- April 25, 2024
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BattleFrog Central Florida
WHEN: March 14-15
WHERE: Rock on Adventures, 17701 Old YMCA Road, Winter Garden
DETAILS: Obstacle course race featuring a 15K race, a 5K race and two kids’ races
WEBSITE: battlefrogseries.com
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The race manager for BattleFrog Central Florida remembers her first obstacle course race pretty well.
She walked it, along with a co-worker.
Still, just the experience of participating in that type of event, a niche of obstacle races that is growing wildly in popularity, had a profound effect on Jillian Fiorentino.
Soon after, Fiorentino found herself doing races all around the state on most every weekend she could. Through her involvement with Florida-based Mud Run Fun, she started doing promotions and, through that, she linked up with the retired Navy SEALS who launched BattleFrog a little more than a year ago with an event in Atlanta.
Now, the Dr. Phillips resident is helping put together the upstart obstacle course race’s first event in Central Florida — which will take place March 14-15 right here in West Orange County at Rock On Adventures, south of Winter Garden.
“I just fell in love with it,” Fiorentino said. “(Obstacle course racing) totally changed my lifestyle. I was not active until I walked my first mud run. … It’s made me want to go out there and run; it’s made me want to go out there and train.”
Of course, she’s not alone.
“I was a fugitive officer; I used to travel all over the United States bringing fugitives back to Florida, and I got up to 215 pounds,” Simpson said. “I hate to run, so I knew that the obstacles would add a little kick to it because, when I was in the Marine Corps, we had obstacle courses, and I loved them. I started doing (obstacle course runs) and I’m down to 170 now — I lost about 45 pounds.”
Simpson, who turns 51 in March and plans on participating in BattleFrog next month, has a 13-year-old daughter and said he must stay in shape to be around as long as possible.
“I’ve got to try and prolong my life as best I can,” Simpson said. “You can do your best to stay healthy for your loved ones.”
BattleFrog was launched in early 2014 by retired Navy SEALS and held six events that year. Based in Miami, the obstacle course race makes the most of its military ties at its events, with ceremonies and swear-ins for different branches of the Armed Forces, but it also markets itself as having something to offer for everyone.
The two-day Central Florida event will have a 15K race, a 5K race and two youth races.
Beyond the actual races, though, will be other events to add to the celebration-like atmosphere. Fiorentino said the BattleFrog Central Florida event will host a swear-in for members of the U.S. Air Force and that Savannah Maddison, the South Florida teen who launched the Savannah’s Soldiers letter-writing campaign to deployed servicemen and servicewomen, also will attend.
There will even be a wedding.
“It’s cool because nobody knows what anybody else does … that’s what great about BattleFrog — everybody comes together and nobody cares about what your career is,” Fiorentino said. “You could have someone that is getting sponsored to do the race because they can’t afford it, and you could have someone that’s making like $150,000 a year. And we’re all unified at this event.”
Registration for the Central Florida event is ongoing, with certain discounts in effect until Feb. 28. A portion of the profits from BattleFrog go to the Navy SEAL Foundation and the Navy SEAL Museum. Prize money is awarded to top finishers.
For more information about the race and its founders or to register, visit BattleFrogSeries.com.
Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].
