MUD Obstacle races are demanding – and messy – but they’re the latest craze in making fitness fun
GUTS
// By KURT DUSTERBERG
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When Fred Augustine showed up for his first obstacle race, he had no idea what he was getting into. His wife had signed him up for something new, and he looked forward to breaking out of his routine at the gym. “It was a 13-mile event. When I got to eight miles, I just wanted to quit,” Augustine remembers, before breaking into a laugh. “I swear I thought she just wanted the life insurance policy.” Augustine finished the course, with a little help from his wife, who hopped a guard rail and helped him cover the last 10 yards. “I thought, ‘I did this for a t-shirt and a medal?’” he says. Augustine is not alone. Obstacle runs (and similar events called mud runs or adventure runs) are attracting a growing number of people who are looking to break away from traditional fitness routines. As the name suggests, obstacle runs add a variety of challenges to a traditional running race. For starters, all of them are off-road events. Participants scale walls, climb nets and wade through bodies of water. “It’s experiential entertainment,” says Rob Dickens, who operates the Rugged Maniac obstacle race series. “People are no longer satisfied to sit on their couch and have entertainment delivered to them via a television. They want to get out there and be a part of the action. They want to go out and have fun, and get exercise at the same time.” Rockingham Motor Speedway hosted a Rugged Maniac event in May, drawing 8,000 participants. Dickens, a Wilmington native, would like to
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bring an event to the Triangle area if he can find a suitable location. “We try to find a location with interesting terrain, whether it’s a stream or hills or a pond,” Dickens says. “But we also need a venue that’s big enough to hold our event.” And building a course is no small task. After getting hooked on running obstacle races, Augustine got the bug to build a course. He quit his job and ventured out on a large property owned by a race buddy. “I went out into the woods one day with a spray paint can and hedge cutters. I cut my way through and made a trail,” he said. After Tropical Storm Sandy wiped out his first course in 2012, he rebuilt it and launched Legend Race, held annually in September in Oxford. To keep expenses low, Augustine prepares the entire course himself. “I hang ropes, hang cargo nets in trees, build obstacles,” he says. “There are inverted staircases, teeter-totters to run up and down. You swing from a rope [to a net] in mid-flight.” Today, Legend Race has close to 500 participants. Like most obstacle races, it attracts many young adults who aren’t content to settle for jogging on a trail or a treadmill. The obstacles add a level of excitement as well as a sense of camaraderie. If you’ve never felt the rush of successfully climbing a wall, your fellow racers usually lend a hand. That’s the spirit of the event. There’s a cool factor, too. The Rugged Maniac website promotes “epic” obstacles and “plenty of beer” at the finish line. Turning a workout