World OCR, institutional name Fédération Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles , is the international governing body for obstacle sports and related events. Disciplines include Obstacle Racing and Obstacle Course Racing. Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, it sanctions world and continental level events.
History
The concept of an international governing body for Obstacle Racing was originally proposed by Joe DeSenna, the founder and owner of Spartan Race. This was announced in May, 2014 when world champion adventure athlete Ian Adamson accepted the job of leading the federation and sport, originally called the International Obstacle Racing Federation. The organization filed as a Colorado non-profit sporting organization in early 2016 under the name the International Obstacle Sports Federation. The decision was taken at the 4th Congress to establish headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland to better represent the majority of member federations and be close to GAISF, WADA, CAS, the majority of international sporting federations and the IOC. In February 2018, the organization filed in Switzerland as World OCR, theFédération Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles , following the naming convention used by many international governing bodies such as FINA, FIFA, FIBA, FIS, World Sailing, World Rugby, World Rowing, World Archery, Technology investor and media right entrepreneur Matthew Joynes was appointed the inaugural Secretary General of World OCR, in 2018. Inclusion of full medal events in the 2019 South East Asia Games was approved in December 2018. The SEA Games are under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supervision by the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia. Six nations expressed intention to participate in the event. Four nations medaled, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Laos
Members
World OCR members are composed of National Member Federations administering Obstacle Course Racing and its related sports. Each National Federation belongs to one of the five Continental Confederations. Each of the Continental Confederation offers a Continental Championship. As of 2019, the continental confederations are:
, the Obstacle Sports Federation of Africa - 10 national federations
OCR Americas, the Pan American Obstacle Sports Federation - 19 national federations
, the Obstacle Sports Federation Asia Pacific - 28 national federations
the European Obstacle Sports Federation - 31 national federations *
* Originally formed an association of European organisations prior to the 1st OCR European Championships June 10–11, 2016, OCR Europe was incorporated as the European Obstacle Sports Federation, EOSF on 8 April 2017 at Olbia, Sardegna, Italy and adopted the common name OCR Europe in 2019.
Organization
The Congress is the General Assembly of the member National Member Federations and the highest authority of World OCR. The Congress meets annually at a date and venue specified by the Executive Board and is the platform for representation of the needs and interests of the athletes. World OCR's top-level executive branch, the Central Board's role is to supervise the practice of obstacles sports worldwide. It is composed of the President, the Secretary-General the Treasurer, the President of each Zone, one representative of each recognized league and two additional representative from each zone. Zone representatives must include at least one female and one athlete, who can be the same person. The Executive Committee manages the property and business of World OCR. The roles and responsibilities of the Executive Committee are to delegate the President and Secretary General to handle routine business and carry out decisions made by Executive Committee. The organization of World OCR includes the following Commissions: Athletes, Governance, Legal, Medical, Para-athlete, Technical and Women's. All Commissions report to the Executive Board, and all Commission members have the right to attend Executive Board meeting. It is the responsibility of the members of each of the Commissions to support World OCR's efforts to develop Obstacle Course Racing and related Sports. The organization of World OCR includes the following Committees: Development, Ethics, Finance, Masters, Media, Officials, Safe Sport and Technology. Committees are advisory. It is the responsibility of the members of each of the Committees to support World OCR's efforts to develop Obstacle Racing and related Sports.
Championships
World level events sanctioned, organised or recognized by World OCR include: