A roundup of recommended obstacle ideas for obstacle courses
An obstacle course race is one of the classic events at school sports days.
Various obstacles are set up between the start and the finish, and it’s a race where competitors aim for first place while overcoming them.
What obstacles you include greatly affects both the difficulty and the excitement of the event.
In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of obstacle ideas you’ll want to incorporate into your obstacle course race.
We’ve included plenty of obstacles that require not only speed, but also dexterity and luck.
Use these ideas as a reference to create an obstacle course race everyone can enjoy!
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Recommended Obstacle Ideas for Obstacle Races (21–30)
tire pull
How about incorporating tire dragging—often done as part of training in school clubs—into an obstacle race? This obstacle idea is especially recommended when participants are students who regularly exercise, such as junior high and high schoolers.
One of the appeals of obstacle races is that you can compete in more than just running speed, so I think it’s interesting in the sense that it lets people compare strength.
You could not only tie a rope to a tire and pull it, but also make a rule where participants push the tire by hand.
ball basket
People of every generation have likely played games with balls, and individuals vary widely in how good they are at handling them.
Precisely because there are personal differences in ball control, incorporating it into obstacles can create more sophisticated tactics in a race.
You can also adjust the difficulty by changing combinations such as target size, the distance to it, and ball size.
If the throw misses the target, quickly getting the ball back to the thrower is necessary, so a cooperative attitude is important, isn’t it?
Recommended Obstacle Ideas for Obstacle Races (31–40)
chugging carbonated drink
As one of the obstacles in an obstacle race, adding a chugging challenge with a carbonated drink could be a humorous and fun idea.
Since too much would be tough, I recommend limiting it to about one glass.
Having to chug a fizzy drink after clearing a series of obstacles and running should be pretty rough…! Seeing participants try their best to finish it will make you want to cheer them on.
If the event schedule allows, adding a rule like “chug and then recite the Yamanote Line stations” could make it even more exciting (lol).
Bean picking
Chopsticks are something we casually use in everyday life, and there aren’t many chances to check whether we’re using them correctly.
To let everyone verify their own chopstick skills, have them try a task that requires fine motor movements.
A recommended pattern is picking up small beans and transferring them to a bowl; if you turn it into a race, it tests not only accuracy but also speed.
The stronger the desire to finish faster than others, the more likely people are to get flustered and their movements become unstable—another factor that makes the competition exciting.
Rubber bar jump and crawl
It can be a good idea to incorporate rubber-band over-and-under activities, which have a deep appeal.
“Over” means jumping over a stretched rubber band, and “under” means ducking under one.
Stretch rubber bands between two rows of cones and have participants move through them.
Try setting the rubber bands at different heights.
That way, a game-like element emerges where participants must decide whether to go over or under.
It’s interesting because it’s not just about moving the body in a simple way.
Paper Cup Pyramid
How about incorporating sport stacking—stacking cups and then collapsing them back to their original formation—into an obstacle course? The official sport uses plastic cups, but paper cups make preparation easier and are recommended.
Instead of only using a “clear” condition where participants stack and then return the cups to the original shape, you could also set a time limit and have them retry if they don’t make it in time, which encourages a focus on speed.
If participants rush the stacking or collapsing motions, paper cups can get damaged, so it might be important to increase speed calmly and steadily.
Aim for the goal without dropping the ball!
The activity involves carrying a ball to a designated point without dropping it, and the difficulty varies depending on the method used to carry the ball—that’s a key aspect.
You can enjoy it in various ways, such as solo patterns like placing the ball on a tool to carry it, or pair patterns like holding the ball between two people’s backs as they move.
How to judge when the ball is dropped and from where to restart are also important points for running a fair competition, so assign referees to carefully monitor the situation.
It seems best to design the content based on which abilities you want to bring out—such as balance or partnership.