June 19, 2015

Happy Father’s Day! Meet OCR Dad: Bobby Thompson

Post by Alex Brown
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This Father’s Day, we want to recognize Bobby Thompson, an obstacle course race enthusiast and new father to a beautiful little girl, Ila Thompson, who was born on January 9, 2015.

Bobby recently traveled from his home state of Georgia to Savage Race Ohio, where he ran in our SavagePRO competitive wave. With the support of his obstacle course race team and the blessing of his wife Sarah to make the trip, he made the most of his time in Ohio and took 15th place overall, finishing in an impressive 1:16:36.2.

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“The hills were a big challenge,” said Bobby. “Coming from such a flat state, the Ohio hills were the hardest part of the course.”

Bobby was first introduced to obstacle course racing (OCR) in May of 2013 when he participated in Savage Race Georgia. Soon after that, Team Dirtbags invited him to be a member of their OCR team and he’s been training for and competing in races with the team ever since. The team’s motto is: “If you want to go fast, go alone BUT if you want to go far, go together.”

You may have seen Team Dirtbags at a Savage Race near you. They tend to stand out with their bright orange shirts and lively personalities. What started out as a group of friends racing together has turned into multiple chapters across Florida, Georgia, and Ohio. The team is made up of a number of veterans and they often work with adaptive athletes. They stand for community and camaraderie, and taking care of one another.

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It was his team’s idea to raise the money needed to send Bobby on the trek up to Savage Race Ohio. They wanted to give him an opportunity to travel to a race, even though much of his time recently has been spent helping his wife take care of their young daughter Ila.

Ila Thompson was born one month and one day early, only weighing 5lbs 7oz, but she is a healthy, happy, beautiful little girl. When we asked Bobby what it was like being a new father, he said, “It’s tough not really knowing what to do when you’re a first-time parent, but we’ve had so much support from our parents and other family members. And Sarah is amazing. She takes such wonderful care of me and Ila. I get up at 3 AM for work, and Sarah gets up and makes my breakfast and packs my lunch, even if she’s been up with Ila most of the night.”

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Bobby’s job is physically demanding, and he uses his time at work to help him prepare for races. He’s proud to be one of the fastest workers at his company, and he pushes himself to get his work done efficiently so that he can get home as early as possible to spend more time with Ila. He credits the grip strength he builds in his job as the reason why obstacles like Sawtooth and Pipe Dreams come pretty easy to him. Savage Race’s newest obstacle, Wheel World, also requires a solid grip. “I love the new obstacle,” he shared. “I think it’s more challenging than Sawtooth, and when the wheels started spinning on me it added a whole new element to the race.”

Bobby is a great example of a husband, father, employee, and athlete who manages to find time to balance out all of his responsibilities and have a great time while he’s doing it. We want to wish Bobby, and all of our Savage fathers out there, a very Happy Father’s Day!

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