Say Hello to Rockford Ninja Warrior from the Sky

What's better than running the Rockford Ninja Warrior course? Nothing. Okay well, maybe one thing... Experiencing the Rockford Ninja Warrior course as if you were flying!

Check out this amazing aerial work that Eldon Palmer did for us:



And in case you are prone to motion sickness, here are the still aerial shots to view as well:

 

 

The Official Pro Course Rules

Hot off the presses - the official rules for the Rockford Ninja Warrior professional course:

General

• The professional level course is designed for contestants aged 14 and up. You must be at least 14 years of age on October 10th to participate on the professional level course.
• If you have a preexisting medical condition or injury, please consult with your doctor before attempting the course. Do not attempt the course if you are unsure whether or not you are medically able to do so.
• The event will not be canceled due to rain unless there is the threat of severe weather (like lightning or hail). If the event has to be paused or canceled due to severe weather, runs may be delayed, rescheduled or canceled at the discretion of the event organizers.
• No competitor will be allowed to run the course without first signing the waiver.
• Rockford Ninja Warrior is an event for all ages to enjoy. Subsequently, all clothing and costumes must be family-friendly. At the discretion of the course judges, competitors may be asked to change or cover clothing that is deemed offensive.
• If any part of your body or any of your clothing touches the cargo net above the water or the water itself, your run will be over.
• Competitors are not allowed to carry any possessions or gear with them or on their body. This is for your own safety and safety of the other competitors and spectators.

• Competitors must engage the obstacle only - if you use any portion of the course not intended for competition (pool edges, support beams, etc.), your run will be over.
• If you leave the course obstacles, platforms or walkways, your run will be over.
• The course cannot be stopped or paused once started for any reason (except in the case of sudden severe weather or other safety concern identified by course judges). Unless you receive notification from course judges to stop, continue with your run.
• To start the course each competitor will receive a 5 second count down (5-4-3-2-1), after which the screen will turn green. Once you see the green screen, that is your cue to go - your time will begin at that point. Jumping the start will result in a time penalty.
• Your time will stop when you hit the buzzer.
• Competitors must be barehanded - gloves, chalk, spray, tape and other grip aids are not permitted.
• Shoes are not required but are strongly recommended. To avoid damage to the course no shoes with teeth or fitted with teeth (like cleats) will be permitted.
• Obstacles must be competed in order.
• Any cheating or use of unfair tactics (as determined by judges) will end your run.
• Obstacles may have their own specific rules or requirements (see below).
• By running the course you are consenting to appear in promotional pictures or videos for use by Rockford Ninja Warrior and any of its sponsors and waiving your rights to any compensation for the use of such media. As a competitor you will not own the rights to any images that bear your likeness or name in conjunction with the Rockford Ninja Warrior event.
• Please be respectful of other competitors and set a good example for younger competitors. Competitors engaging in distracting behavior, cat calling or heckling while other competitors are on the course will be disqualified.
• If you require medical attention at any time while on the course, signal the medical staff and remain where you are to wait for assistance.

Quintuple Steps

• While attempting the quintuple steps, competitors will be allowed to grab the sides of each step with their hands, but not the top or back. Touching the top or back of a step will end your run.

Tilting Ladders

• Only one tilting ladder must be touched to count as engaging the obstacle. Competitors do not need to transfer from the first ladder to the second. You can attempt the dismount from either the first or the second tilting ladder.

Rope Swing to Cargo Net

• The rope swings are provided to give competitors access to the angled cargo net, but using them is not required. Once on the cargo net, you can only move onto the next obstacle after passing underneath - you cannot go over the top of the cargo net.

Warped Wall

• Competitors will only have 3 attempts to make it up the warped wall.
• You cannot leave the course to get a running start. If you leave the course, your run will be over.
• Competitors must not touch the sides of the warped wall with any body part - only the face of the warped wall and the platform on top.

Getting excited yet?

