Race Review - Survivor Mud Run 2014

2014 marked the 2nd year of the Survivor Mud Run for us. We had a lot of fun at this race in 2013 and were looking forward to doing it again. Dave had a group of friends from his Crossfit Box with him and I brought along my 14 year old son Kellan once again.

Pre race extreme haircuts.

This race was basically a repeat of last year's. The layout was exactly the same, as far as I could tell, which was a shame. It's never that much fun to run the exact same race, although you do know what to expect, I suppose. It was, obviously, at the same venue, a motocross track, so there were the nasty shot hills I've come to love and hate.

Although it's a shorter course, Dave's GPS came in at 2.88 miles, the up and down terrain make keeping a fast pace difficult. The obstacles are pretty standard. Mud pits, cargo net climbs, tunnels, and a good bit of crawling involved. All in all it's well laid out and managed and there were no significant pile ups, at least early in the day.

Post race flex shot.

The course wasn't as muddy as last year, which was probably the muddiest I've seen, but this was because we didn't get the severe ran leading up to the event like we did last year. I was OK with this, as clean up was a heck of a lot easier this time around.

They didn't have the free t-shirts this year, but had a headband instead. Also, the medal was so much smaller as to be almost laughable. I'm guessing this was a cost saving factor, although there appeared to be about the same number of racers as last year, so who knows. Event shirts were available in a couple different styles for $20, but I don't think they were as cool as last years free event shirt. My son liked one enough to buy, however.

2013 swag v. 2014 swag.

During the race, I was able to get out to an early 2nd place lead, distancing many people in the first water pit, but it wasn't long before my son passed me, followed shorty after by a handful of other racers, and finally Dave kicked in and beat me in the last 1/8th mile as well. Kellan won our heat and placed a tentative 11th overall. I say "tentative" because the timing chip system was awful, and many people, including Dave and myself. So it's anyone's goes who placed exactly where, all I know is Dave and Kellan both whooped me.

After party in the beer tent.

This is a fun race overall, well organized and a lively crowd. I would still recommend it to beginner-moderate obstacle racers, but more advanced racers might find more of a training tool than a competitive event, especially with the shoddy timing system.

11th place overall... maybe.