When Myself, Mikey and Dan found out that Invncbl (formerly Revolution Runs) were putting on an Obstacle Race in Margam Park, it was a no-brainer to get signed up. Revolution Runs had a great reputation for Obstacle Racing in Wales, Invncbl was promised to be bigger and better. We decided to go find out if indeed it was!

We rocked up about an hour before our wave started to be faced with a sea of anxious but excited runners. I was amazed at the turn-out for this event especially since it was the first outing for invncbl. The atmosphere was buzzing!

We dumped our bags at the bag dump along with my nice n warm Obstafit Hoody much to my disappointment – the sun may have been out but the wind was going for it! Cue instant jogging on the spot and flapping of arms in an attempt to keep warm.
I did think at one point we probably look like a bunch of lemons (or oranges in our bright orange t shirts ;)) bouncing around with 30 minutes to go until the race, but then a quick look around and I realised we weren’t the only ones!

I was amazed at the turn-out for this event especially since it was the first outing for invncbl.

We decided to wander over to the start line to watch the elites set off. They all thundered off at lightning pace, and quickly disappeared into the distance. We curiously watched them in the distance to see where the path would take them.
There were huge hills, actually make that ‘mountains’ directly in front of the dots. I assumed the dots would take a route underneath the hills, but no they started climbing!
Oh dear we are in for a tough one here!

There were huge hills, actually make that ‘mountains’ directly in front of the dots.

Before we knew it and had to time to think about it we were stood in front of a bearded man with a microphone doing burpees squats and star jumps. 5 mins to go until our wave began

Naturally we got right to the front in an attempt to get a quick start, being elite athletes and all that 😉
And we were off….Not a lightning fast start if I’m honest, my legs felt pretty heavy as we ran towards the first obstacle which was a massive puddle of seriously sticky mud! For the first time I was made to realise why people recommend glueing ones shoe to ones foot.
I had to make a conscious effort to force my toes into my shoes whilst wading through the mud, it felt like random hands were trying to wrench them off my feet. No way was I losing my shoes this early in the race!!
I got to the end of the mud pool and became literally stuck in the mud. Embarrassing to say the least. A random hand appeared to wrench me out and I accepted gladly, the spirit of OCR was alive and well as always (note my ‘team-mates’ were about 200 metres in front by now, nice of them eh ;))!

Back into a running pace we made our way up the first hill, I wouldn’t say it was comfortable but we got to the top with no bother – we were with the front runners of our wave at this point since the majority had slowed to a walk on the hill.
I’ve always enjoyed running hills, probably due to my lunch hour hill runs in Cwmbran and numerous Caerphilly Mountain runs during my kickboxing training. This training helped me all the way through the race in fact, we ascended all the hills at a running (well maybe a jogging) pace.

We looked up at one point and saw a huge pair of stationary antlers sticking out of a bush. There was a stag literally stood at the top of the hill watching us all

As we got to the first 8ft wall we had already caught up with the wave behind us (the elite wave might I add ;). There was a queue at the wall which I was expecting. I do think that another wall alongside this one would have reduced the queues somewhat, or perhaps
a wider wall. I contemplated trying out my newly learnt heel/knee hook technique but decided against it with so many people on the wall at the same time.

My brain fails me when it comes to remembering obstacles, but a few that stick out for me are the hill slide, the water slide, the stream wade and the overhanging wall.
We looked up at one point and saw a huge pair of stationary antlers sticking out of a bush. There was a stag literally stood at the top of the hill watching us all. What an amazing sight that was!

The hill slide was basically a huge strip of slippery plastic placed on a hill onto which was being poured buckets of warm water and detergent. Always a good combo to guarantee a slippery surface, however in my case
not so good if you get detergent in your eye! I literally bombed down the slide on my backside and nearly took out my brother at the bottom (cue flashbacks from out of control skiing in bulgaria). I then managed to splash a huge chunk of detergent in my eye resulting in me spending the rest of the race
trying to see out of just one eye (the other just being one big hazy cloud). Not particularly easy when trying to negotiate balance beams! But that’s me, prone to stupid accidents and mishaps 🙂

The scenery was spectacular, the Obstacles I’d say were fun whilst challenging at the same time

Onwards and upwards – we reached and obligatory stream to wade through, which was actually quite refreshing given we were sweating buckets by now. Dan proceeded to fall not once but twice on his backside directly in front of a family eating their lunch which provided some comical entertainment for them and me admittedly.
We climbed up a ladder wall I believe then scrambled over a cargo net where I got to try out one of the techniques learnt from the beard at the Dirty Dozen Backyard Jam. When descending, legs first, down until the arms are straight, then move the arms down. It worked, I was down in about 2 moves, cheers Doug!

The water slide was interesting. There was a fireman at the bottom of the ladder encouraging everyone with the words ‘its only a foot deep’. Now to me that was not reassuring, this slide was almost vertical which meant when I slid down it and landed my shins and ankles got properly slammed at the bottom. Luckily I didn’t get injured
which is surprising given my usual luck when it comes to injuries. We then waded through a lake and scrambled out soaking wet but still in one piece!

To be honest the rest of the race is a blur, the last obstacle was a nice 10 foot wall with some handy climb holds for assistance. We mounted the wall no problem and sprinted over the finish line to collect our goody bags, t shirt and medal.

Immediately I went on a mission to find some water to wash my eye out which by now was making my look like I’d done 12 rounds with Tyson.

As we settled down to a well deserved beer and a chat with Sian, Carolyn and Liv from MWD Runners, we contemplated what was a fun, challenging race that we all thoroughly enjoyed.

The scenery was spectacular, the Obstacles I’d say were fun whilst challenging at the same time. General Organisation for a first event was good. Plenty of water stops and jelly babies, and lots of friendly motivating marshal’s.

Would I do another Invncbl? Oh yes. We are currently planning on getting a team together for the next invncbl race in Caerphilly! Who fancies it?