Obstacle sports as metaphor for life

If climbing walls, doing monkey bars and carrying sandbags weighing around 60 pounds while running in the mud are your thing, then obstacle course racing (OCR) is for you.

Modern OCR is a relatively new sport.

Its beginnings can be traced to 1987 when the first Tough Guy Competition was staged in a farm in the English Village of Perton, Straffordshire.

It featured 25 obstacles through, under and over freezing water pools, over fire pits, rope bridges and so on.

Race organizers claimed that running the course involved risking barbed wire, cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, hypothermia and broken bones. The race was so tough, it had two fatalities during its history.

Fortunately, the sport has since evolved to a far less deadlier version but still involves head to head competition against the clock where athletes overcome various obstacles. The sport has grown so much in popularity that more than 2,500 events are held annually across the globe.

It is the perfect metaphor for life, says Atty. Al Agra, president of the Philippine Obstacle Sports Federation (POSF) in a recent interview with this writer.

Atty. Agra explains that life is a series of obstacles one has to hurdle to survive and flourish. Obstacle sports equip one with the physical and mental toughness and discipline that are also useful in navigating through life challenges.

Atty. Agra, acknowledged father of Philippine obstacle sports, joined his first obstacle event in the United States in 2016 and formed POSF within that same year.

Obstacle course racing is just one of the sports under the bigger umbrella of obstacle sports which also include, Ninja, Parkour, and Adventure Racing.

POSF is now the NSA (national sports association) accredited by the Philippine Olympic Committee and fields athletes in competitions abroad. There are currently 30 national athletes under POSF, 18 of which are financially supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Annually, POSF holds five qualifying races for OCR enthusiasts and one who gathers enough points can be included in the national pool of athletes.

To date, our national athletes have won ten gold medals in the past two Southeast Asian Games, are the current World Champions and holder of the Guinness World Record in the OCR short course.

Clearly, OCR is a sport Filipinos can also excel in.

However, just like in running, OCR can simply be a hobby, albeit a more physically demanding one.

As a recreational runner who has mostly built only lower body strength, I have found OCR daunting initially. Simply put, if one finds it difficult to do a dead hang for one minute, how can one hope to pull his or her body’s full weight up an eight-foot tall wall or do monkey bars.

OCR requires a suitable combination of agility, endurance, speed, power and strength.

It also requires good proprioception — our body’s ability to sense movement, action, and location. Otherwise, one wrong landing can result in injury.

It thus helps if one does strength and conditioning exercises as well as plyometrics regularly.

There are three major brands now in the Philippines: Spartan Race, Conquer PH and Tough Mudder. Of these Conquer PH is the homegrown one and more beginner friendly.

There are good OCR facilities in Bridgetowne and several gyms all over the country.

OCR is not yet an independent Olympic Sport but is currently included in the category of Modern Pentathlon.

With the sport’s increasing popularity, however, it is not far-fetched for OCR to be recognized as an independent sport in future Olympics.