4 Races in 4 Weeks: Week 4: Review of BattleFrog 15k in WV

The fourth race in this series is the BattleFrog 15k.  The BattleFrog Series has a 5k and 15k leg. I opted for the longer race and I was glad I did.  The race is advertised as being designed by Navy SEALs and having a minimum of 25 signature SEAL-inspired obstacles. 

This race was held at an ATV park in West Virginia, which I think is a great location for an event.  There were some hills along the course, but nothing like a mountain that would wipe you out before you finished the event.  I was very pleased with the event.  Even though this was only their 3^rd event, you couldn’t tell based on how well everything was executed.  Not only was the actual event great (more on that later), but the pre and post racing activities were done well, including packet pickup, pre-race hype at the Start line, post-race shirt and beer pickup.  There was even a Navy SEAL demonstration on the grounds where a team of SEALs are flown in by helicopter and executed a “mission.”  I was already on the course by that time, but the YouTube video of it looked awesome.

The obstacles seemed to be well thought out and not just the same old boring obstacles you would see at other events.  Did they have 6’ or 8’ walls to climb? Yes, but they built the wall with steps on ½ of it and none on the other.  Depending on your physical abilities, you could turn-up or down the intensity.  I saw this on several obstacles and thought that was a nice touch.  I always enjoy new obstacles/challenges.  The few that come to mind is the Rope Traverse, SEAL PT, ladder/rope traverse, Paintball Gallery, and Normandy Jacks.  The Rope Traverse was approximately a 60’ rope stretching over a pond that you had to get across.  As I made it about half way across, my Ruck, which held my water bladder, dipped into the pond and started filling up with water.  The extra weight made it extremely difficult to finish, but when you have SEALs telling you, “Don’t quit until your feet touch grass,” you tend to listen.  At SEAL PT, there is an area of sand where a SEAL stood.  He let you know in firm voice that you had to complete 20 8-count bodybuilders, which are a version of a Burpee.  So naturally you are getting down in the and for the push-up portion of the exercise.  Oh, and if you didn’t complete an obstacle along the course, the penalty was to do 10 8-count bodybuilders.  At the ladder/rope traverse, you would climb a very small military looking ladder; the kind you would see handing off a helicopter.  At the top you traverse to a rope and then climb down.  At Paintball Gallery, you had 3 rounds to hit a target about 25 feet away.  One of the last obstacles was the Normandy Jacks.  These are large wooden structures that the barbed wire was strung across.  In this event, there was a SEAL there to coach you along.  And if like me you get caught stepping over a low lying wire, he’ll make sure you are face-to-the-mud going under the rest.  He was a nice guy!

The same “Nice Guy” saw 2 small children cheering on their dad from the sidelines going through this final obstacle.  He had the kids jump the fence and even run the last 100 feet with their dad.  I thought that was really something and must have meant so much to that family.

Overall, I thought the event was well put on and I look forward to doing more races with them.  With a field that seems to be getting crowded, I see BattleFrog becoming a top notch OCR and becoming one of the leaders in the industry.