I would definitely do the Rugged Maniac 5k again!!! This was so much Fun!! It was my first time doing an obstacle course (20+ varied obstacles) and certainly the first time I've had so much mud on my person! I joined a team and we all helped each other out and up and over obstacles so I would recommend that. I had read up on Facebook for tips which definitely helped prevent injuries - Gorilla grip gloves ($5 at Home Depot), arm sleeves to protect due to crawling, compression capris to also protect the knees. I came away with some knee bruises but no scrapes. I do strength training 3 days a week and walk/run about 15 miles a week which made me feel like I had some strength going in but there are all ages and body shapes who can do it, finish it and have a blast! If anything this motivates and challenges me to get stronger for the next one! read more

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Zero integrity. They moved the venue 2 hours away from the original venue, which apparently doesn't qualify for a refund. The right thing to do is offer a refund since THEY DROPPED THE BALL, the contract (lack of contract). They announced the the change just weeks before the event, and they new months in advance. What a scam. Do not recommend. read more

As others have recently posted, they can change the location only a few weeks from the race date to essentially anywhere they want, and don't consider it a cancellation, which means they won't offer refunds. Very shady business practice and they don't respond to their own customer service link with questions/requests for explanations. PA race moved 2 hours farther away, which is ridiculous so close to the start date, especially if you have an earlier morning wave start time. For what you pay to enter these races, it says a lot about the organization's priorities when they pull this kind of bait and switch. Only in it for the money, zero effort at customer service. I won't register for another race with this group and strongly urge anyone considering it to read the negative reviews first. Buyer beware! read more

I have run the Nor Cal race four times now. It's always fun. The obstacles range in difficulty from piles of dirt and wooden ladders to rings and warped walls. You are encouraged to assess each obstacle & determine for yourself if it is something you are capable of doing without hurting yourself. For instance, I am 5'2 so I opt to jump alongside vs. over the 5 foot wide trench jumps. I have seen people with gnarly leg injuries on those bad boys. They keep it fresh by adding new and different obstacles every year. They keep it great by not getting rid of the steady and true favorites. It's great to see people of all kinds, ages, shapes and sizes out there. This is truly a race for everyone. The only bottleneck we encountered this year was at the warped wall and that is understandable because it takes some multiple tries to make it to the top. Parking is always easy and convenient. Watch for the VIP email invite because that was a stupid good deal. I went home with tons of schwag and a full belly. This is the best obstacle course, mud run on the planet. Period. Thank you for being so awesome Rugged Maniac! read more

3.1 miles and 25 muddy obstacles (aparently). I guess this is their watered down version of Tough Mudder right down to climbing over a wall to get to the start line was like one big TM rip off. You could volunteer and run for free. Entry included a T-Shirt and Beer post Run. There was very little Running at this event, more waiting at obstacles then anything. Some of the obstacles were fun (Mud Crawls, Monkey hoops,Climbing Walls ect) but then some were just really lame. Walking through a muddy puddle or a pile of foam is not what I would call an obstacle and there was not 25 of them, a couple listed on the map were nowhere to be seen. The final was pretty fun though - you climb up to a large slide that goes down to the finish line. Gives you the mutha of all wedges though. This event you had the option to be timed and run for prizes, I would usually be all for this but as I was with my Husband and he's a lot slower than me I didn't bother and instead let him set the pace. I felt really bad for those that did pay extra for this though as they ran the same course as everybody else and had to stand and wait at obstacles. It's in instances like this that they need a separate course or a special section for those people to bypass the waiting. I ended up letting a few of those people ahead of me just so that they could shave a few seconds off of their time. The Guy getting everybody ready at the start line was pretty cool though and did a good job at getting everybody amped up for the event and a big bonus for me was that all professional pictures taken on the course are free and will be available later on in the week. Also: - No signs to indicate where restrooms were. - Wanted to charge $5 for changing your wave time. We got here really early and just joined when we could as did many other people. Some ran later some earlier so it all evened out. The organizers were just trying to make extra money out of people. - Only 1 Water station on the course. Sign up was easy but had a few small issues: - Paid an extra $20+ in hidden fee's when registering in February only 6 weeks later for them to do away with those extra fee's. So what.. those who sign up earlier get penalized? - Was sent an email the day before the event a stating course map has been added to the racer info packet only it hadn't. I really wanted to see the course before the event. more for my Husband than for myself so that I could make sure he was prepared. It wasn't available until the actual day. Would I do it again? Probably but only if I got discount again (got a Groupon). I would not pay the full price of $70 or so when I only paid $85 to run Tough Mudder again in August. read more

