Tough Mudder Kentucky was an event that occurred recently on the grounds of the Kentucky speedway.
First wave on Sunday
Terrain: The course was 10.5 miles total with 990 feet of elevation change per lap. Since it was run on a speedway, it provided a nice mix of terrain including hard packed trails, muddy trails, streams, grass, concrete and gravel. There was minimal technical terrain that allowed for fast running, which made the course ideal if you are a World’s Toughest Mudder (WTM) competitor and looking to do multiple laps.
Obstacles: If you have been to a Tough Mudder before, they had the standard array of obstacles. Notably missing was some of the advertised ones from TM 2.0 including cry baby and the one that is supposed to be in the festival area, Fire in your hole? Pole? Other than that, the hardest obstacle was probably Funky Monkey 2.0 or King of Swingers.
At some point during the beginning of the day someone knocked a bell off of the Swingers obstacle hitting a participant in the head causing him to bleed. They removed the bells for the rest of the day, which was slightly disappointing. However, they did adjust well by replacing the bells with a plastic disk shaped object so they obstacle could resume its normal operation all day Sunday.
Jordan Smith and Evan Perperis crossing Funky Monkey 2.0
Saturday vs. Sunday: The Saturday event was packed with people with waves starting at 8am and running all the way until around 2:30pm. If you are looking for a party atmosphere with lots of people than you would have enjoyed the Saturday event much more than the Sunday event. The Sunday event was a little.
Extra Fees: As usual, Tough Mudder charges for everything, which I hate. I understand paying for parking and bag check, because if everyone brought their own car and bag they might run out of room. What I do not understand is paying for spectators. If my family or friends want to watch me race they have to drive out to the middle of nowhere (usually), pay for parking, then pay $25 to enter the festival area where there is only one option for food and drink? Ridiculous. Tough Mudder needs to just let spectators in for free and make their money off of spectators buying lunch and drinking beer.
Joel Forsyth and other competitiors emerging from Arctic Enema
Overall, it was a pretty standard Tough Mudder event. If you like Tough Mudders, chances are you would enjoy the Kentucky venue. As always, the atmosphere was great, especially if you have met some of the other Legionnaires/WTM participants at past events. The group of Legionnaires that runs in the first wave are a great group of people that are friendly and welcoming to new participants. If you are an elite OCR athlete and think Tough Mudder’s have no place in OCR because they are not timed and not competitive, feel free to check out an old article I wrote called “Are Tough Mudder’s Still Relevant to Elite OCR?” before you make your final decision.
Rating: 4/5
All pictures were taken and provided by Amy Perperis of Strength & Speed.
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