Adventure Racing
These obstacle courses will take you to your limit
Thinking about doing an obstacle course challenge? Look no further, this is our guide to 7 of the best around the planet.
Obstacle course racing (OCR) has boomed in recent years and every event will lay claim to being the biggest, the baddest and the best. From the original Tough Guy race, designed to be so hard few could make it through, the sport has developed and is now more about mass participation, with big players like Tough Mudder, Rat Race and Spartan dominating the scene.
Most competitions offer varying distances and levels, including extreme versions of their toughest events – and here are some of the ultimate challenges on offer…
1. Green Beret Challenge - Commando
Push, pull, carry and climb as the military would
© Green Beret Challenge
- Location: Texas, USA
- Distance: 13km+
- What’s so special: A team challenge based on the US Army’s toughest
This no-nonsense event is based on the gruelling Special Forces Assessment & Selection Course (SFAS) known as ‘three weeks of hell’. Unlike traditional OCR, it goes beyond obstacles and requires teamwork and brains. Anyone feeling up to the Commando challenge can book ahead for 12 May 2021, when you can expect to encounter a new world of pain from about 0800 hours.
They say: “The Commando is arguably the most demanding one-day event in the industry.”
Website: Green Beret Challenge
2. Iron Viking
Iron Viking has some spectacular obstacles
© Strong Viking Group
- Location: Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark
- Distance: 42km
- What’s so special: ‘World’s toughest marathon’ with 100+ obstacles
This race series offers regular water, hills and mud editions with Viking-themed obstacles, but the Iron Viking is the ultimate challenge, with three consecutive races on 20km, 14km and 8km courses. Intriguing obstacle names include Storm the Castle, Dragon Tails and Fjord Drop. Book now for events between February and September.
They say: "Friends at the start line, brothers at the finish line."
Website: Strongviking.com
3. Spartan Agoge
Be prepared for cold weather and mixed terrain
© Spartan Race
- Location: Various locations
- Duration: 60 hours
- What’s so special: It’s not racing, it’s ‘training, testing and evaluation’
Spartan run traditional obstacle races all around the world, taking their roots from the legendary Peak Death Race. But this one is a little different. You have to have done at least one of their Hurricane Heat or Ultra Beast events just to gain access to the Agoge – which is a unique 60-hour ‘training, testing and evaluation’ event based on Seventh-Century Spartan systems and mixes classroom education with elite military-style challenges.
They say: “The Spartan Agoge brings together every physical and mental strength as well as everything a person has learned in life.”
Website: The Spartan Agoge
4. Dirty Double
No one leaves the Dirty Double clean
© Rat Race Adventure Sports
- Location: Burghley House, UK
- Distance: 64km
- What’s so special: Monster obstacles combined with a massive after party
Part of Rat Race's epic Dirty Weekend (8 May, 2021), this double lap of the world’s largest assault course requires competitors to complete 400 obstacles in 40 miles. Set amid the palatial backdrop of Burghley House in Peterborough, challenges range from carrying a traffic cone and crawling through cars to a 30ft tower jump, the world’s longest monkey bars and a lake swim. The afterparty, where top bands perform, is just reward.
They say: “The biggest and best obstacle racing weekend in the world – on the world’s largest assault course."
Website: Ratrace.com
5. Red Bull Neptune Steps
Neptune Steps
© Sophie Odelberg
- Location: Glasgow, UK
- Distance: 420m
- What's so special: Swimming through 420m of cold water while climbing 18m over seven canal lock gates
The icy-cold waters of the Forth and Clyde canal see up to 600 swimmers line up to swim, climb and conquer the ultimate open-water endurance test. The 420m swim is broken up by seven locks which competitors have to climb up before continuing on their way.
Competitors say: "When you climb the ropes, your body will feel like jelly. You may also have a lack of oxygen because you have water pouring down the lock gate and smashing you in the face."
Website: More information follow
6. OCR European Championships
Innovative obstacle design to test the best
© European Obstacle Sports Federation
- Location: Val di Fiemme, Italy (10-13 June 2021)
- Distance: 3km short course, 15km standard course
- What’s so special: It’s the European Championships of the European Obstacle Sports Federation
This pinnacle OCR event is run on a course with 50 obstacles, including some from the best events in Europe and others purposely designed to make it one of the hardest courses around. The event, which takes place in a different European country every year, now attracts the biggest names in the sport.
They say: “A chance to compete against the best athletes in Europe on one of the most technical courses in the world.”
Website: Ocreuropeanchampionships.org
7. OCR World Championships
Being the best means taking a leap of faith
© Adventurey LLC
- Location: Vermont, USA (September 23-26, 2021)
- Distance: 15km
- What’s so special: It’s the World Championships
Only those who have achieved a top finish in one of the qualifying races can contend for the World Championship – making this field the elite of the elite. The course and location changes each year but takes on mountainous terrain, 50 obstacles and - so they claim - the greatest finish line in obstacle course racing.
They say: “With over 65 nations representing in 2017, this is the biggest stage in Obstacle Course Racing that draws the best of the best."
Website: Ocrworldchampionships.com
Click the link below to see the training secrets of recent five-time OCR world champion Jon Albon
