Obstacle Racing Media is predicting that Ruckus Sports, LLC will announce that they are permanently out of business in the next few days if not sooner. On October 30, they abruptly announced that their event scheduled for 3 days later in Marshfield, MA near Boston was postponed.
In an article ORM released on the 30th, we reported that Active.com was not allowing for any 2013 or 2014 Ruckus Race registrations, despite the fact that those dates were still on the Ruckus website. This included the race in Lake Lanier, Georgia scheduled for less than two weeks from today.
Some in the community have been saying that Ruckus could be the next race to go under as they have had a string of cancellations/postponements. With only 9 days notice, Ruckus Sports decided to postpone their Fall 2013 DC Ruckus Run which was to take place on September 28th.
Similarly Ruckus Races that were scheduled for St Louis (October 12th) and Houston (October 26th) were abruptly canceled a few weeks prior. It appears the final Ruckus Race was the Pittsburgh area event which took place on July 13th.
Various members of the OCR community have attempted to contact Ruckus via email, the Ruckus Facebook page, and by phone. To date, Ruckus has not responded. In addition, Ruckus employees that ORM had relationships with were told to stop working and go home the same day the Boston “postponement” went out. None of them would speak to us on record with anything official.
Getting no clear answers from Ruckus or Active, ORM reached out to Steel Sports, which announced an investment deal with Ruckus back in March of this year. We were successful in reaching Steel Sports, but got a firm “No comment”.
Ruckus LLC was also producing The Walking Dead Escape, a zombie run that produced events this year in New York and San
Diego. Obstacle Racing Media reached out directly to AMC, the network which produces “The Walking Dead”. AMC has yet to get back to us at this time. We will keep you posted as we find out more.
In the wake of the many racing cancellations, ORM will feature an article discussing how to dispute charges and get refunds on your credit and debit card. Stay tuned.
Matt B. Davis
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I will give them credit for one thing. I had registered 14 employees for the Houston race. Just a week ago, we received information that the fees had been returned to the credit card. They said in their email cancelling the race that refunds would be given, but I was not holding my breath.
I think there should B a criminal investigation done n sued 4 damages lying n using 2 all who love the sport n 2 enjoy staying in shape making sure that this doesn’t happen again, also that there should B laws n regulations 2 protect the people who register 4 any of these events
Ruckus sent emails to people registered for their Boston event stating that we can transfer our registration to the Spartan Sprint at Fenway Park at no additional charge. The link they provided went to a Surveymonkey page where all that was asked for was First and Last names, email address and if you wanted to receive mailings from Spartan Race.
There doesn’t seem to be any official word from Spartan about this. I’ve completed the survey last night and haven’t received even a Surveymonkey confirmation that I submitted anything. Is this for real? Can ORM reach out to Spartan Race to see if this is legit or too good to be true?
I was suspicious of the claim they made a deal for us to do the Spartan Race as a substitute. I thought it was odd to be taken a survey monkey site. Did not hand over any information and went straight to my bank to file paperwork to dispute the charges. Glad I saw this article because I will add it to my claim. Complete BS line about the weather (high winds) being the reason for the cancellation. They posted on twitter a few days before that the weather looked great for the race on Saturday & included a snapshot of the conditions. Just ticked off they were soliciting signups right until the end!
I was promised a refund for the cancelled STL race but it did not come through. I emailed them just a week or so prior to the closure announcement yesterday and was assured they were still working on processing refunds, but the indication from the closure announcement suggests I’ll never see it. Below is the e-mail sent by Ruckus:
From: Ruckus Sports, LLC [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2013 11:33 AM
To:
Subject: Message from Ruckus Sports
Dear Ruckus Athletes,
We regret to announce that Ruckus Sports is cancelling all current and future events and will no longer be in business. We’ve explored all options in an effort to continue producing our events, but we’ve unfortunately been unsuccessful and must cease operations.
We sincerely apologize to our dedicated customers and fans that have supported our events and the obstacle racing community.
Due to our financial insolvency we will not be able to offer any refunds for customers registered for our races.
Thank you to all the athletes that became a part of the Ruckus family – We appreciate your support and apologize for the circumstances
Ruckus Sports
I got an email this past Friday about the cancellation of hue event in Atlanta the following morning. I have disputed the charge with my credit card company. I find it disgusting after reading this article that they did not cancel he Atlanta race sooner. Seems like they were just trying to steal some money at the very end.
It took multiple e-mails sent back to Ruckus under the original “race cancelled” thread – not the company closure announcement – but I finally received a refund for the cancelled St. Louis race. I never actually received an email response from Ruckus but I got a refund notice through Active.com (where I registered) and the funds hit my bank later that day.
Good luck – for me persistence paid off this time.
Like other registered for the Ruckus Boston Fall event on Nov 2, I was told I could transfer to the Spartan Sprint at Fenway and I am happy to report that it was true. I was allowed to race at Fenway with no additional cost to me. I am interested to see what becomes of them but Ruckus did right by me.
Sounds like a big pyramid/ponzi scheme to me!
Do you know who took over production of the Walking Dead Escape now that Ruckus is no more?
So are they officially under?
Their events are still listed on your site
Several of our local cheerleading squads provided volunteers for their event in Washington, PA. Each sqaud was suppose to be paid $500.00. They DIDN’T pay us. What an awful thing to do to groups using their event to fundraise. I have sent several emails and calls with no response. This event was last July.
I saw the writing on the wall with this one! I did the 2011 event in C-Bus, Ohio and had a great time. I signed up for the 2012 event as soon as it was posted…then the date changed…then the event was cancelled…then I asked several times…and several months after the cancelled event…when I would get my refund…they actually blocked me from their now defunct FB page….and a year after I pad for my 2012 event…I got a refund to my card!