The Battleram - Highs and Lows

Event page on www.thebattleram.com

High on Adrenaline, obstacles but low on facilities, arrangements and execution.

Battleram emblem & Bib no

It was a usual day when I was checking my Facebook account to see what's happening in the world around me. That's when I saw the advertising campaign of "The Battleram". It looked promising. The details on the website with some really cool pics caught my attention. I checked out complete details on their website and I was impressed. I am an adventurous person and any such opportunity is always welcomed. The NCC cadet inside me (whatever is left now :) ) was wide awake and was ready to be a part of it. I was looking forward to the obstacle race and was actually visiting the site many times to check the obstacles and pictures they had posted on the website.

Finisher Medal

The first immediate step was that I shared this opportunity with friends and neighbors and told them about the event. Mind you, we have a regular walkers/joggers club and though we may not be the fittest but we can give a good competition. At first others were not that convinced and the idea seemed not that great. Little persuasion and show of obstacles for couple of times did the trick and four others decided to join. So, there we go 5 of us did early registration to take advantage of the price difference. The organizers did run few bootcamps but I was not able to attend, primarily cause I didn’t get to know about them well in advance, the emails landed in my trash mails and hence didn't get to know well in time.

Liz Brown on the Console

We registered for 8.00 - 8.30 AM wave, which was the first wave or slot. The wave timing selection was simple, go early finish early, later on it will become too hot and also it will get crowded. But I guess, the organizers had more than expected registrations in the first wave. We got a message requesting us to change the wave time as there were logistical issues. I think they should have known that keeping weather conditions in mind people will prefer doing it in the morning and early and hence they should have allowed limited registrations during one wave time, the organizers failed to do so which caused logistical issues and hence had to send out message requesting people to change the wave timings.

Finally the D-day was here. We started early so as to reach the venue by 8.15 as that was the time given for registration for our wave time of 8.30. The organizers did not disclose the location earlier, I guess they wanted to keep it secret. On map it looked little difficult to reach but google maps had not difficulty in directing us to the venue. There was a a huge crowd already gathered and there was a long queue. We joined the queue, there were at least 30 people in the queue and the event had not yet started, not even the first wave. When we first got the message to change the wave time, I thought they did not get enough registrations for the first wave but in-fact they got more than what they expected and hence that message. Upon reaching there we learned that the first wave also has not started and they have some issues with the registrations. I realized that they were not well

prepared on the registration counter. They had difficulty with their systems, o clear indication on which wave registrations are going and what the participants are expected to do and where are they supposed to go. Anyways, after waiting for more than 45 minutes under scorching sun finally we got our turn to complete the registration formality. However they did not provide right size T-shirt for one of the group member even though we had selected that size while doing the booking for the event, the excuse - Men's T-shirt size starts from Larger only, below sizes are reserved for females. Well, why do you ask if you can't provide that, first disappointment. Before we could change and join, the MC already announced the start of the wave without realizing that people just registered and need at-least 5-7 mins to change, unknowingly or unknowingly.

Anyways, we were adjusted with the next wave timing which started around 9:25, a good 45 minutes late. Finally we started, there were 20 obstacles claimed by the organizers (I didn’t count though). There were some 20-25 people in the wave, good mixed crowed. The obstacles race was not timed and hence the participants could take their own time to finish it. Though it had its own benefits, it also lost the charm of competition even then it was fun and I am sure everyone was enjoying.

Highs of the Event

- First of its kind event in Bangalore for sure

Tarzan Swing

- Good choice of obstacles

Cat's Cradle

- Good fun and adventure

Kids enjoying when i came out of tunnel

Me Attempting Parabola

Barbed Wire Obstacle

Elated me close to Finish Line

- Food trucks, a different experience for family and kids

- Good DJ

- Awesome live Band

Live Band

Lows of the Event

- Waiting time at the registration, more than 45 minutes

- Starting of wave without giving enough time for participants to change and come

- Restrooms and changing rooms too far away from registration desk

- 4-5 restrooms only for such a large crowd

- Restrooms not maintained at all

- Many obstacles were unmanned and I saw participants struggling for help

- Unmanned obstacles had long queue of participants waiting and there was no one to direct or control

- There wasn’t enough water for participants during the course, though they were trying to make necessary arrangements. They could have done better and could have stocked water in advance near all obstacles

- No free drinks/beer as claimed and advertised, rather they made people download an app to get a free red bull

- Selling Red Bull for Rs.150 which is otherwise priced at Rs.110

- Shower facility could have been better but manageable

- No information on how to get the certificate or how to get the pictures, volunteers not well informed

I am sure organizing such an event needs expertise and probably the team which organized or facilitated this did not had the required expertise. Having said that, it doesn't mean that we did not had our share of fun. It was fun and if they had taken care of most of lows mentioned above it would have been an awesome experience. I got the certificate and now waiting for pictures to be shared, hope they will.

Here are some moments that we captured on our camera.