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Less than 1star. I bought tickets for the Maple Grove mud run outside of Reading, PA for my daughter, her boyfriend and myself. $100 total. Less than two months before event, they state the location could not be secured so I can go to Scranton (two hours away) instead and trey will not refund my money. Nice, huh? read more

Company will make drastic venue changes last minute and not honor refunds. This is not the honest charitable mindset you'd expect from a race organization. Put your money toward races backed by an organization with integrity. read more

we've been running the PA race now for 3 years. all of a sudden they gave us three weeks notice that they change the venue to two hours away and sorry, no refunds available. We have four families going. It's been over a grand and they're saying sorry. Nothing we can do about it. Change of venue is not the same as I'm canceling so they will not refund. But for those of us that can't make it it's no different than them canceling it. I will never run with them again. read more

Beware - location can be changed without notice to over 2 hours away and refund is not offered. Shady.

I was already impressed with Rugged Maniac before I even stepped on the course. I originally signed up last year for the October 2017 NorCal event, however I opted out of going due to the wildfires and the poor air quality. Rugged Maniac also completely understood this and allowed anyone who was unable to make it to the event to transfer their registration FREE of charge to this year's event. SO AWESOME! If you have done any other OCR events, you know nothing is ever free. The race itself was awesome. I consider it more of a laid back Spartan Race. The race is held at the Alameda County Fairgrounds so it was all flat running, no hills. Most of the obstacles were fairly easy, none were overly impossible. The hardest ones were the ones that require upper body strength such as the rings and monkey bars. There were no bottlenecks at any the obstacles except for the very last one, the warped wall. If you do not want to do an obstacle, it is no big deal. You are able to pass any you do not want to do without penalty. They provide free beer at the end and there is food from other vendors available for purchase. The race is very muddy, make sure you bring a change of clothes or towels for your car afterwards. The race is really organized. There are lots of people around telling people where to park, go, etc. It seems that they are a stickler on start times here. I was almost late to my 11:30 heat due to traffic on 680. I got to the check in booth at 11:22 and they almost made me change my start time to 11:45. At the end of the race, you are able to purchase your next race for only $29! What a great way to to get people to come back again and again. Thanks Rugged Maniac for being one of the best OCR companies! read more

Not a lot of interesting obstacles only 5 of them were fun and original mostly were repetitive or running up and down hill in mud ( as obstacle). The DJ and stage program was really offensive and super cheap. they had a pull up contest when women signed up for the contest they made them wait over 45 minutes to compete against children. read more

This was a fun run. A quick fun 5k on the fair grounds where you can dash between obstacles and get a little wet and muddy. The obstacles are very friendly, some are even inflatable. The biggest challenges are the rings which require upper body strength and the warped wall at the very end which require some speed. Other than that I think this is a family fun adventure and a good intro for those who are interested in obstacle course races. They have great deals every so often and also offer a full refund if you choose to withdraw from the race. read more

the obstacle course was fun. I was disappointed by the photography. there were no photos of me or my whole family at one of the photo opportunities. on the second photo op, they just got a blurry picture of me coming down the accelerator. If they can't get pictures of everyone then they need more photographers. read more

The race and course we're great! However, there several things that made it just an OK event. -We had to wait over an hour for the shuttle to takes us about 3 miles from the $10 parking lot to the race. It really killed the fun for us right from the start. We arrived about an hour and a half early to enjoy some of the atmosphere and ended up being rushed just to get to the start in time. -Racers get a "free beer". That line was about an hour long as well. We just gave up and went somewhere else for a post race drink. -The changing tents were set up down hill from the rinsing station. The inside of the men's tent was nothing but mud. There wasn't so much as a dry corner. read more

