An Obstacle Whale Tale

Jonah was vomited on to the beach

“They call me Ishmael” Moby Dick

“And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 NASB

Literature is full of references to whales and man has been fascinated by them since they were first seen. The story of Jonah and the Whale strikes a chord with me because I, too, am often reluctant to go or do the things I know I am called to do. And who isn’t as muleheaded and laser focused as Captain Ahab was when it came to that great white whale Moby Dick?

Suddenly the waters around them slowly swelled in broad circles then quickly upheaved

The Mighty Warrior Challenge will have what I believe to be several firsts in the modern Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) resurgence. Among those are the thematic use of the Bible in the design of the OCR and what I hope to be the capstone of the event — The Whale.

Upon arriving at the venue, the racers will see a whale some 20–30 feet high and 40 feet long. The path into the sea giant’s mouth will be after the crawl through tunnels followed by a low crawl into the ‘sea.’ The sea is a long water obstacle straight into the leviathan’s mouth.

What should we name the whale?

What happens inside the beast is somewhat secret and certainly not entirely designed, but you can be sure it will be dark and wet much like the insides of a real whale. The OCR participant will eventually exit the beast via the blowhole. I thought this to be much easier to design than having people vomited out somehow. I’m sure most will not split hairs on this detail.

rearing upon the topmost crest of the equatorial flood, he spout his frothed defiance to the skies

The obstacle then finishes with a slide down the whale’s tail back into the sea. I do hope to make the slide have a little bit of a jump off the tailfins as well.

So my tale of the whale is told, let me know what you think!

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I’m creating the Mighty Warrior Challenge. I believe people and especially the church has gotten out of shape and I want to challenge them to get into shape so they can perform whatever mission for which they are called. You can also follow me on Facebook or Twitter. The hashtag is #MWCOCR
A similar post originally appeared on www.mightywarriorchallenge.com.

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Originally published at www.mightywarriorchallenge.com on August 18, 2015.