My BoneFrog Tier 1 Review…
Date of Race: May 21st, 2016
All in all I liked the Bonefrog Tier 1 race/venue. The Venue was really organized for the most part. Approaching the area there was a sign BoneFrog Parking,
Parking attendants were helpful and I got a space without issue. $10 to park was reasonable. I went over to registration. The registration line was moving
pretty smoothly. Volunteers were able to get me my bib# right away and also let me know Tier1 shirts didn’t arrive but they had another table verifying your
address as the shirts will be mailed out to you. The address verificaiton table was moving a bit slowly but not awful. After that was taken care of, I went to
bag check, paid my $5 and checked my bag. Standard bag check. Plenty of porta-potties as well I might add.
Racetime! I got into my race coral. The race started at 8:45AM EST sharp. Myself being very punctual with time, this was a huge plus for me. The race started
out with a short run turning into a semi steep climb. After a few obstacles there was a steep downhill. Not going to go through every obstacle there was but
the obstacles were well designed and thought out. Placement of them was very well planned too I might add. There was a rope climb and right after the rope climb
you went right to a carry. The carry was what looked to me like an ammunition box filled with dirt. Not all that heavy at all. The route to carry it wasnt all that
steep either. Don’t be fooled though; right after the carry you were shooting straight up the mountain an “obstacle” which was called Valhalla… it was probably
35 -40% grade, pretty steep and it was a pretty long hike to the top, maybe a hair under half a mile I was told. Don’t get me wrong, this was no Killington but it was
giving people problems. I think I handed out my whole bottle of salt tabs throughout the race from people cramping up. Some other obstacles included some tires
you needed to get over which was harder than it looked. Alot of walls, some slanted walls you needed to climb up with use of a rope. There was a nice little tarzan
rig which I did a few times (Love any type of rig). Another memorable obstacle was the Get A Grip…it looked like some vinyl straps tied to staging with some rollers
on it as handles… Did that quite a few times…and succeeded each time. There was an obstacle where you filled a bag 2/3 of the way with sand and carried it up a small hil
and back down. There was a very light herc hoist at the final obstacle pit as well. The log jump/hope obstacle the Dirty Name for me was challenging I had to take the penalty on that
one. My left leg wasnt feeling quite stable and didnt want to risk injuring it any more than it already was. The last obstacle was not all that challenging but it was totally worth doing and very
fun. It was called black ops….you climb up a rope to a plat form and grab on to soem monkey bars, you are pretty high up and if you fall there was a cargo net to catch you…
It was a great photo opportunity as well..Im sure it will be everyone’s profile pic in the next week or so. One thing I need to mention that I haven’t yet… the water…
If you did the Tier-1 course including the sprint you have 3 water obstacles… a crossing…a traverse and an over under barricaded crossing. The water was freezing but if you like courses
that throw in the water crossings and swims and obstacles over water etc… then I highly recommend Bonefrog. Only cons were after running the challenge going back to do the 3 mile sprint,
the lines were extremely long. so long at hells gates obstacle I just did the damn penalty because I didnt feel like waiting 20 minutes to hop a few walls. The wait at Black Ops was about
5 or 6 minutes and I thought of doing the penalty for that as well but figure dits the highlight and end of the race so whatever, Ill hurry up and wait. Not having the Tier-1 shirts available
wasn’t the venues fault and they are dealing with it and everyone will get their shirt. I was hoping the carries would be longer and heavier. They were a pretty good weight but could’ve added
either 1 more weight… or 2…another carry somewhere else.
Total distance respectively was around 13.02 miles…Elevation gain respectively from the data I received from dozens of people I will say around 4300 ft of elevation gain…not bad…not bad
at all!
All in all, I think everyone should try Bonefrog, whether its the Sprint, Challenge, or Tier-1, you will get your money’s worth…just sign up early as the price jumps get fairly high. I will
be signing up for 2017 as soon as registration opens up, and I think this will be in my top 3 favorite races of the year…and totally considering running Tier-1 elite next year!
PS
The medals they give for completing Tier-1….HUGEEEEE… very cool medal!