I had so much fun at this! It was my first time doing a mud obstacle course race and i think this one was a great one to start with. Parking was easy and I had no trouble figuring out where to go. Signs were clearly visible everywhere for check in, showers, changing areas, bag check and the start line. The obstacles themselves were great. Some were harder than others, and they seemed to get wetter or muddier near the end. But that's what makes it fun. There was no shame if you couldn't do an obstacle. Many went around it or just tried anyway. All the participants and even the spectators at the end were all very encouraging, cheering each other on, helping each other up a step, offering a hand to grab. Great camaraderie and teamwork in the spirit of the event. I think the different wave times really helped eliminate the wait times at the obstacles. In my experience, the only time I had to wait to complete an obstacle was the very last one. Everything else had people doing them but definitely space, and room to go in and do it. My personal experience was at the very end. I was having trouble running up the warped wall. The volunteers at the top and the spectators watching were actually cheering me on to keep trying. It took 4 attempts but i finally got it, grabbed a few hands as they helped pull me up and over the top. The crowd was cheering for me! Never in my life have i experienced such pride and such an amazing thrill as something like that. I plan to do this again next year without question. read more

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First of all, the main reason I signed up was to get the beer at the end. The beer at the end was *promised* to be harpoon or ufo. Instead, it was budweiser or bud light. So basically, the promo emails LIED. I ran a stupid amount, climbed a bunch of tall things, went through a sloppy few ponds of mud to get budweiser? LAMEST fucking run ever read more

Refusing to refund cancelled events or postponed events that don't fit our schedules. They are a scam company that rather steal your money then do the right thing. Stay far away read more

Rugged Maniac is a well executed obstacle event! I've done a couple of different programs (you've heard of them) in the last couple years, so I know this is a good one. I like the obstacles and the distance. It was organized fun for my team and me. I signed up for RM 2 years ago but didn't compete due to a foot injury. I missed last year to avoid getting hurt before a full marathon I'd been training for. So 2015 is my year to finally get to run it, and run it I did! Sprained wrist and all, I loved it from start to finish. Rugged Maniac is a great event that anyone can participate in and have rugged, good time! read more

This was my first Rugged Maniac and I had a really good time. Let's take it category-by-category: Price: Compared to some of the other mud runs/obstacle races it was a bargain (and even more of a bargain with the early registration price AND the discount code I found online). I also really like that there were not a bunch of other costs such as insurance or "processing fees" which add 20% or more to the total (as there are for most events put on by other companies). Registration: Simple. The online registration had a couple less steps than the competitors. My time is valuable, I appreciate that. Reliability: Unlike the locally scheduled Atlas Race (which was canceled about a month beforeheand--something which is increasingly more common for these types of events), this one went forward as planned. Parking: Not bad. Only $8 charge (make sure to bring cash) and plenty of spaces that weren't miles away. Check-In: Only had two people in front of me and we were all processed quickly. Couldn't have been in line more than five minutes and the staff was very friendly. Festival Area: I would give this category 5 stars. It wasn't huge but it was fun and most of the activities were free. This was a HUGE bonus given that we had two kids that needed to be kept occupied (with a friend of ours) while my wife and I were out on the course. The contests were actually pretty fun to watch and the music was good. Race Organization: Despite having nearly 5000 racers, the waves went out right on time and had just enough people to keep the course well populated but not cause traffic jams at the obstacles. We never waited longer than a few minutes for any obstacle and had no wait at all for several of them. Race Course/Obstacles: Was it the most challenging course? No. Was it fun? Yes. Most were pretty easy--but not so easy to be boring--and there were a couple that were a bit of a challenge (including the sloped wall at the end) and most all of them were fun. It was also nice to see 26 of them in a race of this length. The course was also pretty flat so the running should be manageable for most anyone. Post-Race Swag: The t-shirt was kind of thin and cheap but the finisher medal was actually quite nice. As another reviewer mentioned, there was a bit of a "bait and switch" with respect to the free beer (was promised Harpoon, got Budweiser) but after conquering 26 obstacles and running for 5K, "cold and free" is nice regardless of the brand. Overall: A fun, relatively inexpensive event that caters to a broad range of participants. If you are a hard core OC racer and go in expecting to be challenged, you will probably be disappointed. However, if you go in with the perspective having a lot of fun while getting some exercise, you shouldn't be disappointed at all. This would also be a perfect entry-level event for someone interested in OC racing. Well done, Rugged Maniac! read more

