In the world of obstacle course races (OCR), Tough Viking marks the culmination of its racing season with a last race in Finland. We embarked on this journey to experience the incredible atmosphere and discuss our collaboration for the 2024 season.
As you may know, in the current season, Tough Viking has been using our equipment in their events, including the eight-lane obstacle cage equipped with floating Cheaseboard walls and our ULTRA GRIP holds – Balls and Discs 1.0. Starting from the August event in Djurgarden, participants had access to our T-Grips and robust Nunchako 2.0 on various race obstacles.
We’re thrilled to confirm that our gear has been well-received and will stay in use! What’s more, there’s more to come! However, we won’t reveal all the details today; we’ll keep it a surprise until before the upcoming Tough Viking season.
As a teaser, we’ll mention that we’re fine-tuning our current rig setup, and bring on the course a new combo!
Now, let’s delve into the Helsinki race itself:
From Przemek Trakowski’s, TOROZ CEO perspective: Tough Viking stands as the pinnacle of organizational excellence in the OCR world, in my opinion. I’ve participated in numerous races throughout Europe, and this organization operates at 100% professionalism. The village setup, the course, the staff service, and the obstacles—all are top-notch in terms of both technical organization and visual presentation. You can feel it’s a well-oiled machine. One of many positives, but what sets it apart from most of races is that it’s one of the few, if not the only one (for sure the only I know), that organizes races right in the heart of the city. When they say it’s in Goteborg, Stockholm, or Helsinki, it’s not somewhere nearby, 10-15-20 km from the city, it’s right in the city center. That is what I respect.
The course is always diverse, featuring some flat terrain, gravel paths, grassy stretches, asphalt, and some uphill, rocky segments. There are plenty of heavy carrying —something I particularly enjoy. In Helsinki, we encountered chains, a 60kg ball, sleds, uphill sandbags, jerry cans, and my personal favorite, an 80kg ball—big wow! The obstacles are well-placed and cleverly placed. They are moderately challenging, accessible for amateurs (although, of course, many still end up doing penalty laps), and just right for the Elite racers. Maybe, there could be a few more technical obstacles (a hard old school obstacles fanatic speaking), but there’s no room for complaints (besides, thanks to TOROZ there will be some more soon😊).
Diving into the water a few times adds a unique twist and raises the adrenaline level, driving you to push harder.
Would I recommend it? Absolutely! If you’re into OCR tourism, you must experience Tough Viking. I will definitely make a return visit next year.
Till the next time!