dryrobe ambassadors - The OCR Girls

The OCR girls are 3 of the most exciting, motivated and hardcore talents in UK Obstacle Course Racing. They're no strangers to race podiums, they've competed at the World championships and they inspire athletes from across the entire OCR community and beyond. So you'd think these are veterans of the sport who've been out there competing for years. Think again. Amelia is 16, Jess is 14 and Evie 13. The girls are just getting started and they've got a seriously bright future ahead. 

We're incredibly proud to call them dryrobe ambassadors and caught up with them after the first Spartan Race of the season - where across the weekend Evie and Amelia took 1st and 2nd in their age group in the Super, with Jess taking 1st in her age group in the Sprint. A successful weekend!

Great to catch up with you girls, thanks for taking some time out of a seriously busy training schedule! So first of all, when did you all first start running and racing OCR?

Amelia - My dad, Paul Cocksedge, was my inspiration to start my journey in OCR. He runs Cliff Lakes OCR training facility and attends many races himself. I decided I wanted to have a go at a race with him to see what it’s all about so without any training I took on Reaper in 2016. I absolutely loved it and he told me he saw a lot of potential if I trained hard. So every week I’d go with him to Cliff Lakes and he’d coach me and push me to train hard to get me to where I want to be. Since them I've completed my Spartan Trifecta, as well as having completed many races plus qualifying and competing at the OCR World Championships in Canada last year.

Jess - A lot of people have inspired me to become involved in sports, however, my Mum has been my biggest inspiration overall. She's pushed me to use my talent and passion for OCR in racing for my team. My OCR journey started with Mum at Mud Runner in 2013, since then I have also competed at The Suffering, Ram Run and Spartan with my best result being 1st female in the competitive wave. Last year I also qualified and competed at the OCR World Championships.

Evie - Both of my parents inspired me to get into OCR. One of my Mum’s University friends is the founder of a race called Total Warrior - my Mum went to give it a go to support him and was hooked. That was in 2010, I was 6yrs old, so my sister and I have grown up with the sport. I remember travelling to the Lake District and asking when it was our turn to have a go! My Mum booked us onto Mini Mudder, that was too easy so I then had a go at Iron Run, now Uventure; I loved it and my love for participating in OCR started. I have competed at Spartan and completed numerous other events including qualifying and competing at the European Championships 2017 and the World OCR Championships 2017 in Canada - I was the youngest competitor at both events.

What is it that draws you all to the sport of OCR?

OCR is fun! You can climb, crawl, jump and get muddy and it’s totally acceptable!! We also feel a great achievement when we have conquered a course, most of all though it’s the people. When Evie arrived at the European Championships in the Netherlands, Jon Albon has also just arrived too; the World Champion found time that morning to have a chat and a photo taken with her when he was prepping for his own race….that doesn't happen in many other sports.

We have met some truly inspiring people, whether it is at a UK race or out in Canada at the World Championships. We had so much support in Canada from all nations, competitors who came back out onto the course to cheer us on and shout instructions at obstacles, we have met some amazing people and the OCR community from all across the World has embraced us. Team UK really look after us as well. When you're running a course and reach an obstacle at the Worlds, to have Team UK as well as athletes such as Brooke Van Paris, Megan Sutherland and Hunter McIntyre shouting your name and encouraging you really is special.

After an amazing start to the year, what are your goals for 2018?

To do Team UK proud. We are all aiming to qualify and compete at the OCR World Championships again as well as the Spartan European Championships. Along the way we want to inspire as many juniors into the sport as possible so they can experience the camaraderie and how exhilarating OCR can be, especially as the World Championships are in the UK this year! It’s totally cliche but OCR really is a metaphor for life……no matter how big the obstacles are, you just have to keep giving your best and never give up, we want to install that in other junior participants whether they are running for fun or competing.

 We've seen that all three of you have busy training schedules - as well as fitting in schoolwork! What are you focussing on training this year?

We are focussing on training as a team at Cliff Lakes, as well as at Oxygen Freejumping and Bear Grylls, who sponsor us, but we are also focussing on our individual areas for improvement. We all have areas which we know are our weak areas and we have spent the winter months concentrating on improving those weaknesses. We all use our local gym facilities and have programmes devised for us which are a combination of strength, cardio and body weight exercises. Amelia has been focussing on her strength, Jess and Evie have been putting effort into their running to make them more efficient, Evie has been using a device called Stryd with running coach Shaun Wilde to help to measure her power during running. 

We are lucky to have been invited to other training facilities throughout the country too and we intend to take up the kind offers we have had and visit other training facilities such as Wild Forest and Rumble Fitness in the next few months to help us to perfect our techniques on different obstacles as well as learn from the teams who run the facilities. We are very lucky with all the support we receive.

Those matching OCR Girls dryrobes look seriously awesome - how important are they for you in your training and racing?

dryrobes are the perfect way to turn chattering teeth to cheerful smiles! If we had one piece of kit to make sure we take with us to every race it would definitely be our dryrobes. They keep us warm, they're are easy to put away and they are our own private changing room. They're perfect for spectators and competitors and there's seriously no better way to make someone smile than by offering them a toasty dryrobe in a muddy field!

 Thanks girls, it's been great to talk to you. Good luck for the rest of the year and we look forward to seeing you out on the course!

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