By Rita Lunardi
in the staging/spectator area, 8 lakes and, of course,
MUD! allowing them to expand their event offerings.
My first race of any kind was an obstacle course
There is a race for every type of athlete or weekend
race on the beach in 2010. It was a lot of fun and it
warrior, kids race, “Fun Days” to train and play on the
got me hooked on OCR. As a very active person but a
property, geocaching with caches spread throughout
non-runner, the run portion nearly killed me and the
central Florida and including prizes like free race
obstacles were disappointingly easy, but I still wanted
entries (what more could a runner ask for?) and a
more. My second race was a similar experience: a
5k trail run series. A recent partnership with RDV
good time but still lacking. Then I ran the inaugural
Sportsplex, (who knew RDV offers obstacle course
and now infamous Highlander Race (Rock on
training?) will focus on preparing people specifically
Adventure’s signature race) and I knew that’s what
for the 100 obstacle Highlander V. That’s right, I said
I had been looking for! Obstacle after obstacle to
100 obstacles!
distract me from all that tedious and boring running.
And what obstacles! Challenging enough to make me
work for it, all the while grinning from ear to ear. I
became an instant fan of ROA.
July is a tough month to run in Florida, so it’s
fitting that ROA will be introducing two tough
new challenges created to push even the hardcore obstacle racers to new physical and mental
Since then, ROA has moved
20
limits: The Extreme Intimidator and Battle Dash.
to a beautiful 700 acre
Intimidator features over 70 obstacles and is designed
property with plenty of shade
to make even the strongest competitors wonder why