Mother Nature was a good sport and provided an amazing day for this event, the temperatures ranged from the start (11:00 AM) to the end (4:30 PM) from about 36 °F to 34 °F. The area also had a snow storm only a day earlier, which dropped about three to four inches of fresh snow on the course which made for some nice soft snow and more of a challenge.
Participants can qualify for the Warrior Dash World Championship by signing up for a competitive wave at any of the 30+ events internationally and placing in the top 25 of their gender. “Since Warrior Dash’s inception in 2009, the obstacle racing industry has seen tremendous change and growth, and is becoming an internationally recognized sport,” says VP of Marketing at Warrior Dash, Tad Jenkins. “After a remarkably successful first Warrior Dash World Championship, we’re pleased to bring back the premier 5K competition for a second year in Tennessee and continue the challenge for our elite Warrior athletes.”
The early buzz may be about the new obstacles (I promise, the details are coming soon), but the real changes on the course alter the dynamic of what it takes to become a Tough Mudder: Teamwork. Many of the new or upgraded obstacles require teamwork to get over, and approximately half of the 2015 Tough Mudder course cannot be completed alone. Remember the days when you ran up Everest solo? No more. Climbing out of Mud Mile pits by yourself? Nope. Hold Your Wood? Bring a team for these telephone poles. "We didn't set out to make it tougher, we decided to deliver new obstacles and challenged for Mudders to overcome - together."
The 2015 Spartan Race World Championships *may* be changing locations. Vermont? Montana? Cali? ICELAND?? Mud Run Guide partnered up with Spartan HQ to pull off a "Guess and Win" contest - make your pick NOW!
The hype and buzz within the World’s Toughest Community (WTM) has been crazy since the date and location was announced back in May. Tough Mudder decided with its fourth WTM to really change things up and step away from the home venue of Raceway Park in Englishtown New Jersey, and take the show out to Las Vegas. I can say I am glad I raced last year so that I did one at Raceway, but I am very happy for a change of venue. While no two events are the same, even if at the same location, the change will keep everyone guessing. Personally I think this change will have an impact on the final standings, while it will likely still be the same few ultra-elites in the top 10, I think we may see a new winner for both the male and female.
OCR Sandy continues his 2014 OCR journey with another double race weekend. I could tell right away, the day was going to be much sunnier and hotter than the previous day in Ohio at OCR World Championships and I knew hydration would be a key for this race. I opted to wear my CamelBak hydration backpack and carried extra GU gels with me. I started the last wave of the day.
Charity Fick shares her and her husbands experience this past summer at the Dirty Dash in British Columbia, Canada. Find out if their superman and superwoman costumes game them superhuman skills on the obstacles.
The day of the Filthy Fun Mud Run started out a cold and rainy October day. I was in the parking lot very early and wondered how many people would show on such an ugly morning. It didn't take long to see that Filthy Fun Mud Run would have a decent showing for what turned out to be a great local event.
Rugged Maniac returned to the Georgia International Horse Park to bring their 5k to one of the most OCR-friendly venues near Atlanta, willing and ready to change the minds of some people who thought their course from the previous year left low expectations compared to other major companies in the industry. I can honestly admit I was one of those people after racing last year, with my best description as “It was alright” this year that changed.
The final stop on the Spartan Race Triple Crown took place outside of Dallas Texas. This year's race came earlier than last year’s “Winter Wonderland” which was considered by many to be the coldest Spartan of 2013. Spartan split the races up by staging the 13.2 mile Beast on Saturday and the 4.8 mile Sprint on Sunday. Many came out to try to claim a piece of the Triple Crown prizes.
