5 minute read
Obstacle Course Racing came home this weekend as the UK played host to the OCR World Championships for the first time in the five year history of the event.
Thousands of racers from around the world travelled to the event, hosted by the incredible team at Nuclear Races just outside of London, for a weekend of epic obstacle course racing across the 3K, 15K and Team events, plus the Youth Sports Trust charity wave on Sunday.
We were proud to be at the OCRWC this year as an official partner - dryrobes are an essential part of OCR here in the UK, as a lot of our international guests soon found out! They were well catered for though, with our epic Limited Edition 2018 OCRWC dryrobes keeping racers warm and ready to run all weekend.
Racing kicked off on Friday with the super fast 3km sprint event - with waves of 10 racers at a time taking on the course, plus 24 obstacles, in a time trial format. The Men's Pro division went off a blisteringly fast pace, with spectators sprinting to keep up with the frontrunners as they made their way to the finish.
It was a familiar face crossing the line in first - dryrobe ambassador Jonathan Albon started off his weekend with a bang, claiming the win in the 3K with a time of 15 minutes 37 seconds! Coming in a close second was Ryan Atkins (16:07) with Sergei Perelygin (16:20) completing the podium.
Another defending champion took the win in the Women's Pro division - after an insanely close race it was Nicole Mericle back on top for another year in a time of 19 minutes 54 seconds but hot on her heels was Rebecca Hammond, only six seconds behind in a time of 20 minutes flat. Lindsay Webster came in a close third (20:17)
Less than 24 hours later, the athletes were back on the start line ready for the main event - the 15km. With 100 epic obstacles to tackle on the way to the finish, this was going to be an awesome race to watch. Mass starts this time around created some amazing scenes, with the Pros thundering away from the start at an unbelievable pace.
With no mountains in sight, this was always going to be a fast, flat blast to the finish line - with plenty of mud, uneven farmland and wooded sections of course out there to challenge racers as they battled it out for the top spots.
After another epic race, it was that man Jon Albon proving why he really is the king of Obstacle Course Racing - holding off all of his competitors to take the win yet again in a time of 1 hour 27 minutes and 17 seconds. This win brings Jon's tally of 15K World Championship Wins to FIVE - no-one has been able to beat him at this distance in the history of this event.
That's not to say they haven't given him a run for his money - Jon himself said this year was the hardest he has ever had to work for the win - with second-placed Sergei Silin (1:27:45) and third-placed Thibault Debusschere (1:27:53) pushing him all the way to the finish line.
An equally awesome race unfolded in the Women’s Pro race - with the lead changing hands multiple times as the ladies set a blistering pace around the course.
After a fast 15K and 100 obstacles completed it was a familiar face back on top of the podium, with Lindsay Webster crossing the line in a time of 1:51:56.
Taking the silver after an impressive performance was Ida Mathilde Steensgaard (1:52:56) and Karin Karlsson (1:55:24) claiming bronze for the third year in a row!
It was incredible to be a part of such a special weekend of Obstacle Course Racing - the team from the OCRWC put on an amazing championships and the OCR community showed why it is one of the best in the world!
The atmosphere around the event all weekend long was non-stop energy, camaraderie and excitement - seeing the crowds of supporters cheer the racers all day long and support each other all the way to the finish was something special.
A special thank you has to go out from us at dryrobe to our amazing team of ambassadors who were with us all weekend at the OCRWC this year. As well as racing their hearts out, giving it their all on the course and achieving some amazing results, they joined us on the dryrobe stand, talking to their fellow racers and even gave up their time to let the team go out and run the Charity wave on Sunday! A huge thank you to all of them, we couldn't be prouder to have them representing dryrobe.
We're already counting down the days to OCRWC 2019 - see you next year!