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 nursing 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.
Francesca Chiorando
Media, Marketing, & Branding, OCRWC
Francesca has been involved in OCR since 2013 when she took on her first Spartan Race in the UK. Instantly hooked she set about immersing herself in the muddy and community-focused world of Obstacle Course Racing. After attending the OCR World Championships (OCRWC) in Blue Mountain, Canada, in 2016, Francesca was captivated by the event's ethos and the team's vision. In 2017, she joined the OCRWC team as a guest writer, transitioning to roles in media and communications from 2018 onwards. Presently, Francesca assumes a pivotal role in overseeing the social, communications, media, and branding facets of the OCRWC. Additionally, she leads community engagement initiatives, exemplified by her stewardship of the OCRWC podcast and the World OCR Rankings. Francesca lives in the UK with her young daughter and partner, enjoying the opportunity of adventuring between Europe and American based events.

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.