It was one thousand or so steps for a handful of guinea-pig modern pentathletes, but it was one giant leap for the still nascent sport of Obstacle Course Racing.
OCR—your Spartan Races, Tough Mudders, Warrior Dashes, et al—is still in its tender years, particularly when compared to Modern Pentathlon, which proudly traces its roots to the 18th Olympiad in 708 B.C. Back then, the pentathlon was considered the climax of the games, its winner dubbed the “Victor Ludorum,” not to be confused with Victor Hugo or Luden’s cough drops.
But those two sports, the old and the new, came together in a profoundly significant and newsworthy way at a recent UIPM (Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne) World Cup competition in Pomona, Calif.