Race Review - Survivor Mud Run

The first thing that struck me about this race was organization. These guys definitely know what they are doing. Getting parked was easy and parking was close to the fairgrounds. We had a team miscommunication that morning and ended up getting to the venue just a half hour before our heat. This was not a problem as the registration area was easy to identify, organized, and we breezed through it in about 2 minutes. The bibs had the RFID timing chips attached to them, so getting ready for the race was that much simpler. There was a free bag check, but the parking was so close we didn't utilize it.

This race started a little later than most, with the first heat going off at 9:15, and our heat at 9:30. The course was well laid out with a good bit of running at the beginning, which helped spread out the pack before the obstacle choke points. The venue was a motocross track and they used the hills there well, sticking to more of the sort and steep variety, rather than those tough, long uphill ploughs, like at Rugged Maniac.

The course staff were friendly and encouraging.

After some squishy mud pits we came to the big slide, where a race staff member was yelling at us to "run fast and go head first!", so I did. It was a comfy inflatable slide, which was a nice change from the usual piece of this sheet plastic thrown right on the hard, lumpy dirt. The pool at the bottom was a good depth and not as ice cold as these things usually are. Certainly the safest and most comfortable slide I've been on. Not to long or too steep.

It soon became apparent that the title of "mud run" was apt. This race was the muddiest I've run to date. Thick, deep, sticky mud everywhere. Many of the obstacles were wire or net crawls through mud, or just random mud pits you had to slog through and try to keep your shoes from getting sucked off.

Slop pit.

The obstacles were well spaced and getting stuck behind people wasn't really an issue. The few obstacles that were narrow enough to get stacked up, were short enough that you wouldn't be stuck for long. We did catch up to the stragglers in the first heat pretty quickly and it was obvious that several of them were just walking the course.

The later heats enjoyed extra slippery hills.

The most interesting obstacle was a narrow tube crawl that terminated into a drop into a deep mud pit, with a hill to scramble over to get out, that then turned into a slick mudslide down a short hill. The most dangerous obstacle was the cargo net climb, only because it was the only one with any real height to it. The wire under crawls were not barbed. Although I did see some quitters walking off the course, I didn't witness any injuries. I got a few scrapes from rocks in the mud pit, but no major cuts.

If you look close you can see the course
winding back and forth on the right.

The course was quick and you finished covered in mud. If you didn't bring your own wash water, your were in trouble, because we saw no showers there. The obligatory beer was sponsored by Left Hand and they brought 3 nice offerings.

Results:
Kellan posted our best time of 37:31, putting him 12th for age, 63rd for men and in the top 4% overall at 78th place.
I came in a little behind him at 38:49, placing 14th for my group, 73rd for men and making the top 5% overall at 91st place.
Dave pulled caboose with a time of 43:14, going 21st for age, 149th for men and in the top 8% at 206th place.
The quickest time posted was 26:49 with just under 2,000 competitors finishing.

Our personal podium.

This was a really fun race and I enjoyed it a lot. I would definitely recommend to someone looking to run their first obstacle race. It's fantastically organized, safe, well laid out, kid friendly and an all around muddy good time.