OCR DOESN’T NEED MORE STARS. IT NEEDS MORE BUILDERS.

One of the most frustrating parts of obstacle course racing isn’t just losing more race brands and true OCR dedicated gyms and facilities.

It’s realizing that many of the people at the top, and much of the media, don’t even see most us as part of the conversation.

If you don’t have a massive social media following…

If you don’t control sponsorship dollars…

If you can’t help elevate their personal brand…

You’re often invisible.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve coached for over a decade.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve introduced hundreds of people to the sport.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve built training facilities, hosted events, volunteered at races, or spent your own money trying to grow OCR.

You’re simply not part of the club.

What’s ironic is that many of us “nobodies” have invested far more into obstacle racing than the people considered its biggest names.

We’ve bought or rented land.

We’ve built obstacles.

We’ve purchased insurance.

We’ve organized races.

We’ve coached beginners who eventually became podium athletes.

We’ve volunteered before sunrise and stayed until the last obstacle was loaded back onto the trailer.

We’ve spent thousands—sometimes tens of thousands—of dollars—with almost no expectation of getting any of it back.

Meanwhile, many of the sport’s biggest names have invested very little financially into OCR itself. That’s not necessarily a criticism. Professional athletes should absolutely pursue sponsorships, appearance fees, coaching opportunities, and every chance to earn a living.

But there’s a difference between making a living from a sport and helping build one.

Those aren’t always the same thing.

Every Major Sport Started This Way

People forget that professional football wasn’t always the billion-dollar machine it is today.

Early NFL players worked construction.

They sold insurance.

They taught school.

They worked in factories.

They had summer jobs because football couldn’t support them yet.

They understood something important:

If the league was going to survive, everyone had to help build it.

Nobody was too important to promote the game.

Nobody assumed someone else would do the work.

In OCR’s “golden era” it wasn’t close to even being in that stage much less one that can provide what many believe they are owed.

As much as some athletes may feel they’ve “made it,” here’s the reality:

Walk into your local grocery store.

Walk through an airport.

Walk into a coffee shop.

Nobody knows who you are.

And the same is true for us.

The same is true for the gym owner who spent years building a facility.

The race director.

The volunteer.

The coach.

The obstacle builder.

None of us are household names and we probably never will be.

Which means we’re all still on the same team whether we want to admit it or not.

Builders Matter More Than They Get Credit For

Every athlete standing on a podium depends on an entire ecosystem that most people never see.

Someone had to build the obstacle.

Someone had to insure the event.

Someone had to convince sponsors.

Someone had to market it.

Someone had to coach the first-timers.

Someone had to spend years creating places where future champions could even discover the sport.

Those people rarely get interviews.

They rarely get sponsorships.

Most of them lose money.

They do it because they believe obstacle racing deserves to exist.

Without those builders, there are no podiums.

Rory and myself are fortunate enough to know the amazing builders of community, obstacles and races, Aaron and Dana Sabia. Maybe you’ve invested in their amazing array of grip apparatuses from twister to kraken to I-Beams and Nunchucks from Race Ready Obstacles or maybe you’ve experienced how creatively they utilize those devices at races like Abominable Snow Race, Mythic Race, Frontline OCR and their very own The Midwest OCR.

Maybe you have yet to.

But rest assured that the sport of Obstacle Course Racing would be in much better hands if there were more people like them and their family behind it.

And if more people knew exactly how dedicated, passionately and selflessly they have continued to charge ahead in these incredibly challenging times for our young sport.

We Need Less Gatekeeping and More Ownership

OCR doesn’t have the luxury of dividing itself into celebrities and everyone else.

The sport is still too small.

The person finishing first and the person finishing last are far more alike than either of them probably realizes.

We all benefit when participation grows.

We all lose when gyms close.

We all lose when races disappear.

We all lose when another coach decides the financial sacrifice isn’t worth it anymore.

The future of OCR won’t be determined solely by the fastest athletes.

It will be determined by the people willing to build something that lasts.

The coaches.

The volunteers.

The local gyms.

The race directors.

The families.

The everyday athletes who keep showing up.

The “no names.”

Because history has shown something over and over again:

Sports don’t become great because they produce stars.

They produce stars because enough ordinary people were willing to build the foundation first.

Until obstacle racing reaches the point where people recognize its athletes outside our own community, none of us have truly arrived.

We’re all still building.

The only question is who’s willing to pick up the figuritive hammer.