This is the 2nd year that we have run in the Rugged Maniac race. It is so much fun we didn't stop laughing the entire race. Yes the obstacles can be difficult, but you do have the ability to go around (we didn't), but the fun part about it is is all the mud, mud everywhere! I would highly recommend this race to anyone who wants to get out and just have a good time. At the end of the race you get, water, a banana, orange, some face wipes to help with the mud a little bit, and a a medal. The gufts help with some of the soreness lol. read more

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Liars. They refused to give me a refund even though we are in a pandemic and instead sent me a jacket that is made out of garbage material and not worth what I paid. I used to attend their races once a year but now will never go again. read more

A great time and place. I will definitely be doing it again. A great team makes it alot more fun! Would be nice to have water station before event for pre-hydration. read more

Is a scam paid 100+ race canceled and rescheduled picked new race date canceled and refunded 5$ trash company

For reference I am fairly athletic, but am also not one of those hard-core obstacle racers that trains, etc. I've done 3 other sprint obstacle races over the years (2 spartan and a polar hero). I think this race would be fabulous for some, maybe not the best choice for others depending on what you are looking for. The good: Very friendly/helpful people throughout, both participants and event organizers. We had a early wave time and the arrival/check-in/bag check/beer getting process was super efficient for us. The course was clearly laid out and I actually liked the distribution of obstacles. We also had literally no wait for any obstacles. We did stay to watch for a while longer and it looked like it got more crowded as it got later, but it still didn't look like it got near the 'obstacle buildup' that I've seen other races get. There were a few games/etc. spread around the festival area to provide some entertainment, and tables to sit at with a good view of the end of the course. The 'depends': The obstacles were noticeably easier than the Spartan race. Also, unless you're in the elite heat, your time is not tracked by default. You have to go online to enter a self-reported time. Obviously most people won't do that. Also, there is no penalty for going around an obstacle, so if you're comparing times with others, the other people could have literally run past each obstacle to get that time. Since we actually like the competition part and seeing how we stack up against others (versus just being active and having fun), this part wasn't great for us. We still had fun and are glad we did it, but if we do another obstacle race we will choose a more challenging one. The tldr: In our experience it was very well run and a generally fun event. The lack of lines at the obstacles was awesome. However, if you're pretty athletic and are looking for more of a challenge, this might not be your best choice among the obstacle races. read more

I have tried several times to email them to get my refund due to cancellation. I did receive my refund from ticketGuardian for the entry portion but have not yet received any word from the rugged maniac for the add on portions of my entry. The add on portions are the VIP and the upgraded parking. I have emailed them three times and have still not heard a word about getting the refunds for the add on portion. They say you get a full refund for absolutely any reason but so far this is not true. TicketGuardian said that the rugged maniac would indeed refund my ad on portion but they have not. For this reason I'm only giving one star as they have not made good on their promise. read more

Water supply was terrible! Very slim. At mile marker 1 the participants were offered a 3 oz. Cup of water. I became very dehydrated and depleted just shy of mile marker 2. I asked for more water. I had to stop and take a moment. A volunteer came over and provided me with some water. He told me if needed more, I can get some up around the corner from the man under the Yellow canopy. Instead I was met with an incredibly argumentative person who in spite the fact he was sitting on a cooler of water, he would not provide me any. He was extremely rude. He said his name was Drew. I was so dehydrated I didn't even make it mile marker 2. And the very next day I lost over 5 pounds just from being severely dehydrated. Because the water supply was so dim I was very disappointed. I will never do this race again. read more

Total scam. Ive been before and enjoyed myself, however this year was different due to covid obviously. However they had issued emails offering refunds and on multiple occasions not given a refund, or have given a fraction of the money back. Unfortunately on other platforms rather than solve this in a civil manner they have brushed me and other comments aside. They have forced me into a position where i have done the research where i am still deciding to pursue legal action. Unfortunately the business has been poorly maintained and i am tired of them sending me emails to sell me stuff when they refuse to respond to me or others. They telk us that the refund email will be eithing 24 hours and ive tried four times. Not impressed. read more

Had fun running this recently. 3 miles, 25 obstacles, not bad at all. My only suggestion would be to not put the teeter-totter obstacle after the crawl through the mud one. At least 3 people went down in the span of 5 mins when trying to cross it, one had to be carted off. One of the guys that went down hard (and ended up being ok) was on the ground and we started yelling "Medic", to which he replied, "No need, I am a medic." LOL read more

