Before we dig into the Day Of this event. Let us back up with a brief history of “City Obstacle Course Races”.
Metro Dash launched in 2011 and did well in a few cities. They started to grow, put several races on the calendar and then promptly crashed and burned shortly thereafter.
Red Frog Events created The Urban Warrior Dash in the spring of 2013. Along with the 14 mile Iron Warrior Dash, that they launched at the same time, these events were the “natural” progression to the juggernaut that was Red Frog back then. Iron did 3 events, never to return and the Urban WD calendar went away after events in San Diego (1600 participants) and Chicago (2800 participants).
Alpha Warrior came along with a “parking lot” style obstacle race with a motto of “No Mud, No Miles, No Mercy”. They too, did a couple of events and faded away. (Rumor is they are making a comeback with some folks from the American Ninja Warrior crew but nothing has become public yet).
The Men’s Health Urbanathlon has actually been around for 10 years. MHURB brings in around 2000 participants per event, yet they only focus on 2-3 cities per year, and seem to be happy with that.
The one true success story in city events has been The Spartan Stadium Series. They had a monster success when they produced a Fenway Park race back in 2012. This has led to a slow but steady growth of their series, with the venue itself perhaps being the biggest draw to these races. It’s a winner for sure, but 6 races a year doesn’t mean the model can necessarily work nationwide.
So, when Tough Mudder announced Urban Mudder as “Tough Mudder’s Cousin In The City”, back in January, I was skeptical that it could work. Sure millions have done Tough Mudders worldwide, but was TM missing out on another huge percentage of humans that had yet to try? According to Alex Patterson, who was the VP Brand at TMHQ back then, potential consumers had told TMHQ that driving to the country was a hinderance to attempting a Tough Mudder. So was the 10-12 mile distance. So was the mud, ice bath, and electric shock obstacles
So Tough Mudder, the event that previously bragged about low finishing percentages, and was determined to make the little orange headband the end all-be all of office humblebraggery, was going to go completely against brand and launch a funsies, beginners race, just 5 miles long, with 10-12 obstacles? Ladies and Gentlemen, Urban Mudder.
Upon arrival, it is very clear you are NOT at a Tough Mudder. The orange, brown and black that we are so used to seeing along miles of mud were replaced by a combination of grey, green and light yellow, along concrete and grass. Fist pumping music was blaring away. The new character of “Coach” is gyrating groovily to music in ridiculously short shorts and an equally ridiculous, yet awesome mustache.
The turnout was so good, and enough people had assembled early, that the 10:00am start wave went off at 9:45. We made it in time for the 10:00am wave. No “Start Line Sean”, no Get down on one knee and thank heroes, no TM Pledge, and no Hoorah! Some fun announcements and we were off. With the racing starting inside a college stadium, we bolted across a track with Coach right along side us.
We typically avoid obstacle by obstacle run downs here at ORM. However, since this is an inaugural event, we’ll lay it out that way, just this one time.
Mafia Blocks. Some mini plastic traffic blocks.
Head Rush. Big points here for a fun, challenging obstacle that anyone can try without hurting themselves. See photo. Tricker than it looks, especially transitioning feet from bar to bar as you go high to low and vice versa.
Heavy Metal. Teams of 2 or 3 grab a big pole and walk around a field. Much like a log carry we’ve seen in multiple obstacles races. Urban Mudder had us take our pole along with us on over, under, and through walls. Again, something a new person can do, but probably has never done before.
6 Feet Over. A giant rubbery thing. It’s called Beached Whale at Tough Mudder. Jeff Marier thinks it looks like a giant hot dog.
Swipeout. A definite trend in 2015 OCR is the sponsored named obstacle. Swipeout, sponsored by Tinder, (Get It? Swiping!?) is a swirling pole that you run across. Not much to it, but it broke up the running a little.
2nd Ave Subway. That thing where you carry your buddy on your back, then you switch. It’s much shorter than the TM version, I think we each carried each other about 50 feet. I am guessing because they don’t want you falling onto the concrete sidewalk. Also, it’s a local joke, which I did not understand until someone explained the history of this mythical subway.
