World OCR

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[8] when world champion adventure athlete Ian Adamson[9][10] 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 (IOSF). 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, the Fédération Internationale de Sports d’Obstacles (FISO),[11] 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[12] are under regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation (SEAGF) with supervision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). Six nations expressed intention to participate in the event. Four nations medaled,[13] Philippines (10), Malaysia (4), Indonesia (3) and Laos (1)

World Obstacle signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Parkour Federation (IPF) in August 2020[14] to unify Obstacle Sports worldwide under a governance structure similar to Aquatics (FINA),[15] and constitution modeled on FINA and the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).[16]

In order to provide more autonomous governance of obstacle sports worldwide, World OCR changed its name to World Obstacle in October 2020. The provided a more inclusive name for the federation that embraces the core sports of Ninja, OCR and Adventure Racing.[17]

World Obstacle divides the world into 4 continental confederations, similar to FIBA.

World Obstacle members are composed of National Member Federations administering Obstacle Sports. Each National Federation (NF) belongs to one of the four Continental Confederations. Each of the Continental Confederation offers a Continental Championship. As of 2020, the continental confederations are:

• Obstacle Sports Federation Africa, the Obstacle Sports Federation of Africa (OSFA) - 14 national federations
• The Pan American Obstacle Sports Federation (PAOSF) - 26 national federations
• Obstacle Sports Federation Asia Pacific, the Obstacle Sports Federation Asia Pacific (OSFAP) - 28 national federations
• European Obstacle Sports Federation the European Obstacle Sports Federation (EOSF) - 37 national federations *

* Originally formed an association of European organisations prior to the 1st OCR European Championships June 10–11, 2016, EOSF was incorporated as the European Obstacle Sports Federation on 8 April 2017 at Olbia, Sardegna, Italy.[18]

Continental zones of World Obstacle

The Congress[19] is the General Assembly of the member National Member Federations and the highest authority of World Obstacle. 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 Obstacle's top-level executive branch, the Central Board's[20] 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 representatives from each zone. Zone representatives must include at least one female and one athlete, who can be the same person.

The Executive Committee[21] manages the property and business of World Obstacle. 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 Obstacle includes the following Commissions:[22] 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 Obstacle's efforts to develop Obstacle Sports.

The organization of World Obstacle includes the following Committees:[23] 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 Obstacle's efforts to develop Obstacle Sports.

World-level events sanctioned, organised or recognized by World OCR include:

• Medal events in the 2019 South East Asia Games
• Ninja OCR World Championships
• UNAA Ninja World Series
• UNAA Ninja World Series Finals
• OCR European Championships[24]
• OCR Asian Championships.[25]
• OCR Pan American Championships
• Youth OCR World Championships[26]
• University OCR World Championships
• Beach OCR World Championships

OCR Brand** World Championships include:

• Spartan Race World Championships
• World's Toughest Mudder
• OCR Series and World Finals
• Adventurey OCRWC

**Commercial entities producing "World Championship Events"