Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Why Obstacle Event Racing Deserves To Be Televised Again

By Rob Sutter


Obstacle event racing has a number of features which come into play, as I'm sure you could imagine. For example, the physical impact it can have on people is great, whether they decide to go about it smartly or irrationally. The shows that were once featured on television were some of my favorites and I would give anything to watch them again. Maybe if television decided to make room for this level of racing on a main channel, it may just see something of an uprising yet again.

One of the reasons why I was so attracted to these kinds of shows from the start was that they featured actions I didn't think I was capable of. I saw the various contestants go about these kinds of actions in their own ways and I didn't believe that, as a kid, I would be physically apt. Regardless, I grew up and I started to wonder what would have happened if I was born a little bit earlier. With the shows being cancelled, it's unfortunate since I thought that they were engaging in their own rights.

The 90's was the period of time I grew up in and it was the one which I had the most expose to obstacle event racing at. "Guts" and "Legends of the Hidden Temple" were especially fun for me because I remembered wanting to be part of those shows. It didn't matter if I was physically capable or not; it just seemed like fun to go on television and be part of the action. Keep in mind that there are a number of other shows more fitting for older audiences, which companies the likes of Spartan Race can recommend.

Back in 2003 or so, I watched a bit of Spike TV and "MXC" was the show that had be coming back. This show was very much like "Guts" but made for an 18 to 35 male demographic because the amount of violence was so much greater. The reason that I say this is because the obstacles had far more risk to them and, as a result, many more failures had come about. It was fun to see the contestants overcome the challenges but you always cringed when they fell too hard.

For those who competed in such obstacle event racing shows and took more than their fair share of hits, I have the utmost respect for you. It's clear that there's a lot of work that goes into these, especially when it comes to training. You have to be able to match up with your opponents, at the very least, in order to constantly push yourself. I'm all for seeing a resurgence of these programs come about but I think that we are far away from that period of time.




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