Local News Crew on the RNW Course

Today a reporter from News Channel 3 WWMT was on the course to record footage that will début on their Positively Michigan segment. A representative from Rockford Public Schools was on hand to explain their involvement and several of the event organizers and volunteer staff were interviewed for the spot as well. Then one of our local ninjas showed off his skills on some of the obstacles.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

With only a few days remaining until Rockford Ninja Warrior 2014, there was incredible excitement in the air!

Course Construction Update

If you've been following us on Facebook, you may have noticed that we've been posting pictures of the progress being made on the Rockford Ninja Warrior course. Take a look at all of the hard work our volunteers have been doing to build this awesome course for you:

Big machinery is needed to make a BIG course - does this give you a sense of scale yet?

Where that dirt used to be is where you will find yourself when if you fall

EVERYONE is putting in hard work to make this a success

Contestant platform

Moving earth to bring Rockford Ninja Warrior to West Michigan

The guys hard at work (really, they were working hard before being bothered for a quick photo)

Now this is what you call supplies!

Kids climbing wall



Moving some of the kids' play pieces out of the way to clear space for more pro course work

Rockford Ninja Warrior Course FAQ

You asked, so we're going to answer!

1. What if it rains?
   A little rain never stopped a ninja! The event will go on as planned rain or shine. The only thing that could hamper the event is severe weather like lightning. In the case of a severe weather incident, we will make a determination of how we should proceed to keep everyone safe and will post updates to keep you informed of what's going on.
   
   
2. What is the cost of admission?
   The event is free to attend. There will be food and merchandise to buy to keep you fed and looking cool. The fee for running the junior course is $10 (ages 14 and younger) and the fee for running the professional course is $40 - both will depend on availability.
   
   
3. How much is parking?
   Parking is free! When you arrive, please follow the instructions of our helpful parking staff to ensure that we get people parked as quickly and efficiently as possible in each of the lots. If we work together, hopefully we'll be able to avoid traffic jams.
   
   
4. When will the American Ninja Warriors be there?
   You may see the American Ninja Warriors on Friday night, as many will be there checking out the course for the first time. Then, the American Ninja Warriors will be at the event all day on Saturday. They will be meeting fans and signing autographs throughout the day and Saturday evening at 6pm they will run the course to show off their skills in a grand finale of this awesome 2-day event.
   
   
5. How early should I get there before competing?
   After registration closes, we will send you information about when you will be running and when we will expect you to be there. This will have a lot of helpful and important information, so keep an eye out for that.
   
   
6. If I'm competing, what should I bring with me?
   You should plan to wear comfortable clothes and sneakers and depending on how confident you are, you may also want a towel and a change of clothes. Also, don't forget your ID and printed ticket.
   
   
7. What are the restrictions on the professional course?
   No one younger than 13 years of age will be allowed to compete on the professional course. You also should not attempt the professional course if you have a medical condition or injury that could put you in danger or if you are pregnant. If you are unsure as to whether you are medically able to compete, please consult with your physician before attempting the course.
   
   
8. Can I request a time to compete?
   Unfortunately, we will not be able to grant requests for specific competition times. Coordinating the schedules and preferences of 150 competitors is just too difficult to manage.
   
   
9. Will I be able to re-try the course if I fail?
   Yes, re-runs will be allowed as time permits. Based on availability, re-runs will be allowed at a price of $20 for the professional course and $10 for the junior course.
   
   
10. What's there going to be for my younger kids to do?
    Even little kids will have fun at the event because we will have plenty of family-friendly kids activities like inflatables, a rock wall, octoball and other games to encourage kids to get active. Kids can also meet the American Ninja Warriors they've seen on TV and watch people run the course.
    
    
11. Can I bring my dog?
    Unfortunately, no - we ask that you please leave all pets at home (dogs, cats, snakes, ferrets, chickens and the like). With everything that will be going on, we're just not going to have any extra room for pets.

Details About the Rockford Ninja Warrior Course

Anyone who has seen American Ninja Warrior knows that there are a lot of different ninja obstacles to choose from when designing a course. So what should you expect from the Rockford Ninja Warrior course?

