“Governing Bodies” by Ken Auer

At this point there is no single governing body that is over the entire sport, but each league has its own governing body, and each gym is free to act independently or choose to host league-sanctioned events.  Generally speaking, only the “league sanctioned” events have to be in some level of compliance with the governing body sanctioning the events.  Some leagues are more restrictive than others in what they will sanction.

In the meantime “World Obstacle” led by Ian Adamson is working through all of the hoops necessary to have the sport of obstacle course racing recognized internationally.  One can think of obstacle course racing as analogous to track & field with a variety of events ranging from sprints to marathons as well as a variety of other specialized skills. The sport of ninja would be more analogous to the shorter type of races versus long distance running where Spartan Races would be an example.  Ian is an accomplished athlete including being seven time adventure race world champion as well as a successful biathlete and triathlete.  He is working within the politics of National, International, and Olympic Committees to get Obstacle Course Racing of various kinds recognized as an Olympic sport.  Right now, many of the various leagues at all levels are cheering him on and cooperating with him in various ways as they mostly focus on their own particular efforts of continual growth and improvement. 

At this point, World Obstacle has not held many events, but is focused more on organization and buy in of the more active and established leagues.  If and when the sport gets into the Olympics, at least initially, it will most surely be a more uniform/structured version of the sport… more like a 100-meter straight series of obstacles.  Current discussion is about the sport becoming part of the Pentathlon as an entry to the Olympics, possibly in 2028.  We’ll see how that plays out.

But whether it ever becomes an Olympic Sport, or gets some overall governing body, it’s still growing and we expect that it will be for a long time.