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Strength & Speed podcast focuses on Obstacle Course Racing ( OCR ) improvement by pulling in lessons learned from other sports. Hosted by Pro OCR athlete and Army Special Forces veteran Evan Perperis. Evan is a NSCA-CPT, the author of 8x books on Obstacles Course Racing, with an undergrad from Johns Hopkins and has a Masters from KU. An accomplished OCR athlete with 100+ OCR podiums including winning the team division at the 24 hour long 2018 World’s Toughest Mudder and 2nd place Pro Coed Te ...
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Weekly podcast since 2017 that covers interviews and race recaps from athletes and members of the OCR and running communities primarily in the Northeast! Our focus is to shine a spotlight on incredible athletes, motivate ourselves and other, and to share our love for the sport that has changed our lives!
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Welcome to the World’s Toughest Podcast, where we talk about any Obstacle Course Race you’d like, as long as it's World’s Toughest Mudder. Each week we talk to members of the WTM Community and share stories of success and failure in the single greatest event in OCR. We are the Number One rated Obstacle Course Racing podcast in the world according to Apple Podcasts and Amazon.com. Thank you. The Worlds Toughest Podcast is a production of Contender Media and is not affiliated with Tough Mudder ...
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After Evan Perperis interviewed Mike to talk about OCR in the Northeast on Strength and Speed (listen to episode here), Mike pulled an uno reverse and asked Evan to come on our show! We have heard of some events that take place in the center of the country but to have a much better idea of the state of the sport in that region it takes someone more…
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Are you an OCR Report Member yet? For less than $5 a month you can support the sport we love. We are on the way to our first 2,000 members. Join us today! --- Francesca Chiorando and Carlo Piscitello are the hosts of "Fran and Carlo Get OCR Adjacent", available on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Fran and Carlo share their thoughts on OCR and …
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There were some big events that happened this weekend with Tough Mudder Infinity in Pittsburg, the final Conquer the Gauntlet under the Mainprize ownership, the first of the Savage Point Series races in Maryland, and the Spartan European Championships, but we covered the final BoldrDash OCR in Exeter, RI! BoldrDash as a race series had a huge role …
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2x World's Toughest Mudder Champion Trevor Cichosz is also a USMC combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. Trevor joins fellow veteran Evan to talk about what he's been doing since WTM, Everest 135, his Olympic level wife, growing family and his new book! Dear Grandma Rose tells the story of the average USMC grunt deployed to war and is availab…
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Are you an OCR Report Member yet? For less than $5 a month you can support the sport we love. We are on the way to our first 2,000 members. Join us today! --- The Post-Race Brunch is one of World's Toughest Mudder's greatest traditions. At the 2023 Brunch we talked with multiple athletes about their race at WTM 2023. We are thrilled to finally brin…
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400. Episode 400 with Live Intro/Outro, Surprise Congratulations Clips, Q&A, and Shoutout Compilation!
1:38:16
Another huge milestone of the show, hitting 400 Episodes! Don't quote me on it but I can't think of any other OCR podcasts that have made it this far (other than Obstacle Racing Media) ... yet! We celebrate with a live recording of the intro, the naming of a new "sponsored athlete" some Q&A, audio clips that Katelyn had sneakily asked for congratul…
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Lots of events happened this weekend so it was difficult to figure out which event to focus on and which particular athlete to have on the show. I try not to have the same guest on for their own episode too many times, one of the big events had a lot of issues and I'd want to have more of the dust settle before we consider having an athlete on to t…
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The New England Spartan Super and Sprint weekend came back to Barre, MA and it felt good to be back! Most are pretty familiar with the ~10K Super and the ~5K Sprint so those don't need too much description. In addition to taking on both of these events though, we also completed the Teddy Bear Crawl which is a 7am wave where adults crawl the kids co…
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Obstacle Running Adventures host Mike Stefano joins Evan "Ultra-OCR Man" Perperis to talk about what's changed in the OCR scene in their respective areas. In this episode Mike talks about the New England OCR scene, what's changed, what remains and where they are headed. If you want to hear Evan's rundown of the Midwest head over and listen to Obsta…
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It's that time for New England to get savage again! Mike woke at 6:15am and drove to Carter and Stevens Farm in Barre, MA to cover the Savage Race Boston and as always he didn't regret it! He interviewed a bunch of elite athletes as well as the vendors who were there to support the event! Savage Race has been one of our favorite OCRs since before t…
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395. Viking Obstacle Race's Final Raid and Night Trail Run with Racers and Asa Coddington!
1:23:31
We drove the 3 hours to Greenville, NY to cover the Ultra Viking 8 Hour (Northeast Ultra Cup Finale)/ Final Raid/ whatever we called their last event! The race director Asa Coddington aka OCR Yoda has been a prominant member in the OCR community here in the northeast so it was a big blow that he announced that his last event would been this year. K…
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394. Kaeley Wynsma on Winning Chicago Savage Race, Hybrid Racing, Give and Take of Coaching, and More!
1:15:12
There was the final race in the Spartan USNS Series but there was also an athlete who ran Savage Chicago who I wanted to have on the show. Mike put it up as a poll and Savage won with 62% (67% at the time he reached out)! Due to this Katelyn reached out and interviewed Kaeley Wynsma who just won Savage Chicago! You may be familiar with Kaeley's nam…
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393. Luca Pescollderungg on Winning Spartan Ultra World Championship, Being Spartan European Champion, and More!
41:02
We had the winner of Spartan Ultra World Championships on the show, Luca Pescollderungg! We talk about his background in the sport, his thoughts on being one of the best climbers in the sport of OCR, his other races that he focuses on, how the Spartan Ultra World Championships went, how he feels being both a World and a European champion, what is n…
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Kevin Thompson is chasing the queen of Charlotte trying to hit all 1st places in races in the North Carolina area for OCR. This MudGear-Hannibal Race Pro is on a hot streak that's taken him through the first half of the year with podiums not only in his home state but also at major events like War X. Evan and Kevin talk about his background, traini…
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This week Katelyn talks to Chennell Berg, the first place female finisher at War X. Chennell talks about her life on her cattle ranch, the evolution of her training, becoming a runner and what her experience was like taking first place at War X last weekend (Spoiler: It was her first ever first place finish). She talks about the importance of havin…
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391. Stijn Lagrand on Survival Running, Team Hang-On, Winning All Events at OCR European Championships, and More!
1:01:50
A few weeks ago Italy hosted the OCR European Championships! While it can be difficult to have European athletes on the show due to frequent difficulties such as time zones and language barriers, the effort is worth it due to the abundance of talent that they have overseas! This time we had the privilege to speak to Dutch athlete Stijn Lagrand! He …
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Mike was able to return to Citi Field for coverage of the Spartan Stadium (still refuse to say Stadion), only this time he was able to run it as well which he has been wanting to do over a decade now! Without Katelyn helping, coverage ability was more limited but there is still a pretty good episode put together for you with 16 athletes and 6 vendo…
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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt Jon Jordan returns to the podcast to talk about his new book, Keep Rolling. He shares insights and lessons learned from a lifetime in martial arts and what it is like to become a new author. Plus, Evan and Jon talk about what it was like to be announcers for the Victory Week Tournament and the two discuss modern uses …
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We all know Mike loves a good small local race so we drove down to the Gaylord Gauntlet to experience and cover it for the first time! This race is 3.3 miles long with mud and over 20 obstacles. We knew that the venue was a hospital but we had no idea the extent to which the event has benefitted members of the adaptive community for the past 10 yea…
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In the past we interviewed Des Linden when her book "Choosing to Run" and doing so opened up options for future book related interviews! Gwendolyn Bound's publicist, Brianna Kusilek, reached out to us back in April but it took us a while to find a time to release a potential episode with her. Luckily we made room this week and Katelyn interviewed h…
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387. Vivien Tran on Spartan US National Series, MudGear-Hannibal Race Pro Team, ASCO Spartacus Dash, and More!
58:48
We had yet another MudGear-Hannibal Race Pro Team athlete on the show, Vivien Tran! We have been keeping an eye on her as an athlete ever since she joined their team and we have not been disappointed. Some accomplishments are winning a Savage Race Axe, a Spartan Race, doing well in the Spartan US National Series, and achieving podium placements at …
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A quick solo episode with Evan talking about three local branded OCRs that exceeded expectations. He talks Hazelwood OCR The Mosh (part of the Hydra series with Mythic Race), Murder Creek Mud Run (Phoenix branded OCR In Alabama) and KC Timber Challenge. All found thanks to OCR Buddy (download the app via your app store and check out www.ocrbuddy.co…
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386. Hawk Call on Growing Up in OCR, Big Bear National Series Race, Preparing for Broken Arrow, and More!
