A new sport is coming to Barrhead.
Or at least it is new for the majority of people in the area.
On Aug. 26, Boneyard OCR will be bringing Wilderness, X-Warrior Challenge event to its facility near Peanut Lake.
For those people who don’t know what OCR is, it stands for obstacle course racing, and it is something Jo-Ann Bertrand, and a group of other enthusiasts have been doing for the better part of two years.
“We are a not-for-profit group dedicated to introducing young people to the sport of OCR, and taking them to events across Canada and the U.S,” Jo-Ann Bertrand said, adding recently participated in an 19 kilometre OCR, that included more than 20 different obstacles, including full submersion in icy cold baths, water hazards and muddy barbed wire crawls, called Tough Mudder, in Whistler B.C.
Although relatively new to the area, the sport has existed since about 2008, in large part to the popularity of TV shows, such as American Ninja Warrior and Spartan.
However, what the group is most excited about is they will be able to introduce, not only the sport of OCR, to Barrhead area residents, but also the area to a large group of OCR enthusiasts.
On August 26, Boneyard OCR will host an X-Warrior Challenge event called Wilderness by Obstacle Race Media (ORM). In May, ORM staged its first OCR race in Calgary at Stampede Park.
“It’s really a big deal for us,” she said, adding they expect upwards of 1,000 athletes from all over Alberta to participate.
Depending on the event, an OCR event can take many forms. Rural venues allow for different course and obstacle configurations.
For example, the event in Calgary was held at Stampede Park was a five kilometre sprint event and over a pavement dominated course with man-made obstacles.
Since Boneyard OCR is located on a 160-acre parcel the majority of the obstacles will be built using a combination of natural terrain and man-made items.
Because of the difficulty of the obstacles OCR events are designed to be team events where the group works together to get the team past an obstacle. Although the Boneyard OCR event is still in the preparation stage, the course itself will be just over five kilometres long and will incorporate between 20 and 25 obstacles.
“I don’t want too say too much, but one of the obstacles will include an eight foot high climbing wall and the bear crawl, which is exactly as it sounds, where you are on all fours crawling under netting or something like that,” Bertrand said. “It’s definitely enough to make the muscles hurt.”
Organizers are also thinking of having two different streams for the event, one a more typical sprint or timed event and once called titan, where teams attempt to run the course multiple times, receiving different rewards for each lap completed.
Bertrand noted the majority of the Boneyard OCR participants are between eight and 18 years-old, but they do have a number of adults as well.
Typically the group trains on Saturdays with the first part of the day being devoted to going through the course and making sure the course is safe and ready to go. By about 2 p.m. participants start training, going through the course in groups and learning how to best overcome each obstacle. In the early evening the group gathers for a group potluck.
“It’s really a great sport and not only fitness and competition, but leadership and learning how to work as a team,” she said.
Boneyard OCR is currently taking registrations for teams who want to compete in the X-Warrior Wilderness Challenge. Spectators are also welcome and competition begins at 8:30 a.m. Admission is free, but there is a $15 parking fee per vehicle. For more information about Boneyard OCR go online to www.boneyardocr.com