Under Pressure. Like Tough Mudder’s Cage Crawl, without all the water and fear. So just scurrying under a fence really. On lap two, we had to go straight military crawl on this obstacle, as going on your back and pulling down on the fence to propel you forward was causing obstacle damage.
Laser Minefield. HUGE excitement leading up to this one. I had seen the video preview which looked super bad ass. A volunteer excitedly told us to avoid the lasers on the inside, and if we don’t, a buzzer will go off. I could not wait to experience what I imagined to be a mini version of TRON deadly discs. Instead, it was definitely a WOMP WOOMP situation. I entered the black tent, and exited the black tent. I heard a buzzer go off, but saw no “lasers”. One of the more memorable moments of the day was looking back as different people exited the obstacle, and everyone had the same puzzled look of what the heck just happened.
Cut to, our second lap of the day. Either the wind changed, or the sun, or they just figured out how to manage this obstacle better, because the 2nd time through, I definitely saw the lasers. It was super cool stepping over and ducking under them. It was much like that scene in Ocean’s 12 with the french guy. I had a great feeling of accomplishment and high fived my buds when I made it through unscathed.
On The Fence. These were two 8 foot walls in a row. If it is one thing I am good at in OCR, it’s walls. I built one years ago in my backyard so I have several techniques that are on point. My favorite, which can be read about in Chapter 9 of my OCR training book, involves taking a running start, and leaping with the front part of one foot onto the wall which propels your body upwards. One of the keys is that your other foot is leaping from solid ground. In this case, Urban Mudder put soft foam pads down in front of the wall. From a distance, they did not resemble foam pads, so my whole body bounced on the way up and confused my brain (much like putting in your hand in cold water that is actually hot or the other way around) and my leg buckled in a way it never had before.
This obstacle was more enjoyable on the 2nd lap because a) I knew it was foam this time and b) we stopped and helped several struggling participants over both walls.
Ape Sh*t. Climb up a truss about a foot before mounting standard monkey bars. The added bonus was the placement of this obstacle. As you rounded a corner, you had a city view of a nearby bridge. I have a distinct memory of the song “Big Poppa” being played and my new New York pal, Brian Burbige, singing along with this bridge in the background. It was a very NYC moment.
Speaking of music. A huge plus for this race was being able to hear music almost 100% of the time on course. Most OCRs, you get music at start and finish and perhaps they have a seperate set up at a few key obstacles. This day, you heard it all day long no matter where you were. Just the right volume to make it enjoyable, and not so loud that you could not talk to your friends. It was all very NY hip hop based so if you did not like that music, then it was a long day for you.
Rock and a Hard Place. A cross between the Spartan Race traverse wall and American Ninja Warrior spider walls. There were hand and foot holds spaced apart that made it challenging, but not impossible. On my first time through I skipped the last foot hold and nearly face planted onto where your feet go at the end.
The next photo shows our friend Anne effectively conquering this obstacle. Below is a great shot of me two seconds after I fell. I quickly regained my composure in time for the click of the camera. It is my sincere goal to teach all of you, that if it one thing that is important in OCR, it’s the photo ops.
Rooftop Series. The grand finale. Urban Mudder gets a double A+ for this one. Begin by climbing up a 15 foot ladder. Then a jump over a 3-4 foot gap onto another “building”. You’ve seen all of your favorite movie heroes do this, now you get to attempt it. Then a brief walk the plank situation over to another “building”. Finally, you get to pull another killer movie hero move, a leap 20 feet down onto a giant soft target.
After accepting your glorious headband, you see a sign that says “Course conquered party started!”. This is absolutely true. First, you are handed lots of sponsored products. Oberto Jerky, MetRX bars, Cellucor Amino Alpha Beta Gamma Post Race Drink. You then enter the festival area that is a true party. You can hang out in the massive shaded beer garden to enjoy a free Shock Top Beer, plus as many more as you would like on your dime. There was a basketball court set up, some other mini games from various sponsors, and the coup de grace – an arctic enema dunk tank. Get dropped into a dunk tank filled with ice, come up with a gold washer and you win a free Tough Mudder. I loved this one so much I tried it twice (and failed twice). You can get a glimpse of how cold it was in the video at the end of this review.
