OCRWC Wrap-Up

As the official shoe of OCR World Championships, we were extremely happy with the event and venue! It was amazing to meet all the athletes from all over the world and watch all the action, especially since we were right in front of the fast center stage 100M race with its back-to-back obstacles!

A big thank you to everyone who came by the VJ booth, it was great to meet everyone and hear their stories!

We were also appreciative and honored to have Olympian Jess O’Connell and OCR Legend Faye Stenning of Grit Coaching on hand at the booth to meet and greet everyone at the event! They were both so open to talk with anyone who approached them and share their coaching wisdom.

Thursday evening, we attended the Athlete dinner where Jess and Faye gave an inspiring talk about their history as athletes, competition, mindset and overcoming the challenges that go along with being a competitive athlete. With their combined history and knowledge, they definitely can help athletes learn how to process current performance, assess and reframe for future competitions.

A cold and windy Friday morning brought the 3K Championships and some really exciting action with the Pro athletes being neck and neck on the beautiful Stratton Mountain Resort course. The Male Pro Division saw VJ Athletes at the top of the pack! Veejay Jones took 1st followed by a very close Ryan Kempson in 2nd, who was only 17 seconds behind Veejay and Rylan Schadegg brought in 4th not too far behind.

The women’s field was just as exciting, with super close times, a missed bell changing the race outcome in a close finish. VJ Pro Athlete Annie Dube and Miranda Kielpinski, both part of the VJ Sponsored Dream Team made a great showing with Annie finishing in 4th and Miranda in 11th, only 8 seconds from making the top 10.

Saturday’s 15K Championships brought slightly warmer temperatures (slightly) and the race was just as gripping…no pun intended. ;-) Again, our ladies from The Dream Team, Annie Dube and Miranda Kielpinski made an awesome showing. Annie finished in 3rd with a very comfortable lead over 4th place and Miranda finished in 6th.

And for the Men’s Pro Division, Tyler Veerman decided to come out to OCRWC last minute after the race he was registered for was cancelled….and what a decision it was, because he took 1st place with a strong lead! Ryan Kempson placed 3rd and Logan Broadbent (The Boomerang World Champion/American Ninja Warrior) placed 5th.

Sunday brought the Team Relay Championships and Veejay Jones and Rylan Schadegg who raced The Men’s Pro Division on Team Danish Sandwich came in 1st and we saw Tyler Veerman and Rylan Schadegg race on Team USA and take 1st place for the Co-Ed Pro Division.

Also, super awesome to see some other top pro athletes on the podium rocking VJ Shoes for both the 3K Championship and 15K Championship.

Ryan Atkins, wearing the XTRM2 placed 3rd for the 3K and 2nd for the 15K. And top pro women finishers wearing The Best Grip On The Planet were Lindsay Webster in the XTRM2 came in in 2nd for the 3K and and Kris Rugloski in the Spark placed 3rd. For the 15K Lindsay finished in 1st, closely followed by Kris in 2nd.

Congratulations to all the athletes who raced at OCRWC! We couldn’t be prouder of all the VJ Athletes and appreciate all the love they showed us at the event!

And, personally, as a first timer to OCRWC I loved and appreciated how welcoming all the athletes were and how accommodating they were in taking the time to talk with me about the races, the obstacles, training and of course VJ Shoes. 👟

I personally raced in the 3K and while the obstacles were definitely some of the most challenging obstacles I’ve done to date, I loved every moment of it. There is something to be said about trying something out of your comfort zone and to be competing with athletes from all over the world can only strengthen one as an athlete.

And racing in the beauty that is Stratton Mountain Resort was absolutely outstanding!

The OCRWC staff and volunteers were so encouraging and supportive of the racing athletes, I really can’t say enough on what an awesome event OCRWC is and now I must go work on my proficiency on these tricky, challenging obstacles and look forward to next year! To see all the race results click here.

-Lu Telford, VJ Shoes Marketing @lulutelford