WEEKEND WARRIORS
Pulse-pounding, body-punishing obstacle course races are a growing trend for fitness buffs and thrill-seekers
Deb Westgate-Silva approaches the Hercules hoist at the back of Fore Court Racquet & Fitness Club’s outdoor obstacle training facility. She yanks down on one end of a rope to get a weight suspended on the other end of the pulley system into the air, squatting lower and lower as the weight goes higher and higher. She moves from the 75- or 85-pound weight to the next heaviest option. “This is going to be tougher than the Spartan, because you’re going back to back here,” Austin LaRiviere tells her. “Running’s a good recovery, it really is.”
LaRiviere is a trainer at Fore Court, located in Cumberland, with a background in rock climbing. Westgate-Silva, 48, is training for her first Spartan Race, a national obstacle course race that had an event in Rutland, Mass. this weekend.
She got into obstacle courses doing Mudderella a year and a half ago, but wanting something more difficult, she tried Tough Mudder last year. And now she’s onto the sprint distance version of the Spartan Race, which is 3-5 miles with 22 obstacles.
For anyone who is into obstacle course racing – OCR, to its enthusiasts – the Blackstone Valley is a good place to be.
According to LaRiviere, Fore Court boasts the biggest outdoor obstacle facility in Southern New England, with the Hercules hoist, a salmon ladder, walls of varying heights, a spear throw, balance logs, monkey bars, cargo nets, a traverse wall, an army crawl obstacle and more.
Plus, there are several race options of varying difficulty in the area, between the FIT Challenge in Cumberland in November and April, the Reviver Challenge in Lincoln this weekend (see related story) and the Warpath Challenge in Central Falls every year.
Ask an OCR devotee what he or she likes about the activity and you are likely to hear the word “camaraderie.”
Working out with Westgate-Silva at Fore Court was Bernadette Bain, a Smithfield resident who works with Westgate- Silva’s husband and has been weight-training for a year and a half.
Doing an obstacle course was on her bucket list, and so she reached out to Westgate-Silva.
“We met, and we had a drink, and she’s like, ‘You’re an athlete; you can do this,’” Bain said. There are some obstacles she struggles with because of a torn rotator cuff, but she modifies how she approaches the feats – and other racers are always there to give a helping hand over a wall.
Westgate-Silva added, “I’m doing stuff I couldn’t do in my 20s and 30s, so that’s kind of cool.”
Also training at Fore Court for the Spartan Race in Rutland are six Burrillville School Department employees.
School psychologist Kim Pristawa, a Harrisville resident, organized a group of school staff to do a Spartan Race in Barre, Mass. two years ago as a team-building activity. They prepared by going to a class or two at Unleashed Obstacle Fitness & Functional Training Center in Warwick but otherwise trained more individu- ally.
But one teacher is a friend of Adam Wolny, another obstacle course trainer at Fore Court, so three people in the group started going to Fore Court together this year.
“Austin and Adam do a fantastic job,” Pristawa said. “They motivate you, you get a really, really good workout, and then you also get to try out the obstacles, which is a real bonus because there are a lot of different obstacles at Spartan that you normally wouldn’t be able to replicate in your own yard.”
Pristawa is a runner, but she noted that she sometimes gets bored with just running, and that obstacle course racing is a different challenge.
——— Obstacle course racing has surged in popularity over the past several years. In 2010, the first Spartan Race and the first Tough Mudder were held. These beginnings came less than a year after the hit competition show “American Ninja Warrior” first aired.
“Obstacle course racing is just booming, and it’s just a type of fitness that has really taken off,” Austin LaRiviere said.
Adam Wolny chimed in that one benefit is it’s not a specialized type of training but total body fitness. Touching on the camaraderie aspect, he noted that unlike in other athletic pursuits, participants cross paths with those at the top.
“I can race directly next to the guy who is the best in the world,” he said. “He will talk to you, he will help you.”
Wolny noted that for some people, obstacle course racing is about going back to their roots.
“Obstacle course racing is very mental, and there’s going to be some pain involved,” he said. “There’s going to be some hills involved, and I think it reminds people of how things used to be and how people used to train.”
The facility at Fore Court is open from April to October every year, depending on the weather.
While many people are training for events in Massachusetts, a more local course is the FIT Challenge – “FIT” standing for fortitude, integrity and toughness – that is held in November and April at Diamond Hill Park.
Robb McCoy, a North Attleboro resident, founded the FIT Challenge and held the first event in August of 2013. Along with the annual obstacle course races, McCoy has added holidaythemed trail races through- out the year. ——— While some obstacle course races have started as challenges for fitness buffs, others have begun as fundraisers held by community organizations.
The Central Falls Lions Club puts on the Warpath Challenge as its annual fundraiser, with proceeds going to scholarships and youth groups. This race is unique in its urban setting.
Another such race is the Reviver Challenge, which Christ Community Church in Providence started seven years ago. Catherine Reyes, coordinator of the Reviver Challenge, said the church was looking to do a fundraiser but she “was kind of tired of doing the bake sales and the yard sales.”
The first year, 200 people ran, and last year, the event was up to 565 participants.
Asked if she had any background in obstacle course racing before starting the Reviver Challenge, Reyes laughed and said no, that she had only run in one. But she has gotten a lot of community support.
Catherine Reyes’ husband – William Reyes, who is a contractor – has built the obstacles, while volunteers from Kids in the Canyon help man them on race day. Catherine and William’s sons are learning how to build, and a neighbor helps.
Catherine Reyes said of the Reviver Challenge, “It’s pretty much a divine thing that it gets put on every year, because I know that we are not capable of doing this, and there’s definitely a little help from up above.”
The race is a 5K with about 15 obstacles. This includes a few walls, a ladder wall, monkey bars, a tire pull and a mud pit.
The name “Reviver” is a play on the reality TV show “Survivor,” and Reyes added that the event is about reviving not only your body but also your spirit.
All of the proceeds of the race go directly to charity, which includes the Evan T. Mandeville DIPG Research Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Evan ran the first race in 2011, at age 10, but died from a brain tumor less than two years later.
Money raised from the Reviver Challenge also goes toward the nonprofit Mayan Families in Guatemala. Reyes said past funds have been used to build a house and a playground, and funds from this year will go toward a chicken coop.
Reyes commented, “We’re overcoming obstacles so people can overcome the true obstacles in life.”
“I’m doing stuff I couldn’t do in my 20s and 30s, so that’s kind of cool.”