I heard about this event from a friend on Facebook and after much coercing, I was able to get my sister to agree to do this with me. It was such a fun event. I am deathly afraid of heights so I am so proud of myself for conquering my fears. The first part of the course is a lot of running and I can't even remember the last time I ran three miles but I hung in there. Only a few obstacles didn't work well for short people (a couple of walls to jump over and I could even reach the rings on The Ringer) but you can skip them if you think you can't safely do them. Of course you can't "win" but we weren't even in the timed group so it was OK. What mattered was finishing the race as a team which I can say we did. The slide at the end was incredibly terrifying to me with my fear of heights but I did it and it ended up being really fun. The whole obstacle course was just challenging enough and a really great way to spend a Saturday. Plus the beer at the end was much needed and couldn't have tasted any better read more

Long lines at multiple obstacles, almost an hour wait at one. No volunteers at any obstacles to help move things along. Water station with no cups filled. Water bottles all over course. Over sold and understaffed. Too many people taking too long at obstacles. No need for timing chip because how can you race when you are standing in line for twenty mins plus at multiple obstacles? And almost one hour to do one water obstacle? Not acceptable. Participants skipping obstacles because of long lines? Sign up for a Spartan Race instead. read more

My first official run! Very well organized. Obstacles were not too difficult. It was all about having fun with my team. I already registered for next year's event. read more

Rugged Maniac is a disgrace during this time of a world health emergency. I live in Wyoming and had purchased the Phoenix race and planned everything out. The virus hits and the airlines allow me to cancel(despite not being refundable), hotels allow my to cancel, and what does Rugged do? Tell me I can come back in November or use my $150 towards my medal and t-shirt. Everyone is in financial despair right now but holding my money and saying it is to pay for the lost event is BS. The same costs for the spring race will be required in the fall, therefore if I don't participate in another event they will just use it to cut their losses for this race. Also, Macaulay has instructed me that their policy clearly states no refunds are allowed, for anything. And yet their FAQ page states: "Unfortunately we do not allow transfers to another race at this time." So you can bend some rules but not others. Using the virus to recoup your losses is a total disgrace. Oh and no Management to talk to, just email to whoever wants to respond. You guys suck! read more

This was my very 1st mud run and I had a great time. I was with a buddy who had done the serious ones like Go Ruck and Tough Mudder and he said that this was well run and legit. I have to agree. The cost for pre-reg was really low and parking was $10. The day of the race, the registration was a breeze with a long table with dozens of people available to check you in on their tablets. For those with kids, there was a big bounce house available to keep the kids amused for a bit. The staggered waves of participants helped alleviate any traffic jams at the obstacles. I loved that it was a short jog between obstacles since I'm not a runner of any sort. The obstacles were a lot of fun - rings over a pool of water, crawls through mud, wading through ankle deep water and then getting surprised by a 2 foot drop. :) All in all, I had a great time and hope to do it again next year. read more

Went with a friend and we definitely had fun together, as it's less competitive than other races and is great to do with a buddy or group. But we both felt that the course wasn't well designed. Some things were too easy, like the barbed wire crawl (not low like at other races), while other spots just weren't safe. Plenty of runners with cleats (supposedly banned). The barzan obstacle had a broken lane (yikes to whoever was going through when a cable broke), and the bouncy-house style obstacles were underinflated to the point where it slowed people down inside and we were all falling on each other. Someone fell hard on the ground on their hip/back and was on the ground for a while--the volunteer at that obstacle didn't respond other than to tell them they'd done it wrong. Some high school volunteers were yelling at racers to run through an obstacle with a hidden drop-off to get people to trip and wipe out. All-in-all, this was a one-time thing for us, and we enjoyed it as best we could. If rules are enforced, volunteers given more instruction/guidance, and the course better maintained, this can be a really exciting OCR to do again. read more

I enjoyed the fun atmosphere, and challenging obstacles, but it was around 90 degrees out with no shade and they could've provided more water stations. There was only 2 water stations and by the time I made it to the 2nd one I was already dehydrated and getting sick. More water would stations would be helpful, but other than that it was fun and a good workout! read more