Mud Crusade Race Review, Georgia

With 20 obstacles spread over a little over 3 miles, if you are looking for a fun and moderately muddy day, check out Mud Crusade. I got the opportunity to enjoy this race at Echols Farm in McDonough, GA on June 1^st and had a great time. I wouldn’t consider it to be the muddiest or the most difficult race I have done before, but it did play out to be a super fun day with my fellow racers. The race directors were pretty cool by allowing us to pop up a tent for our friends and family who came to cheer us on. This gave them a front row view of the slide and fire jump. There was a live, local band playing at the finish line and a hand full of vendors. The main area was just the right size to look pretty packed with the 1600 or so racers filtering through.

The course was relatively flat with only a few major hills. The obstacles were pretty well placed between each other which allowed for a short sprint in between them. In most instances, there were only a few stretches of straight running. I appreciate it when the obstacles are placed like this, since it can be disappointing when you sign up for an obstacle race and find you are actually doing a trail race. What kind of made this race different than a lot of the others I have done is that spectators were allowed right up to and on a lot of the course which started and ended in a large field. 5 of the major obstacles were in this area and it is always nice to hear people yelling your name at this point to push you to the end. After I finished my heat and we were waiting on some of the others to come through, I realized a couple of times that we had strayed onto the course again because we were so close.
The obstacles themselves were fun and achievable for most regardless of experience level. At the start line there was an attempt to get the racers pumped up with some arm swaying and music blaring as the countdown started. The horn went off and off we went to our first obstacle which was a wall around 6 or 7 feet that we climbed over. Throughout the race, we encountered over & unders, an A-frame cargo net, balance beams, a cargo net climb up a bank and a mud crawl to name just few. The Mud Crusade provided a little bit of everything for everyone; water, mud and fire. I was appreciative that mid-way through, we got a decent stretch of river running which help cool us off for the second stretch. The obstacles I enjoyed the most were the Herculean Monkey Bars and a super cool slide called the Slide for Life. Unfortunately, there was a malfunction with the slide so any of the runners after my 9:30 heat had to walk around the slide and just jump into the water. But for those of us that did get to do it, we all agreed it was a great slide where we were able to catch some major air before hitting the water. It was so much fun, it made you want to jump back up and do it again as soon as you were finished!

If you are a first-timer to the world of obstacle racing, then this would be a great one to start with. To the experienced racers, don’t expect to be pushed to your limit with the obstacles rather use it as an opportunity to join friends to have an entertaining time and play in the mud!