Bonefrog Tier 1 Review

Because ya know, Proof!

So this race is truly grueling, on a great mountain venue in western mass (Charlemont). The Tier 1 challenge was a combo deal, one lap of the challenge, and as many sprints as you could do. The Challenge was 10.2 miles long, with 51 obstacles, and they were hard! The sprint was bout 4.2 miles long, and 51 obstacles. This race also offered on site camping as well, and it was pretty cool, it was real close to the course, ad not far from start line. The venue left a close by building open for us, and it had a giant bathroom were allowed to use, it was creepy as hell, but it was nice to have an actual toilet and sink near by, seriously It was great, but i have to describe it correctly. Also they offered a dinner the night before at the mountain venue, but for 15 bucks the pasta dinner did not seem worth it, it was typical of a race venue, so it did not look horrible, but we chose to eat don the street, as did many others, the closest restaurant was overclouded, and had trouble keeping up, but the food was good and service was nice, so it worked out in the end, even though we waited forever.

Race Map

The Challenge:

This course was a blast and very tough, (but had more of a varying terrain than the sprint). I really do like the local races, you get some really unique obstacles. there are too many to remember, especially when the race has so many. They had the typical walls of various levels, plenty solid, some slotted, several inclined with ropes, some declined, and the over unders, and through walls as well.. One problem I saw with the rope climbs, they did not have anything bracing you if you fall, no water, hay, or anything. hat goes with the tough territory, but if you are new and do not have the technique down yet, that can be scary. I loved that they tarped over a few obstacles to make you go under them in the dark, which was awesome! One of them was a short trench. But the really cool one was pretty long, filled with glow sticks for light, but it didn't really light up much, the cool part? 3 through walls. 2 Shorter ones, and a big one in the middle, really fun! They had2 sandbag carries, and two other heavy carries. They had a few low crawls, but no barb wire, it was an awesome change from all those other ocrs out there. Another cool thing you will not see at many other races was the amount of rig style set ups, they had a rope climb to monkey bars, then slotted wall down. They had a few other rigs like this on course. They had a few sets of monkey bars, and a few styles of them. I loved the traverse rope, they had it marked off to about midway and then drop into the water, and had 2 racers on each rope at a time. I can not swim, and the water was deep, so i just traversed the whole way across, which was not too bad because they did not burn out your upper body yet, and it was in the first few miles, (if it had been 5 miles later, it may have been an issue for me). After the traverse rope, then a traverse wall, then what they call "cliff hanger" and that was a beast of an obstacle! luckily the wait was not super long wait, the boat crossing over the water "assault craft" then to the drunken monkey (which is a great explanation for the amount of unevenness on the pegs you traversed) along with the "uss mami traverse" (rope traverse) all added up to a wait, so you were not all stuck at the cliff hanger (the boat crossing took about20 min in the sprint, and the rope traverse got up to 20/30 min as well in the later waves) The cliff hanger is like the handles for the cable weight machines at the gym, but picture over a hundred hanging from different levels, and such, for roughly 15 to 20 ft. Also there was one spot at about mile 8, that I was in heaven!

found randomly on google

They also had a spot with a giant poster with 31 names on it, fallen soldiers, you had a 35lb wreck bag, and did an overheard press, followed by a burpee with a wreck bag. One of the worst parts of the mountain we climbed had the best view, which was nice considering the fact that it felt like an 80 degree incline up, and then right back down, with plenty of rocks flying down as you make your way down the mountain. So at the top you see 2 things, the beautiful mountain surrounding you, and a memorial for those killed in action, with markers to add a name if you wanted.

They also had an interesting memory test on course, they put up a sign with the names of the charities that they support (31 heroes, one team one fight,  and the navy seal foundation) then several miles later they asked you to name one of the charities, if you didn't know one, you ran an extra maybe 1/10 of a mile total to a sign, then told the soldiers who asked you, then you ran another 1/10 mile to another sign with details about a rifle (I loved that the decryption said rate of fire "pew and pew, pew, pew). The finish was cool, and obstacle heavy, they had a heavy carry, wall, log traverse, gut busters (jumping up and forward onto logs like at shale hill) then the rig with the rope straight up a wall to monkey bars then slotted wall down, finished up with a roll through water, and then sand, so much fun!

The Sprint:

This course seemed to have literally all of the inclines of the challenge, so it took forever, and was brutal, I could only do one of these (so could my friends that I went out with, I know 1 that did two, Never mind my 3 friends that did 2 laps of the challenge, talk about beasts!) This course was interesting, not at all what I would expect from a sprint. They did have a bunch of issues with the trail markings, and volunteers not knowing where to go next, having a, overlapping course on the same day is hard, and they had all of us confused, volunteers and racers. You still got two heavy carries, a bunch of upper body heavy obstacles, that were all fun. The boats you cross over the water on were backed up horribly, and the traverse rope did not have any life vests and that is annoying, the offer was a 2 min wait as a penalty, but I am sorry, that is really not cool if you can not swim, like me, and after my first lap, I was not pushing it to go all the way across on the second lap.

Tier 1 Challenge:

So the challenge that was offered was that one lap around the challenge, and as many as you wanted around the sprint. Also a part of this package was a pair of sleeves (seen in photo above). The sleeves are pretty cool, and to get them you had to earn them, by finishing both courses. It was a cool little addition, and was actually provided but one of the running teams. Only problem with that was that nobody knew about it. and the person running the merch tent was very hostile about it, other than that, no issues to be had. Gotta get those miles in for Race local!

Cool Pic I found online

One problem I ran into on race day was an abundance of bugs! obviously no fault of the race, but has to be said the long trail run was the only real break all day I had from swatting the little bugs out of my face and around my head. Also there were some demon spawns that feasted on my calves, the one spot that was not covered in clothes, and they are worse than any bugs bites i have gotten to date, oh well, it is a reminder of an awesome day right? 

The Volunteers were pretty cool, except the ones on course that had no idea were people were supposed to go. But hey it happens, they were all really nice. The thing I want to emphasize about the volunteers though? The fact that they had a bunch of ex armed forces (and paid employees as well I am sure) That were actually pleased that you showed up and did the race! The older gentleman that was at the finish line, the ones that handed out the medals, and the ones that handed out the shirts, they were sincerely happy that you showed up and ran, and thanked me! And nit just by saying the words, they looked me in the eye, and were very sincere, and they loved that we enjoyed the race! I have had plenty of interactions with volunteers, and employees from all kinds of races, hell even if you throw in all the various establishments i have been to, that stood out, It seemed to touch these guys that so many people showed up! Now I could totally be reading WAAAYYYY too much into it, but the interaction i had with those guys, however brief it was, it was very real, and refreshing, and they really put the right people at the finish line!

So in case you have not guessed yet, You should really put this race on your radar, it is run by Navy seals,  they support 3 charities, and put on a great event, if you are up to the challenge, go for it, and it will be one of the harder ones you do (think worse than a spartan super, maybe on par with a spartan beast)

*Update*

It has just been brought to my attention, that as a part of biggest team, we get a 15 credit, and you guessed it, the New England Spahtens got biggest team yet again we killed it with the numbers! just another reason you should join the best team around! check out our fb page New England Spahtens