More than 400 competitors sloshed through water, mounted walls and crawled under barriers at Regina’s first-ever Mountie Maker Obstacle Race on Saturday..The race was held on the cadet training grounds and hosted by the Fallen Police Officer Fund of Depot Division. The 7.5 km run included 26 obstacles in alignment with the 26 weeks of the Cadet Training Program..People could compete individually or in a team. Heats began every 15 minutes starting at 8 a.m., with the final heat leaving at noon. The cost to compete was $80, dropping to $65 for early birds and $35 for cadets. Children could also compete in a 'Mini Mountie' 1.5 km obstacle course for $35..Organizers were pleased, as the adult version sold out. In all, 442 competitors crawled under obstacles, climbed walls, ran through muddy waters, and navigated ropes and monkey bars as they ran the distance. Participants received a personalized shirt sponsored by John Deere and a medal to mark their participation. About 100 volunteers from the non-profit Run Regina helped make the event possible..Runner Matias Echegaray of Regina told the Western Standard he enjoyed the experience, despite scraping his knee and his hand along the way. The 5’5” 23-year-old tackled the obstacles as they came..“You have to climb over walls and just jump over at the other end, rock climbing, rope climbing. They had you run through muddy water and come out the other end. Lots of monkey bars all over the place, especially ones that would swing. They had this weird maze and you basically had to crawl through the maze with no light,” he explained..“We had to go up those hills running with wet clothes and just completely soaked. And then the obstacle part after the second soaking was the hardest. It was very interesting, lots of obstacles, lots of running. Just kind of fun all over the place.”.Echegaray made fast friends with a participant he was paired with. Together, they surmounted the 26 sets of obstacles, which he believed numbered more like 40 if they were counted in individual parts..Participants unable to do certain obstacles were allowed to do 26 burpees instead. Echegaray estimated women accounted for 40% of competitors..“The only problem that some of the girls seemed to have was in height, because you have to jump up to get up to the monkey bars. So, someone had to give them a boost and try to keep them up there once in a while,” Echegaray said..The course took Echegaray about 75 minutes to complete and was even live-streamed on the internet..“We didn't know that they would have a drone on top of us. I didn't notice until I heard the buzzing on top of me in the middle of an obstacle. [It was] videotaping everything…and just checking people out,” he said..The Mounties didn’t miss the opportunity to try to sign up recruits. Echegaray, who currently works as an oil change attendant, may now have a new career option..“Everyone who went through they gave us a medal, and they recommended you based on how you performed to a specific Mountie division somewhere in the country. So they specifically said, hey, I should go to Ontario because I was very good at climbing over walls and that type of thing,” he said..“They were trying to recruit me.”
More than 400 competitors sloshed through water, mounted walls and crawled under barriers at Regina’s first-ever Mountie Maker Obstacle Race on Saturday..The race was held on the cadet training grounds and hosted by the Fallen Police Officer Fund of Depot Division. The 7.5 km run included 26 obstacles in alignment with the 26 weeks of the Cadet Training Program..People could compete individually or in a team. Heats began every 15 minutes starting at 8 a.m., with the final heat leaving at noon. The cost to compete was $80, dropping to $65 for early birds and $35 for cadets. Children could also compete in a 'Mini Mountie' 1.5 km obstacle course for $35..Organizers were pleased, as the adult version sold out. In all, 442 competitors crawled under obstacles, climbed walls, ran through muddy waters, and navigated ropes and monkey bars as they ran the distance. Participants received a personalized shirt sponsored by John Deere and a medal to mark their participation. About 100 volunteers from the non-profit Run Regina helped make the event possible..Runner Matias Echegaray of Regina told the Western Standard he enjoyed the experience, despite scraping his knee and his hand along the way. The 5’5” 23-year-old tackled the obstacles as they came..“You have to climb over walls and just jump over at the other end, rock climbing, rope climbing. They had you run through muddy water and come out the other end. Lots of monkey bars all over the place, especially ones that would swing. They had this weird maze and you basically had to crawl through the maze with no light,” he explained..“We had to go up those hills running with wet clothes and just completely soaked. And then the obstacle part after the second soaking was the hardest. It was very interesting, lots of obstacles, lots of running. Just kind of fun all over the place.”.Echegaray made fast friends with a participant he was paired with. Together, they surmounted the 26 sets of obstacles, which he believed numbered more like 40 if they were counted in individual parts..Participants unable to do certain obstacles were allowed to do 26 burpees instead. Echegaray estimated women accounted for 40% of competitors..“The only problem that some of the girls seemed to have was in height, because you have to jump up to get up to the monkey bars. So, someone had to give them a boost and try to keep them up there once in a while,” Echegaray said..The course took Echegaray about 75 minutes to complete and was even live-streamed on the internet..“We didn't know that they would have a drone on top of us. I didn't notice until I heard the buzzing on top of me in the middle of an obstacle. [It was] videotaping everything…and just checking people out,” he said..The Mounties didn’t miss the opportunity to try to sign up recruits. Echegaray, who currently works as an oil change attendant, may now have a new career option..“Everyone who went through they gave us a medal, and they recommended you based on how you performed to a specific Mountie division somewhere in the country. So they specifically said, hey, I should go to Ontario because I was very good at climbing over walls and that type of thing,” he said..“They were trying to recruit me.”