Swag received was a dri-fit tech tank top, plus a pair of Wigwam socks
There were a couple of areas that needed improvement. Mudder decided to pre-stack corral waves leading up to the actual start line. People stood in these lines for over an hour in some cases. It was hot with no cover, so that is the biggest complaint I heard on site or online afterwards. It seems as though people just lined up when they got there, rather than running in their assigned wave, so that may have been part of the problem. It seems like an easy fix for next time. When we ran our second wave, we also waited 15 minutes to get onto Head Rush. Definitely too long to wait for an obstacle, but I’ve seen considerably longer lines at Wipeout and Rugged Maniac in the past.
The 4-6 jump from wood plank down to more wood plank of Rooftop Series was injury prone. As soon as I landed the first time I did it, I thought “someone is going to get hurt here”. As the day wore on, several people did. They need to soften that landing next time around.
There could also have been at least one more water stop on a 5 mile course on a hot day. There was one official water station shortly after 2nd Avenue Subway. (It included MET-Rx Gummies
The positives on the day far outweighed the negatives and TMHQ has to be thrilled with the outcome on the day. Tough Mudder hit a home run on all of the points that Alex Patterson described to me back in January. Beginner’s distance. Some simple, yet challenging obstacles. Taste of teamwork at Tough Mudder. Don’t have to drive 90 miles to get to. Don’t want to be shocked or frozen or jump 20 feet in murky water. An after party that rivals (if not tops) Warrior Dash. Check. Check. Check. Check. and Check.
There are currently no calendar dates for Urban Mudder for 2015. Ben Johnson from TMHQ told us we can expect at least 6 cities in 2016. In the meantime, sign up for a Tough Mudder here and get a $10 debit card back when you register.
Tough Mudder debuted it’s latest creation Urban Mudder Last weekend in NYC, which introduced a shorter course, a couple…
Posted by Obstacle Racing Media on Friday, July 31, 2015
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Matt B. Davis
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Great breakdown, Matt! You hit it spot on. The race was cool for beginners but bring that it was sooo hot that day, the 5 miles felt like 7. You’re right about the water stations. They really needed another one. Also, the lines were crazy. I raced at 11am and I started front line for that reason. The obstacles were pretty cool. My favorite was definitely the roof top series. All in all, it was a fun race. I mostly attended the race because I literally live a mile away, so I ran to the race and then after the race, I ran back home. Would I do it again? I’m not sure. Something would have to give or some obstacle would have to look super cool for me to do it again. Keep up the good work, brother!
On point review Matt. Urban Mudder was definitely better than expected, and a great starter race. Gotta love all the DJ’s too..
Urban Mudder is “Tough Mudder’s Cousin from the City,” aimed to attract participants who want to join in a Mudder experience minus the mud and the long drive out to the country. When Urban Mudder announced its inaugural event, I practically counted down the days. I frequently visited their website and Facebook page leading up to July 25th. I knew it was not going to be as difficult and lengthy as Tough Mudder, but still a challenging exuberance.
Before tackling the course, participants joined in a quick group warm up, followed by a slight migration to the Starting Line. Here, the Urban Mudder emcee gave an encouraging speech of our inaugural awesomeness and the expected Mudder pep talk.
Starting the Urban Mudder course, we looped around the Icahn Stadium track before reaching our first obstacle, the Mafia Blocks. Large plastic construction traffic blocks, that we jumped, or for some climbed over. Well, all right! Let’s run/jog/walk/skip/shake to the next challenges.
Head Rush. Consisted of angled poles, where Mudders made the choice to start head over heels or heels over head. Didn’t matter how you did it, at one point you were to experience a head rush and end up opposite of how you started. This was clearly a new challenge to most, if not everyone. On Urban Mudder’s website, it said use of upper body strength and core were key to move across the angled poles. I think they left out that if you are of a short nature, legs were just as important.