Wooden Construction

The first thing you should be prepared for is all of the wood. On American Ninja Warrior they have to use metal supports, beams and obstacles because the course has to travel around the country - getting constructed again in every location and then torn down and moved on trucks to its next stop. With Rockford Ninja Warrior, we have the luxury of being able to keep our course in one place. For this reason, we can use quality materials like wood that would be difficult to move once in place and cart across the country. The wood is also a sort of homage to our location at the old Rockford Paper Mill surrounded on all sides by woods and river banks.

Obstacles

The Rockford Ninja Warrior course will feature these challenging obstacles:

• Quintuple Steps - a competitor favorite, these start the course off on a challenging foot
• Balance Beam - we're ninja-tizing your typical gymnastics balance beam
• Wide-Set Monkey Bars - these will force competitors into some high-flying acrobatics
• Rope Swing into Cargo Net - continuing the demands on the upper body, good timing combined with serious stamina will be needed to conquer this obstacle
• Tilting Ladders - these will require a lot of strength as well as the right technique to make the transition between ladders and get across
• Massive 14-Foot Warped Wall - taken from the personal training gym of an American Ninja Warrior, this warped wall is the real deal

This is a picture of the poles that will be supporting this mammoth obstacle course:

Not impressed yet? You will be when you get here, because those are actually telephone poles! You really can't appreciate just how high that is until you stand under one.

 

Registering for Rockford Ninja Warrior

We've had a lot of questions regarding registration, so we decided to answer them all here...

Professional (Adult) Course

If you are an adult looking to run the Rockford Ninja Warrior course, you can register online before the event. Initially we had said that there would be 180 available spots, but decided to reduce that to 150 after we discovered how much interest there was from the American Ninja Warriors. With ten American Ninjas flying in and taking part, we wanted to leave them enough time to showcase their skills, so we reduced the number of spots.

If you have already registered online, great! There will be further instruction regarding when you need to arrive and so forth - just sit tight for now. We cannot guarantee that you will receive a specific time slot, but you will be notified of your run schedule once pre-registration closes so that you have that information ahead of time.

If you have not yet registered, there are still some spots left. Go to www.RockfordNinjaWarrior.com and click on the registration link. Registration is $40 per person. Once those spots are filled, the event is capped. So, while you don't have to register ahead of time, registering right now while spots are still available will ensure you have a chance to run the course.

Onsite registration will be available on the day of event (Friday and Saturday) if we have any remaining spots. However, if you decide to wait until the event starts on Friday and come to register in person, we cannot guarantee that there will be any spots left.

The adults running on the pro level course will be competing against each other in their skill class and age group to get the fastest time. The results of the competition will be revealed Saturday after all competitors have run the course.

If you can't snag one of the remaining spots this year, we'd still love to have you come to check out the course and meet the American Ninja Warriors.

Junior (Kids) Course

Kids (girls and boys) under the age of 14 can run the junior course. There is no pre-registration for the junior course like there is for the adult pro course. If your child wants to run the course, you will need to show up on Friday (5-8pm) or Saturday (8am-8pm) to get him/her registered onsite. Registration for the junior course is $10 per person (pay on the spot) first-come, first-serve. We will have credit card readers so that you can pay in cash or with a credit card.

Unlike the professional course, the junior course will not rank children by time. Instead, it will challenge kids to do their best and offer them a reward at the end. Kids that are able to complete the junior course without falling will be given a free event t-shirt to show off their achievement. Kids that are not able to complete the course will be given a $5 off coupon for a shirt for their hard work.

If the junior course fills up and your ninja-in-training can't get a spot to run the course, there will be plenty to do to keep them occupied. Besides the thrill of getting to watch other kids and top athletes run their respective courses, there will be lots of family fun. We will have inflatables, sponsors doing giveaways and food/merchandise for purchase.

On Saturday, the American Ninja Warriors will be interacting with fans, signing autographs and running the course that evening at 6pm. This is a great chance for your children (and you!) to meet the people you've seen on TV over the last few seasons in-person. Come out with your whole family and make a day of it!