Obstacle Course Racing or simply “OCR” has drawn the interest of athletes, most specifically runners and triathletes in the recent years.
When I was a child back then in the 90’s 😀 , I remember shrieking in laughter at the TV show Takeshi’s Castle. The show was very entertaining because of the constant humiliation the characters had to deal with. Either people got thrown overboard, hit by a large falling cardboard rock or got lost in a sumo wrestling contest. Everyone was clumsy. Slapstick comedy of sorts. Then came Wipeout. There were lots of water, inflatables, puns, insults, funny sound effects. But I bet the players really gave it their all in the obstacles. The obstacles were pretty hardcore. But the highlights were more on the mistakes and awkwardness of those who cannot finish the course.
Then the more intense game show came about – the American Ninja Warrior. The game format has a clear-cut competitive atmosphere and the obstacles more challenging with players in gymnast or Parkour-form. The winners immediately became celebrities in this new sport of Ninja warrior.
My husband, being the fitness buff and martial artist that he is loved the ANW. And around mid of 2015, the Spartan Race fever came to Asia in Singapore. His passion slowly inclined towards Obstacle Course Racing. And I being the normal person that I am, joined him in the first Spartan Race, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. Anyway, I thought, I could run. What an understatement!
That race was where our passion for OCR began. We’ve met fellow Overseas Filipino Workers who’ve grown to love OCR as well. We became a peer group or a “barkada”. With friends, we’ve completed a number of obstacle races thereafter. Eventually we had to give our barkada a name for team registrations. By funny circumstances, we christened our team “TeamBato”. With a team name, we felt complete. We were more of athletes now, than clowns 😀 From enjoying the “bayanihan” culture in the races of carrying each other, we’ve started enjoying rope climbs, wall climbs, traverses and other obstacles on our own. We became leaders. We gave helping hands in races and gained more friends. Slowly, our team became bigger. We were recognized as a Spartan team in Singapore providing free workouts to the Filipino masses and local friends. Many teams and organizations collaborated with us. We gave a part of ourselves back to the community in many varying ways. The fulfillment that came with that is indescribable. Now TeamBato has grown to our home court, Manila. And with the booming of the OCR industry in the Philippines, we continue our vision of training athletes not only to be the best in their own capacities, but to reach out and give others a chance to enjoy this wonderful world of OCR.
In 2017, my husband got certified as a Spartan SGX Coach, proudly the first Pinoy with the title.
We continue to share our love for the OCR sport. And we will not stop in encouraging everyone that anyone can do this. It’s all just a matter of getting back to basics. As children, we would climb on trees, crawl on mud, run over steep slopes, walk and play like animals on a mountain.
That is the foundation of OCR. Getting back to basics and re-living stress-free life. No gadgets, no internet. Just plain simple life.
This passion is what inspired me to write this e-book on OCR.
Pls. grab your copy now!