Heavy Metal. Can’t say there was actually any “heavy metal,” but the idea was still there. Urban Mudder’s website showed participants working to pass a metal truss through an opening of a metal truss wall with a caption that said, “Don’t let metal touch metal.” Instead of using those materials, big PVC pipes painted black and filled with water replaced the metal truss and the metal truss wall was now wood. The objective was still the same, put Object A over/through/under Object B without letting them touch each other.
6 Feet Over. Know to Tough Mudders as the Beached Whale. Pretend you are an ant climbing up and over a giant air filled bag. A little tricky, but a lot of fun. When doing this obstacle, I always picture a bigger person jumping on an air mattress, hurling a smaller person high up in the air.
Swipeout. Formally known as the Close Shave on the Urban Mudder website. Tinder sponsored this obstacle, hence the name change… Get it? Tinder? Swipe left or right? Ha! I thought it was clever. It was a spinning beam you tried to walk cross without falling off. Harder than it looks.
2nd Avenue Subway. Urban Mudder was introducing it as their newest obstacle. It consisted of giving a running buddy a piggyback ride then switching after a yard or so. Let’s just all agree that isn’t really an obstacle, but technically it is. If you know NYC’s history of the 2nd Avenue Subway, you would know that this is a subway system that was proposed in 1929 and never finished. It has had many starts and interruptions, but the most recent expect completion date of the 2nd Avenue Subway is 2029. Pretty much what Urban Mudder did with it NYC location was play a dirty, but cleaver trick on us, non-New Yorkers. Well played.
Under Pressure. This is was crawling under a chain link without the mud. Plain and simple.
Laser Minefield. An obstacle that you go through with fixed green lasers. My eyes took a moment to adjust in the dark. As they did, in my kid mind, I was imagining Laser Quest here. This is what added to my disappointment. I just stood there waiting for the lasers to move and hit me. Nothing. (Sigh) Needless to say, don’t touch the fixed laser beam and there won’t be a loud obnoxious sound to go off.
On the Fence. This was not a couple of chain link fences. That would have been way too easy. It was more like a couple of 8 foot wooden walls. We all have our special techniques to get up and over them. Some jump, some climb, and some need that extra boost. All that mattered was that you got up and over the walls.
Ape Sh!t… “Make your way across these angled monkey bars without falling off.” -Urban Mudder. To be exact urbanmudder.com/events/2015-new-york-city I guess by angled they really mean parallel to the ground. No challenge. No excitement. No wow factor. Huge let down.
No need to run to the next obstacle. You can see the pileup at Rock and a Hard Place. You will be waiting 5 to 10 minutes before tackling this obstacle. Which brings me to the obstacle inside many obstacles called the Urban Experience. Notice at times you had a slightly short to ridiculously long wait time before you could have your turn at conquering an obstacle. Why not make people wait their turn? Densely populated city, densely populated obstacle. I pretty sure it was planned by Urban Mudder, but it made a nice fit. (Like what I did there? Randomly threw that in to see if I lost you and add a little of my “It is just life, laugh at it!” humor.)
Rock and a Hard Place. (Back to explain this.) Full body strength is used to hold yourself up between opposing walls, or you could use the evenly spaced foot holds to step across. Goal here is to make it to the other side without falling into a shallow pit of water.
Roof Top Series. This is when your inner Bad Ace comes out! You climb up about 20 feet on a ladder to the “roof top,” jump over a 3 to 4 foot gap between “buildings,” balance yourself on a beam to reach the other side, and finish your daring stunts by jumping off the ledge to an air filled crash mat. Oh wait! I didn’t get to do all that. Close to that, though. I climbed up, balanced across, and jump off. The whole jumping over that 3 to 4 foot gap never happened. We were all directed to shuffle across the guard rails on the side of the Roof Top Series. They stopped people from leaping for some reason. I never found out why when I asked a few staff members. I have a couple assumptions though. However, I rocked at what I did.
Bonuses to doing Urban Mudder besides the memorable time? Free beer. (If of age.) Wigwam socks. (If they didn’t run out by the time you tired to collect.) Urban Mudder Tank with Urban Mudder Headband. Did I mention Urban Mudder Sponsors hooked you up with samples?