Intro
Went on Sunday, September 29th with a team of 27 people consisting of paddlers from both Davis Racing Dragons and Cal Dragon Boat! (woot woot represent) Our heat was supposedly at 9:30AM, but we didn't start the run until ~10:30AM. We finished at 4:30PM. The weather was sunny but quite windy and temperatures ranged in the mid 50's during the hottest part of the day and dropped quite a bit towards the end.
The Course
There's a wall that everyone has to climb over before even reaching the start line. The MC's all like, "We just got extra wood laying around, might as well."
~11miles with the first 6 miles uphill. Yup. The hills are steep!!! You'll be going up black diamond routes at some points. My team and I basically hiked up the hills and jogged down. You will definitely want to conserve energy for the obstacles.
The trail is pretty rocky at many points, so you'll have to be careful about rolling ankles. I rolled my right ankle 3 times. :/
The Obstacles
You can find the obstacles on their website, but here's a list of the ones that we faced and some tips.
- Glory Blades: Just need to be able to pull yourself up or have someone boost you up to get to the other side.
- Cage Crawl: Reach out and pull as far as you can! Note: There were small, red worms at the bottom of the water!!! EWW. They got caught on our girls' hair. Gross.
- Walk the Plank (my favorite): Don't think. Just jump.
- Mud Mile: Be careful of random ditches.
- Funky Monkey: Don't lose momentum on the incline. You're almost screwed if you do.
- Kiss of Mud: Stay low. Really. You don't want barbed wire on your ass
- Berlin Walls: This is where you need a team or people helping you. It's doable by yourself, but chances are, you'll need a boost. Don't be scared to push some ass up. ;)
- Electric Eel: Go fast and stay low in the water. Unless, of course, you want 10000 volts through your body.
- Lumberjacked: Probably will need people to help boost you. The logs are slippery.
- Mystery Obstacle - :D
- Logjammin - Easy, but watch your head when you go under.
- Just the Tip - As long as you have a decent grip, this isn't bad at all.
- Hold Your Wood - Group logs are more of a shoulder workout whereas individual logs are a bicep workout.
- Arctic Enema - (Personally did not do) - Jump in and out. Quick.
- Warrior Carry - Piggy back or over the shoulder works
- Everest - Get a good running start! There was a small ditch for us that we had to jump over, so watch the ground for that.
- Electroshock Therapy - Honestly, Electric Eel was worse LOL.
Other tips:
- Watch your breathing. It's really high elevation, and unless you're from Denver or something, breathing can be hard especially after the obstacles up the mountain.
- Take off your shirt if you can before the water obstacles. Seriously, you'll be so much warmer once you put it back on.
- EAT before. The main reason why I can't give this event a 5 stars is because they ran out of food! They provided bananas, CLIF bars, and more bananas, but my group and I only got about half a banana at the first station. There were many people behind us who got nothing.
- BRING SNACKS. It's a long course and they might run out of food like they did for us.
- Wear comfortable clothing. If you're wearing cotton, DON'T get it wet or you'll regret it.
- Gardening gloves with lots of grip can help a lot on Just the Tip and Funky Monkey. It also saves some cuts and scrapes on your hands on the other obstacles.
- Remember that it's not a race but a challenge. Help others out and likewise, ask for help when you need it.
- If you gotta go, you gotta go. They place porta-potties like every 2-3 miles apart, so it's probably better to just go in a random bush.
- Drink LOTS of water all day. There aren't that many water stations either.
- Sunblock up. You're up there for 3-6 hours. You'll get burned.
Overall, this was definitely a fun challenge. Would I do it again? Maybe. If they provided more food for everyone, definitely. Spending that much time up there without food really sucked. Good luck to future Mudders! That Dos Equis at the end is AMAZINGGGG. read more