Finally South Australia has a dedicated Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) Training facility to call our own with the recent opening of SA Base Camp!!
Base Camp is located in the Western suburbs of Adelaide, about a 15-20min drive from the CBD. Set up in a fantastic warehouse the premises takes up over 2000sqm of floor space with 18+ obstacles, a 100sqm + Free weight section, ergos, spin bikes and cardio area. They have even incorporated their own cafe!
Some of the obstacles that are included on site are
- Run against an 80+kph wind tunnel
- Australia's only purpose built travelator (think back to the gladiators TV show...)
- Vertical rope climbs
- Barbed wire sandpit crawl
- Giant hay bale pyramid
Owned and operated by Luke and Nikki Williams they have put their heart, soul, money and arses on the line to get this venture off the ground.
Luke is ex army and has personally fabricated the large majority of obstacles at BaseCamp, this way they retained control of what was there and could scope each one the way that they wanted. There is nothing out of the box about this place! They have spent many countless days and nights at the centre planning each infinite detail of the obstacles, the set up and locations to ensure that you are getting the best work out and sports specific training possible.
BaseCamp are passionate about making this place the "best of breed" in Australia. They want this to become the athletes choice of training facilities and they most certainly have the drive, facility and base to make this a reality. There are some super exciting things in the works!
Luke and Nikki are keen to work with the local OCR community in South Australia and are currently working towards True Grit Adelaide and also the Enduro in June. They are helping by hosting weekly sessions increasing in time. 1st week was a 1 hour do an obstacle then run 500m or 1km depending if you chose the A or B course. The week after it was split 1hr and 2 hour. Each week the time will be increasing to a split 3 or 6 hour! EPIC!
To keep you pumped up (and possibly to block out the pain) the sound system in this place is amazing! Turned up it even drowns out that silly little voice in your head that tells you to "stop" or "this hurts"!
Want to see what BaseCamp is all about. Well get your asses down there and give it a go! if you can't make it there just yet check out this link to get an insight and check out their website for a full breakdown of the facilities, obstacles, costings and more!
There are plans in place to do a split 7 and 14 hour session for us crazies taking on the True Grit Enduro!
Unfortunately at the 1st OCR group session i severely sprained my ankle on the tyre run within the first 10mins of the hour long event. Visibly shaken and limping on my next Luke was straight over to try and render some assistance but was quickly brushed off by me. I had paid my money and driven 45mins to get there, like hell i was stopping!
The next 50mins was uncomfortable to say the least. Nikki trying to convince me to stop, rest, ice, elevate but i had done the damage, why stop now!?
I actually managed to come equal 1st on the B course which was crazy! We all sat around for a while after and reflected on the morning and regaled the brilliant facility that we have on our doorstep.
To be expected my ankle blew up like a balloon and now 2 weeks on i still have brusing on my toes and running still provides a little pain but it's getting better.
This is the type of place that will eat up quite a significant amount of my time and you know what, i'm ok with that! Yes it is a little more expensive than my Jetts gym membership (which i currently have on hold) BUT for the small increase in membership at BaseCamp the facilities it provides is so far and above anything that Jetts has or any other gym in Adelaide.
Adelaide is a funny place though. People get so excited about new things, events, businesses or whatever it is but when time comes to take the plunge suddenly 99% of these people go missing! If we want facilities like this we need to get around them and support them! I for one will be taking a leap of faith with Luke and Nikki in some small way and signing up for an annual membership ($17per week over 12 months) because i believe in what they are doing and if i want to operate at the best of my (limited) abilities then i need to train sports specific! What better place to do it at!?
Stay tuned for some BIG announcements, training details and maybe even a special guest running a weekend camp which will help you find some Hurt that you have been Searching for.....
Want more info?
Give them a call
(08) 7226 0533
Drop in and see them
2 Brandwood street, Royal Park, SA, 5014
Facebook them
Base Camp - South Australia
Check out their website
www.sabasecamp.com.au/
Even send me a message and i'll try and point you in the right direction
i am not affiliated with BaseCamp in any way, shape or form, i am just a passionate OCR Competitor, fitness enthusiast and really just love what these guys are trying to do.
