All Mud Runs are not Created Equal

I ran (and got hooked) on obstacle racing during August 2011, when I ran Warrior Dash-Carolinas. I had such a blast, that I couldn't wait to do it again. So, when a group of friends suggested teaming up for the inaugural "Roughneck Challenge," I was game. The event had been advertised at the Warrior Dash, so we all figured it would be on-par, or at least close, to the level of the professionally run Warrior Dash. We all dutifully ponied up our $45 and began preparing for what was described as "No Mud. No Mess. Just Race."

As we found out, the organizers spent more time thinking up their advertising slogan than they spent on the actual race.

When I arrived at the race site, I was surprised to find that the advertised live music and family-friendly games were non-existent. As I walked towards my teammates by the registration booth, I saw only  two vendor booths. The race was held at a local high school, and looking around, I wondered what course had been laid out in order to equal 5k. I was shocked to find out that the course was only 2.5k. Participants would have to run the course twice.

But it got worse.

In order to time the race correctly, participants would have to change bibs between course runs. 

No. Seriously.

After my team ran the poorly put together course the first time (we joked about how many stinking cargo nets we had to climb), a course sparsely monitored by apathetic volunteers, we declined to run it again. The organizers had our $45 a piece; we weren't giving them our pride too. 

It seems, however, that we made out better than the participants of last weekend's Mud Wars in Chicago.

No water? Few bathrooms for over 6000 participants? Obstacles that were patently dangerous and fell apart?

No thank you!

Obstacle racing is still a relatively new sport. And unlike traditional road races, there don't tend to numerous OCRs within easy travel distance for people to choose from. Seeing this void, unscrupulous and/or ignorant entrepreneurs are racing to put together mud runs (and get your money). As tempting as it is to feed your appetite for OCRs, it's probably a good idea to put your credit card back in your wallet when it comes to most "inaugural" OCRs. Unless the organizers have worked on some of the more highly-regarded OCRs (ex: Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, Rugged Maniac, Warrior Dash, etc...), you'll probably be wasting your time and money. 

I wish I could say that I learned my lesson after the Roughneck Challenge, but no. Sadly, this past June, I signed up for yet another "inaugural" mud run. And once again, I wasted my time and money.

Lesson learned. At least that time, I only paid $35 for the taste of extreme disappointment.