Francesco Mangoni is a shy and introverted OCR athlete who…
Wait a minute, we’re just kidding!

Francesco is an athlete who runs OCR and Spartan since 2018. He ran 27 Spartan Races and about 50 Ocrs, of which about 27 races out of Italy. we knew about his passion, so we asked him for a tale, a tale of an OCR in a far country. He was kind and accepted, so here is the story, his in his typical erudite and ironic style, of his latest obstacle course race, the Alfa Run .

This race was run in Lithuania in early August 2021: let’s enjoy this story of Francesco Mangoni!

Read it in Italian Language

My tour of Europe,  discover new forms of intelligent life linked to Ocrs took me to Vilnius , Lithuania.
The Lithuanian Goat Dainius Liutkus (Greatest Of All Times), a close friend in competitions, invited me, ensuring an original and challenging competition. His curriculum vitae is good, so we blinded trusted. In fact, his most recent feat was to conquer three podiums in Poland in the Trifecta Weekend of July 2021. First place in both the Sprint, the Super and the Beast: the Trifecta Perfecta in a single weekend.
With us Sandra, another heroine.
It was actually a great race!

Alfa Run consists of a 9km race with 26 original obstacles [never seen in Italy, note]: a thin wooden pole to climb (6 meters) suspended from the ground, therefore moving and difficult to manage … a 20 kg bag to be thrown over a wall, by shoulders… multirig with 4 rings placed at 2m, then 3m, 4m of distance in progression (you think it’s just a swinging matter????) … the “Pinocchio” with rings to insert – all in suspension – in smaller and smaller nails …
2 times crossing the river (a long path, made tortuous by stakes placed on the path) with water up to the chin … carrying a yoke with 2 tires of 30 or 40 kg at the end (exhausting waving for all 500 meters of hills) … very long low multirig … “trampoline” (pontoon) with a 6-meter dive into the water …
Monkey (terrible large diameter tubes) very long suspended over lake water … a barbed wire with electric wires (typical of Eastern Europe also found in Minsk) and passage in a “shack” with electric wires inside (nothing painful but you can feel the shocks) … a 15 meter pyramid to climb with nails, knees and teeth (few grips)… as well as fairly classic obstacles, including transports and various multirigs

Organization : there is not the impeccable liturgy of the Spartan Race, but we are almost close to this. In fact, the competition field includes various military tents, each for its own purposes (registration, bag deposit, information, water and free pre-competition food for bystanders, results, doctor and nurses, etc). Also, every Ocr team of the Baltics had a tent / base camp with a kitchen-dining-shelter… nice thing, unusual in Italy.
Heats: Elite (Dainius won, with just 47 minutes), Hero (a Latvian, 57 minutes), Elite Women: the legendary Sandra Montvilè (Lithuanian) in 1h 05 (first also in the Spartan Super in KranjskaGora on August 28 and in various races ).
Enrolled : in the 3 categories (the Open with a huge mass of athletes) total 655 participants.
This is shocking for Italian people(at the time of writing), becasue Italian people are used to lower (much lower) numbers, at the moment. Actually, as per my experience, Polish races and generally Eastern Europe races (Belarus, Slovakia, etc) count a massive participation.

What about me?

“Hero” wave: 1h06 , and best no-lithuanian champion (among 61 no-local participants).

A quick final evaluation:

Cost for racing: 25 euro. Rating 8/10
Location: pure nature. Rating 10/10
Awards wonderful, somwhat pitoresque. Rating 8/10
Photos: a lot, for free!
Fun, Rating 9/10
Organization, Rating 9.5/10
Medala: 7,5/10 (military style).
Awards: 10/10