Our Team

Meet the OCRWC Team

It takes a special crew to bring the OCRWC to life. These people strive tirelessly to bring you the best experience in obstacle course racing.

Adrian Bijanada
Founder and CEO
After years of endurance racing himself, Adrian founded the Obstacle Course Racing World Championships in 2013 with the goal of providing an unparalleled and independent platform to unify the sport’s athletes and communities. Since then, Adrian has helped grow the OCRWC from a small 600-athlete event in rural Ohio, to a premier international sporting event featuring more than 5,000 athletes representing 75 nations. Under his guidance, OCRWC-related competitions have been held in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia. A creative entrepreneur at heart, Adrian resides in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and young son.
Rachelanne Gladden
Athlete Services and International Races Manager
Rachelanne is Adventurey’s link between the athletes, the qualifying races, and the event itself. She manages all the athlete inquiries, registration needs, visa requests and qualification confirmations, as well as working internationally with the qualifying races to create a mutually beneficial relationship that helps keep our sport growing and thriving. She began a meandering career path straight out of university that began with managing musician bookings for nightclubs in San Francisco. This role morphed into talent management of high-level actors in Los Angeles, jumped to the study of medicine in Seattle, and eventually landed her back in Los Angeles to work in a coveted position as an executive assistant at Warner Brothers. Rachelanne has been with OCRWC since the very beginning. In 2014, she joined the Adventurey team doing research and writing articles and at the first OCR World Championships she showed up a few days early and was asked to help answer the endless barrage of emails that were coming in just days before the event. She loved it, and when she was offered a full-time position, there was no looking back. Rachelanne lives in the UK which allows her to be the liaison for Adventurey’s international needs. She loves aerial circus hoop, CrossFit, and going on adventures all over the world with her partner.
Brett Stewart
OCRWC Race Director
Fitness Author Brett Stewart's 4th book, Ultimate Obstacle Race Training, was the first book published on the sport of Obstacle Course Racing back in 2012. He is the Co-founder of Mud Run Guide, host & creator of OCR Warrior, and one of the “Founding Four” responsible for the creation and early development of OCR World Championships. Brett has been the Event Director for 2019 North American OCR Champs and 2019 OCR World Championships. He also operates Adventure Fitness with his wife and daughter, developing the next generation of OCR through school obstacle racing programs.
Sandra Sawyer
Partnerships Director
For more than 15 years, Sandra Sawyer has revolutionized sales and marketing in the fitness sector with her invaluable industry expertise, networking know-how and innovative instincts. Early in her career she forged partnerships with Disney, Ragnar Relay Series, Bondi Band, Amazon, and UFC fighter Justin “J-Bomb” Salas. These relationships are testaments to her impressive sales and marketing prowess and keen business insight and intuition. Now, as OCRWC’s partnerships director, she uses those same brilliant marketing instincts and communications skills to forge coveted relationships with OCR brand giants inov-8, Hammer Nutrition, MudGear, LegendBorne, Dryrobe, Wreck Bag, Hoo-rag, Veloforte, Force5, and Akuma Sports, just to name a few. When she’s not fostering long-lasting OCRWC partnerships, she enjoys volunteering as treasurer for John Bapst Hockey Boosters, having fun with family and friends, and trail running with her Labrador retrievers.

Our Team is Bigger Than Its Founders

Weekend Schedule
From the opening fireworks to the international jersey swap, you won't want to miss one minute of the action.