1:08:05
When Hawk Call started getting into some big Spartan Races a few years ago it got a lot of us who have been in the sport for a long time pretty excited! This is because many of us remember his father Hobie who is almost always in the conversation of who historically is one of the best men in the sport of OCR. Hawk is his own own athlete though, and…
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Team 100x Podiums, the winners of Toughest Mudder East (Philadelphia) hop on the line to talk about what was new at 2024's first Toughest Mudder. The team consisting of 2x 100 mile WTM finisher Christian Brown Johnson, multi-time Toughest Mudder team champion Chris "Miko" Mikojewlski and Toughest Mudder individual podium finisher Ryan Ardigo talk w…
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Evan Perperis is no stranger to the show due to his frequent appearances at our favorite OCR event to cover every year (World's Toughest Mudder), as well as our interest in his ultra OCR fundraising efforts over the years! We discuss his milestone of achieving 100 OCR podiums, which podiums stood out to him the most over the years, how the recent T…
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384. Sweat Check, MudGear-Hannibal Race Pro Team, UltraHouse Tryouts, and More with Noel Medina!
1:02:44
We have been aware of Noel Medina and his sweat checks for a while now but it was him joining the MudGear-Hannibal Race Pro Team that really got our attention! There wasn't good timing to have him on the show before now but when we saw that he was traveling to the Ultra House in Durango, CO to train with Anthony Kunkle we figured it was a great opp…
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We were unsure as to what to do for this week's episode until we saw a post in the Southern Spartans Facebook Group about a guy who had just completed 400 Spartan Races! His name is Tom Maming and I was excited to reach out to have him on the show to hear more about him, his achievement, and what he has planned for the future. We discuss how he fir…
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Evan "Ultra-OCR" Man Perperis talks about the future of Strength & Speed deep diving a little more into what is OCR? What is Pammachon Combatives? and what is Orthodox Christianity? Learn a little outside your normal comfort lane in this episode that explores some of the future of Strength & Speed. Use code Strength20 to save 20% from www.yolked.co…
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Once again, we just had the third New England OCR Expo and it is easily the most involved Mike has been! In 2020 we were just vendors with a table, last year Mike helped with getting athletes to show up and give short talks. This year Mike was on the board, attended biweekly meetings for months, and worked to help get more vendors and sponsors out …
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It's the third New England OCR Expo that has been put on and it is easily the most involved Mike has been! In 2020 we were just vendors with a table, last year Mike helped with getting athletes to show up and give short talks. This year Mike was on the board, attended biweekly meetings for months, and worked to help get more vendors and sponsors ou…
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2x Ultra-running National Champion and World's Toughest Mudder vet Anthony Kunkel has been news coming out. In May he is running tryouts to live and train at the "Ultra-House" in Durango Colorado. Learn about his background in this episode, rise to ultra-running greatness and how he plans on giving back to athletes in the sport. Great opportunities…
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Mike finally traveled to New York to participate in and cover Obstacle Wonderland's Boogie Wonderland Event! Wanting to both support a small northeast race and get some good mileage in, Mike registered for the 6 hour race. He ran 3 laps, interviewed the 3 hour finisher athletes with some midrace brain fog, ran another lap, interviewed the 6 hour fi…
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Back in the day Spartan Stadium races were our favorite to both run and cover as media. We remember seeing a large man in a clown mask doing well at most of the events that we went to. Over more recent years Kevin Gregory/Bubbles the Clowne has grown to be even more of a threat in the hybrid racing scene! Kevin has also become a friend of the show,…
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just a totAlly normal ePisode, Really nothIng to see here. compLetely normal! 0:00 – 6:56 – Intro 6:56 – 14:07 – Quick News 14:07 – 14:13 – Content Preface 14:13 - 15:23 - Interview with Timber and Appa 15:23 - End – Outro Next episode is planned to be coverage of the Deka Strong at Underdog Fitness, home of Kevin Gregory aka Bubbles the Clowne (we…
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Lynn Hall from Boldr Dash talks about how her OCR has managed to stay alive and strive since 2011, an impressive feat considering the number of brands that have folded since then. Lynn talks about what makes her event unique, the challenges they faced and how they continue to adapt. Plus, she talks with Evan about the New England OCR Expo and why i…
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377. OCR Events Eulogy: Remembering Warrior Dash, Rugged Maniac, Terrain Race, and Bonefrog!
43:49
We haven't done one of these episodes in a while, and we were totally okay with that! With recent changes in the industry (unfortunately most being negative), we wanted to have an episode where we share our thoughts and feelings on some events that are not with us anymore like Warrior Dash and Rugged Maniac or have extremely unclear futures like Te…
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Medusa Edged Weapons Systems and World War II Combatives Instructor Jason Schultz joins Evan to talk about how Combatives training is connected to sports performance. The two talk about the prison based edged weapons system Medusa as well as some of the unique aspects of Combative systems developed in World War II. Check out Stakora for Medusa or C…
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Paul Lachance recently ran his 200th Spartan Race at the age of 82 this caught The OCR Report's attention for a post which then caught our eye for a potential episode. We were excited to reach out to him both for the impressive accomplishment, and because he represents a unique age demographic who take on OCR. Older OCR athletes have always been in…
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