The Tough Mudder

  
     I recently listed in my '2011 Events' page that I am thinking about doing an event called the Tough Mudder.








     The Tough Mudder started out as a finalist in the Harvard Business School’s annual Business Plan Contest. The creator is a guy named William Dean who was a student at the school. Originally from England, he brought his friend Guy Livingstone in to act as Chief Operating Officer and together the two of them turned the business plan into a reality.




     Their first event took place on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at Bear Creek Ski Resort near Allentown, PA. Participants were charged around $100 each to take part in the event which raised nearly $200,000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit whose mission is to "honor and empower wounded warriors" of the United States Armed Forces. What a great cause.








     The turnout for the event was huge as the 4500 participants gathered at the starting line for the 7 mile / 17 obstacle course. Before they could begin however, everyone had to recite the Tough Mudder Pledge which goes something like this:

     As a Tough Mudder I pledge that…

I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.

I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.

I do not whine – kids whine.

I help my fellow Mudders complete the course.

I overcome all fears.







   
      The Bear Creek event's 17 obstacles included:

  1) Braveheart Charge: participants run down the mountain.
  2) Death March: steep climb up one of the ski slopes
  3) Sweaty Yeti: scramble through snow
  4) Devil’s Beard: crawl through low cargo nets
  5) Hold your Wood: participants pick up and run with heavy logs
  6) Cliff Hanger: a rocky climb up the top of the mountain
  7) Boa constrictor: crawl through dark tunnels
  8) Swamp stomp: run through deep mud
  9) Kiss of mud: participants crawl on their bellies through mud under low wire
10). Ball Shrinker: traverse ropes stretched across a pond
11) Underwater tunnels: swim underneath barrels held on the surface of the water
12) Walk the plank: jump off planks into a pond
13) Berlin walls: climb over walls made of wooden planks
14) Killa gorilla: run up and down a steep hill ten times
15) Greased lightning: slide down a steep hill into the pond and swim back out
16) Fire walker: Run through flaming bales of hay
17) Mystery obstacle




     The Tough Mudder events, which are held in different locations around the country, each have courses that range between 7-12 miles of muddy, hilly trails and contain 17-20 sets of military style obstacles. No two courses are the same and the types of obstacles vary as well as the order of them. Almost every event is guaranteed to have a "Mystery Obstacle" somewhere in it that is saved as a race day surprise. The events ends with a run through flaming bales of hay that lead you to the finish line. After the race is a post-race party with a free beer for everyone who finishes. Also if you're tough enough there are artists on site to give you a complimentary tattoo of the Tough Mudder logo.









     There are no winners in this event because participants aren't timed and most importantly it's not a race. The idea is to finish the course and help fellow 'tough mudders' along the way. At the end of 2011 however, the top 5% of all Tough Mudder participants will compete in the World’s Toughest Mudder competition, a 50 mile event held over 2 days. This championship event “is a challenge designed with only one goal in mind, to find the toughest man and woman on the planet."


     Check it out guys, looks like alotta fun to me.