After Race Report: Terrain Race 2019

Terrain Race took a novel pricing strategy approach, but was it worth it?

Location: Travis County Expo Center
Date: Sunday, May 19th
Wave Time: 9am?
Clear Time: About an hour each lap
Distance: 5K (3.2mi, completed two laps)

Held on the same weekend of the Burnet Spartan Super & Sprint was probably not a great decision on TR’s promoters; the attendance for Sunday was fairly low. This also went for the vendors around the “festival site” – other than TopGolf, the space was remarkably empty and various stations (check-in, bag drop, merch) were weirdly spaced out from each other.

The pricing (as mentioned) was ostensibly free for the event itself, but parking was $20, packet pick-up (if you didn’t get it Friday evening) was $5, and bag drop was $5. Still fairly cheap, overall. Weirdly, although there was a request for a waiver, mine was never collected or asked for.

Obstacle difficulty seemed to be either laughably easy to really hard, with little in-between. The easy obstacles were a couple carries including sandbags, buckets, or blocks for very short distances which didn’t feel terribly inspired. Tire flips were fine and I felt good about them.

The harder obstacles (for me) included rope climbs, a swing from rope to rope, and a multi-rig. I was able to get up the first incline pipe on the rig, but ropes continue to confuse and frighten me.

Probably the worst offense was having a mud pit followed almost immediately by a set of monkey bars. This made them almost impossible for almost everyone; I only observed one success.

Final obstacle was a straight cargo climb; this was alright. I managed to complete two laps on the course, but never really felt my running was good. Overall, the race was a far cry from the fun it was in 2018 out at Rusty’s Ranch. It wasn’t horrible per se, but it wasn’t much to get excited about.

Note: No photos yet — these were promised but none have been posted (or at least, I haven’t found them).