Had a blast today at the RWR Run & Gun as part of the Old Eighteen Defense (OEDefense.com) Rivals competition. First time for me at one of these and it’s been way too long since I’ve shot a competition of any kind. I’ll say I was pretty impressed with the organization of the match, logistics and ROs. All seemed to be great people. Also met a couple people from the TexAgs Outdoor board and ran into a West Pointer I first met in 2007. We had several other run-ins along the way but I hadn’t seen him since 2015. Small world.
My prep for the match was really in 3 areas: equipment selection & setup, cardio, and shooting from non-standard positions. I should have put cardio first.
The run was mostly flat, but enough up and down to give a good workout. The final 200yds was uphill and I was pretty smoked. My biggest takeaway on cardio was that I should have done more runs where I’d stop (for up to 10 minutes) along the way. Waiting to shoot is nice for catching your breath, but my legs tend to get tight quickly so starting the next leg was harder than I expected. I would not have been ready for the 10k.
Equipment wise I had most everything I needed except a chest rig and a new belt. My approach was to stay pretty light. I carried 3 AR mags loaded with 55gr ammo and 1 loaded with 77gr. Planned to only take 4 Glock mags (20 rds ea), but threw one more in the gun before I started because I didn’t know what to expect. I also carried a collapsible water bottle that I’d toss in my pocket while shooting. Just enough water for a cool day and 5k run. Initially, I didn’t plan to take water, but I’m glad I did. I went through several holster setups leading up to the match. Took me a little to configure what worked for me and made a few returns too. Settled on the Safariland ALS, but I still really don’t like it that much. It’s a LOT of holster, but I like their active retention. Not knowing what obstacles there could be, I went with more holster than less. Running in full kit as part of training was critical. I run with rifle slung on my back. Much easier to run IMO, but I had to make various adjustments to equipment. Definitely paid off today as everything felt good.
Shooting went better than I expected. I wasn’t worried about pistol work, but rifle was much more of an unknown for me. Glad I got some practice at 300 & 400yds. Fortunately there was only one stage with targets that went out to 400ish.
Overall, this was a great event. Wish I videoed some, but didn’t want the distraction as a first-timer. I’m going to jump on wait lists and hope I get another chance this year. If not, I’ll be ready to sign up next year. I finished 3rd overall today.