out on the course.

I was extremely nervous about this event, firstly because it was my first race representing Team SISU Pro Team and also because this was my first endurance event of this kind so I wasn't too sure on how to pace myself or how my body would cope with a combination of time spent out on the course and potentially more miles than I have ever done before.

It's race day and the weather conditions are looking good, light cloud and about 12 degrees, simply tropical for Scotland in October. This is a local event for us so after a 20min drive we are at the beautiful Beecraigs Country Park, this is the location for the race.

We made our way to the main events area and got registered, we were given our chip timing and GPS tracking. Our chip timing went round our ankle and the GPS came within a crop top that we had to place under our own running stuff, the tracker sat in between our shoulder blades, I thought it might annoy me but I forgot it was there once I started running. We had time to catch up with our OCR friends in between lots of trips to the toilet to do nervous pees.

We got called to the start line for a quick pre race briefing and warm up by the super awesome Leeanne, a mixture of lunges, squats and star jumps got us warmed up nicely, then we were taken to the start line and before we knew it we were off.

My aim was to take the first 10k as fast as I could and then pace myself after that, so off I went as fast as my WEE legs would take me. The start of the race took us into the forest running on forest tracks and before we knew it we hit an 8 foot wall with holds, up and over the wall. Quickly, we took off along the track to the next obstacle, this was a tyre carry up a hill for about 300 meters and then back again, this felt relatively good first time. Back into the woods and we met another carry, this time a traffic cone, this was a shorter flatter carry, I think we were all glad of that.
We ran on and crossed a road into the other side of the park, first we hit a dark crawl followed by hurdles. The hurdles hammered the legs but it was straight onto more running.

After a short run we hit the next 8 foot wall, again with holds. As soon as we hit the ground I could start to see the next obstacle on the course, hard to miss the 24 foot scaffold structure. First was an 8 foot wall onto a platform and then another 8 foot wall onto another platform, then a 5 foot wall to the top. Then we made our way back down via a 5 foot drop, then ladders and a fireman's pole. Once we hit the ground we made our way to the side of the structure to the 15m long scaffold monkey bars. I think this was the obstacle that got most and if you failed it there was a 20 burpee penalty. I had prepared myself and my hands for this obstacle, lots of upper body training and my hands had been covered in Trail Toes, yes Trail Toes sounds like it's for your feet and it is, it's anti friction cream to protect your feet when doing long distance, so as I knew my hands were going to be doing a long distance on the bars I thought it could protect them and it did. I used it the night before and at my pit stop every lap. I just put a bit of chalk over the top so there was no excess cream that could cause me to slip. Check out www.trailtoes.com for more info on this awesome product. I completed the bars with ease and with my hands in one piece, I was delighted. No rest for the hands or arms yet as the next obstacle was just round the corner and it was a hoist, 16kg for women and 24kg for men. This was tougher than I thought being straight after the monkey bars but I did it. There was also a fair bit of friction between the rope and scaffold making the weights feel heavier.

The next section of the course was a trail run that took us over a road to a spiders web that lead us to a run around the stunning loch then back over the road again. We then started a trail run up hill and came to some hurdles, this was a killer after the run up hill. We continued running up hill then back across the road to a net crawl. We then had a tough trail running section and the legs were starting to hurt, I remember thinking at this point how on earth am I going to be able to do multiple laps of this. The next obstacle was a dark hydro crawl, this was AWESOME, freezing cold water crawl through a dark tunnel, perfect for cooling the legs down. Out of the tunnel and back across the road to the tyre flip, one flip each way with a lorry tyre. This felt heavier than it was but at this point we are about 9 kilometres into the course, the home stretch is fast approaching.

The last kilometre had a tyre run and then four round straw bales to get over, this was all on a slight up hill, a killer on tiring legs. I was glad to get over then continue onto the last few hundred meters. As we got closer to the finish line and events village we picked up speed and could hear the cheering from spectators as the finish line drew closer. A sharp turn off the track and over the finish line, lap one complete in 47mins, happy with my time but no time to rest, just a quick drink of Mountain Fuel Extreme Energy and Honey Badger Hydration. I also put Trail Toes and chalk on my hands then it was time to take off on lap two. My fiancé John was first to cross the finish line in a time of 40.05 he had waited on me coming in to do the second lap, I came in 2nd place with Stephen close in 3rd so we all took off on the second lap together. The second lap was great, we still kept up the pace and our positions as 1st and 2nd male and 1st female. On this lap we started passing racers from the second wave that were doing two laps, we were equally encouraging to each other and they all let us past and over obstacles when necessary, this was much appreciated.

The second lap seemed to fly in and before we knew it we were back at the start/finish and refuelling again ready to take on lap 3.

We all took off together but when we came to the tyre carry on our way back down we could see a few guys catching us. I told Stephen and John to run on, I was pacing myself and didn't want to hold them back incase the other guys got ahead. They picked up the pace and left me, I was still in front of the other guys when we came to the monkey bars, this was my third time but my hands felt awesome so I crossed them with ease. The guy behind me came off and was going to run on, he wasn't keen to do his burpees and kept running, I wasn't pleased about this nor were the Marshalls that got ignored but the Marshall at the hoist informed me later on as did the runner that he completed them. Penalties are there for a reason in Obstacle Races, if we skipped or failed every obstacle and just ran, that would be a running race. Its important for everyone in a race to listen to the Marshalls instructions at all times, if you are given a penalty and are racing for time and a position you must do your penalty. I caught up with Stephen and we met up with John at the end of lap 3. Another quick refuel and hands sorted it was time to take on lap 4.

During lap 4 John and Stephen started to cramp, Stephen fell behind a bit but John and I managed to push on to complete the 4th lap before the 3 hour 45 minute cut off to start a lap 5. We finished lap 4 with approximately 15 minutes to spare, we rehydrated and set off, just John and I with no other racers in sight.

We were the only two racers to complete 5 laps, this lap was our slowest, John was suffering terrible cramps, I was unbelievably fresh for 40 kilometres, I have never ran any more than 21 kilometres before. I kept checking with John that it was cramp and not a strain as I didn't want him injuring himself, I kept his fluids topped up and we made it through the finish line together. I was so amazingly proud of us both, 50 Kilometres is the furthest either of us has ever done and it was emotional completing it together.

Bing Blazer ParkLife was a step into the unknown for me, my first endurance OCR, I didn't know how my body would take it or if I would enjoy it but I loved every minute. The course was in a beautiful location with a fantastic mix of obstacles. The Marshalls were amazing, encouraging and helpfully from lap one to lap five, they didn't wither. This has been my best OCR challenge to date, I truly couldn't fault the event in any way.

Thank you Michael, Edyta and the rest of the Bing Blazer team for putting on a fantastic event from start to finish, we can't wait to see what you have in store for us.
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