Background:Obstacle course racing (OCR) has become a popular sport in recent years as it challenges participants’ mental and physical endurance through a combination of trail running and obstacles. There is currently only a limited amount of published work reporting injury types or rates at these events.Purpose:This study aims to build on the current literature, analyzing injury rates and patterns at OCR events.Methods:A secondary data analysis of deidentified medical charts from 33 OCR events in Canada from 2015 to 2017 was conducted. The scope of on-site care was first aid.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiology study.Results:A total of 1782 injuries occurred over 3 seasons from 73,366 participants, with an overall average injury rate of 2.4%; 1.0% (n = 17) of injuries required emergency medical services transport to a local emergency department, and the majority of these injuries were musculoskeletal in nature. The most common injuries treated were lacerations and musculoskeletal-related injuries; 93.9% of the injuries were able to be treated on site. These findings, in conjunction with the published literature, suggest that OCR medical teams should anticipate injury rates of up to 5.0% and a transportation rate of approximately 4.5% of those injuries to local emergency departments.Conclusion:The injury and transportation rates found in this study are congruent with the current literature and, most notably, they demonstrated a stable trend across a variety of course lengths (5-42 km ) and numbers of obstacles (≥20). While the majority of injuries may be treated on site, there is still a serious potential for life-threatening emergencies to occur.

Introduction:Obstacle Course Races (OCR) are mass participation sporting events, challenging participants to complete physical and mental tasks over a variety of distances and terrains. The case series studied, Spartan Race, has races occurring in urban, rural, and wilderness venues, ranging from 5 to 42 kilometers, while incorporating 20 to 60 obstacles.Aim:To understand the injury rates, injury and illness patterns, and transport considerations within OCRs.Methods:A secondary data analysis of de-identified medical charts from 56 Spartan Race events occurring in Eastern Canada from 2014 to 2018 was performed. The scope of practice was first aid from 2014 to 2017, with the addition of advanced life support onsite in 2018.Results:Over 5 years, 2,387 injuries occurred among 127,481 participants, creating a patient presentation rate of 18.7/1000. Although the majority of injuries (92%; n=2,204) were treated onsite, a transport to hospital rate of 1.2/1000 (n=154) occurred along with an ambulance transport rate of 0.23/1000 (n=29). Lacerations (55%) and musculoskeletal (36%) injuries were the most frequent clinical presentations observed, whereas life-threatening emergencies (affecting airway, breathing, and circulation) were infrequent (n=10). Transport to the closest local tertiary care center was on average 49.8 kilometers (25.3 kilometers) and 40.5 minutes (17.9 minutes) away from the venue.Discussion:These results suggest that there may be an upper limit to the injury rates within Spartan Races. The majority of patient presentations were able to be treated onsite, supporting the need for a qualified onsite medical team to mitigate the strain on local healthcare systems. Although life-threatening emergencies were uncommon, they do occur, and medical teams must be appropriately prepared. Further research is needed to understand the staffing and equipment requirements of medical teams, the demographic information of the injured, and the examination of the impact OCR events have on the local health care systems.