With the OCR season well and truly in gear, the updated leaderboard for April is a riot of color, with a multitude of nations represented.
This last month saw events happening across America & Europe, most notably the launch of the Spartan 3k event in the US. Eagerly awaited since the announcement last year we were treated to a devilishly tricky 1k loop with athletes battling it out in the late afternoon sun.
The podium saw a smattering of European athletes, with Switzerlands Manuel Dufaux (CH, 7) earning his first spot this year, and Slovakia’s Janka Pepova (SVK, 3) showing her strength with a second-place podium. Top of the 3k podium was Veejay Jones (USA, 1), and Nicole Mericle (USA, 4). A special mention goes out here to Mericle on her triumphant return to racing after an ACL reconstruction over two years ago.
Jones earned his top spot on the male leaderboard with a whopping 14.80 points out of a possible total of 15 after his performance at the Spartan 3k, 4th place at Savage, and 1st place at the Spartan Baylor Stadium event.
Richard Hynek (CZE, 2) and Jeremie Gachet (FRA, 3) round out the top 3 male spots. Hynek with a successful weekend at the Salgotarjan Super & Beast earning two gold podiums there, and 2nd place at the Spartan Munich Sprint.
Denmarks Leon Kofoed (Den, 8) earned himself 8th position in the rankings after a trip to the US saw him place 3rd at Savage Maryland, to Shawn Roberts (USA, 4) and Ryan Kempson (USA, 6) who are joint leaders on the Savage leaderboard. He finished ahead of Veejay Jones after a beautiful show of obstacle proficiency on Gibbon Take allowed him to overtake and maintain the lead.
Another example of a glorious use of obstacle proficiency was at the first UK Elite Spartan race weekend. Rachel Dekker (UK, 6) earned her spot after her performance at the London West Super, where she earned Gold with a steady and accomplished take on the final rig, overtaking second place meters from the finish.
The women’s leaderboard is topped by Eszter Hortobágyiová (SVK, 1) who every time she turns up to race, proves she has it in her to be world-beating. She also had a successful weekend at the Salgotarjan Super & Beast, with two gold podiums earning her the top spot on our rankings.
Narrowly missing out on entering the top ten was new to OCR Calypso Sheridan (AUS, 3.80) who stunned everyone at Savage with a strong 4th place, and a 2nd Place at the GoRuck games. This is someone we will all have our eyes on for the remainder of the season.
