Race Review – BattleFrog Series – Tri-State – 5K BullFrog

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Photography: J-Chip USA / Battlefrog

Summary
Category Grade
Parking A
Check In A
Bag Check B+
Course \ Obstacles B+
Water Stations A
Finish Line A
Medals A
Festival A
Results \ Photos B+

Parking:
The event was held at a popular racing facility (Old Bridge Township Raceway Park) that contains ample space within its 500+ acres.  Upon arriving early at the facility to experience the full day effect of the event it was a pleasure having multiple lanes to choose for entering.  The heavy rain did not limit the direction and first impression as this was my first visit to the area.

Check In:
With days prior to the event participants received an email from Battlefrog containing a map of the course, festival area and other pertinent information for arriving.  One thought missing was a need to print a waiver or bib number prior to arriving.  For most of the veteran racers this has become a common practice so it was unusual receiving confirmation that the waiver and bib number will be assigned at check in. On the day of the event I approached the tents with an open mind.  The staff behind the table asked for my ID to check off on their computer, handed me a packet and wished me luck. It was an absolute pleasure that this second action upon arriving continued to provide a step above other races and continued their excellence for racer experience.

Bag Check
To provide a full race review experience I wanted to make sure all categories were covered.  As bag check can sometimes cause either ease or frustration I wanted to confirm the coverage in this area was flawless. From the past few events that I’ve attended the working method over separation between drop off and pick up was completed here. My only suggestion for BattleFrog on this would be to move the bag check further away from the check in.  This will better manage the crowd arriving and departing.

Course \ Obstacles:
Knocked out of the park:

  • Motivation by Coach Pain Dewayne at the starting line
  • Quality over the obstacles
  • Newly created obstacles to industry
  • Course Map
  • Split signs for 5K\15K
  • Energetic volunteers
  • Significant amount of photographers throughout course

The only back up was at the 12’ rope walls. Opportunities: The course could have been better marked with tape.  After exiting the slip n’ slide you were facing the delta ladder, but needed to turn left for the Jerry Cans.  It took a few seconds to recognize the location which was greatly corrected by the volunteers.  Widening the Normandy jacks would help as I tried getting around another racer, but towards the exit needed to merge back on their path to exit.

Water Stations:
For the 5K course there were 2 water stations on the course and 1 immediately finishing.  With the course being just less than 4 miles the water stations were ample and contained enough COLD water and cups for every racer approaching. The COLD water from these large coolers was a treat.

Finish Line:
The finish line was wide, contained ample amount of staff for your medal, water, snacks and recovery drink.  No suggestions here as one of my eyes was also shut due to the mud from the Normandy jacks. It was nice to see they separated the race shirts from the finish line.  Getting my shirt before I started using my coupon was a great benefit.

Medal \ Swag:
The medal and shirt were high quality.  There were not customized, but the 50% polyester/50% cotton along with the weight to the medal was a sign of their continued quality.

Festival \ Family Friendly:
The festival area was wide and extremely family friendly beyond any race I’ve been to in the past. A rundown of the festival included:

  • Inflatable Village for kids \ adults acting like kids
  • Navy Seal performance
  • Spectator Viewing throughout course
  • Festival Challenges
  • Seal Museum
  • Food\Vendors (OCR Gear and others)
  • Sufficient amount of rest rooms
  • Showers \ Changing Tent
  • Merchandise
  • Results
  • Biggest Team tent (Went to NE Spahtens)
  • Large Public tent

Results \ Photos:
The evening of the race I was greeted with a Facebook post by the BattleFrog series that my results were online and confirmed.  I know that technology is improving in these sports, but to get results upon closing the event was a great benefit. As I’m writing this article (3 days after the event) I haven’t received my photos.  This might be due to the overwhelming amount of photographers on the course, but it would be good to see an improvement on this for the future as this series grows larger.

Final Words:
My only regret was that I wish I ran the course twice.  For a race that just introduced itself to the industry they acted like a company that has been around for years.  It would go without saying this is due to the quality, experienced workers they have. Well done BattleFrog!  See you next time!

Finish Line with M&A Athlete Laura Messner
Finish Line with M&A Athlete Laura Messner

 

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Gene Sackman
I am a Father, Husband, Outdoor enthusiast, Mountain Biker, Snowboarder,and OCR athlete. I compete in the open category of two major OCR company’s today. You can consider me the ”average” racer with commitment to always wanting the OCR community to grow with the passion that has made it was it is today. I volunteer, share my experience and provide insight where I can. Throughout my columns you will find me continuing to share this or that of others.

2 COMMENTS

  1. I very much enjoyed your review. The detail and information was presented in a perfect and easy to read/understand what was really going on there. I’m actually looking forward to doing a battlwfrog after reading this! I had the complete opposite of your pleasant and enjoyable experience a the “tri-state warrior dash” on Saturday. It was so so solo terrible that warrior dash gave every person that was registered a personal code for free entry to the next race in that series which helped stop the bleedinding. y thanks again for’ your awesome review! I can be reached by email at [email protected]

  2. Thank you Chris for the kind words. Sorry to hear on your experience with the NJ Warrior Dash. Their organization holds great events in other states so hopefully they correct the obvious issues for the future.

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