Yesterday I took an hour and forty-five minute drive from my home near Charlotte to Laurinburg, NC to do the Dirty Hog race. There was another mud run, The Thunder Challenge, going on at the same time in the nearby town of Raeford but I decided to do the Dirty Hog for a few reasons:
1) Longer Distance - the Dirty Hog touted a 9-12 mile course with about 30 obstacles that sounded quite challenging on their website.
2) Mystery Challenges - I was intrigued by mystery challenges that determined the difficulty of your course.
3) It was a shorter drive to the course.
My biggest fear going into this race was that it looked like a new mud run promotion. I am no expert at organizing these races but I am sure the logistics to get just one off the ground can be a daunting task and I appreciate the effort that has to go into it.
There is plenty that can go wrong on race day. Unbearable long waits to do obstacles is one issue that has arisen in a few races that I have done but the absolute worst is when a course is poorly marked leaving the race participants in utter confusion and frustration. Most people who enter these races take the race seriously and want to get everything out of it that they can. There is nothing worse than knowing that you missed challenges. These races are not cheap and people want their money's worth. I know I do.
I guess you know where I am going with this. The Dirty Hog had some really impressive marketing. It sounded like they had it all together - at least on paper. The marketing appeared on par with the more established races like the Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, and the Spartan Race but the execution was probably one of the worst I have seen. The event itself appeared to be an exercise in over-hyping and under-delivering.
The race map made lots of promises that fell far short. Here are some examples:
Obstacle #3 MX Hell promised "1.5 miles of grueling watered down motocross track, sure to slip you on your ass." The reality was that there was more sand than there was mud. It was like running on the beach for most of the course.
Obstacle #5 Hineys - "High knees through tires up a watered down hill." The reality - tires up a slight grade if at all and dry as a desert.
Obstacle #6 Blue Baller - Jump into a blue ice cold pit. The pit was no deeper than slightly above my knees. It felt great. With temperatures starting to push into the 80s in the sun - this was hardly an obstacle but a way to cool off.
Obstacle #9 Where Pigs Fly - A rope climb up and then a deep cold muddy plunge. I do not recall any ropes. It was a jump into deep muddy water that completely submerged me. So that one they got half right.
There were supposed to be Reality Show Style Challenges - I do not recall encountering any except for shooting the paintballs with slingshot at a target. I missed the log carry completely. The barbed wire over the mud pit was so high that you could bear walk on hands and feet with your butt up in the air and still easily clear the barbed wire - no need to military crawl. I did get to do a car push, tire flip, sand bag carry and a high wall climb which were the most challenging of the obstacles.
I could have dealt with some of the obstacles falling short of their promises but that wasn't the worst of it. The course was poorly marked and the race was not properly staffed with enough knowledgeable people who could give directions. Even the people at water stations and the obstacles had no clue about where to go next. After going for about an hour and a few minutes in what we estimated was about 7 miles or so - (not 9-12 miles as advertised) - I found myself back near the race start with a group of about 15 to 20+ others who had no clue where to go. There was no staff in sight to direct us to the next part of the course.
We looked around for a few minutes then finally decided to just head to the finish line out of frustration. Nobody was happy. We all wanted more but did not know where to go to find it - and nobody could help us. Very disappointing.
So I learned my lesson. I think I will stick with the big name promotions next time. I may try the Spartan Beast in October down in South Carolina and then eventually the Tough Mudder. I'll keep you posted. When it comes to new mud race promotions - do your homework - and don't fall for the hype like I did.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
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You hit the nail on the head. That is exactly what happened to us yesterday. I did this event with a team of four and we had fun, but felt disappointed at the end. We chose this race for the same reasons that you did and were unimpressed for the very same reasons. I can only hope that the organizers will seek feedback and improve the race for next year.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken,
ReplyDeleteJames, the race organizer, has deleted their facebook page which says it all with regards to their customers. For everyone else, this is my new facebook group "Dirty Hog Mud Run Rip Off": http://www.facebook.com/groups/260624020702261/
Jarrod
My group had the same experience...as soon as I got home I posted to The Dirty Hog's facebook page my review of the course and saw that a couple of others had done the same. Within a couple of hours, quite a few people had come to their page to vent about the chaos and disorganized function. The Dirty Hog deleted most of our comments but thankfully, someone had already made a copy and reposted them. About another hour later, The Dirty Hog facebook page was completely taken down and is still not up.
ReplyDeleteI think they know they screwed up. I am planning to write each of the sponsors and let them know that their money is better spent elsewhere.
I fell for the same hype! What an awful race! I went online to post a comment on their FB page...big surprise...they took down their page.
ReplyDeleteThe site boasted 31 obstacles...closer to 8 obstacles and like you said they under-delivered. I duck walked under the barbwire!!
I will stick to the Spartan, Tough Mudder, and Ninja...as well as the simple 5k mud run.
Other than my race entry, parking and gas I did not spend as much as some people who flew in or drove many miles to this race. I feel bad for those folks but I also feel bad for the promoter. He probably lost his shirt on the race and his intention was to give proceeds to a good cause. I think he really wanted to put on a great race but lacked the experience. If you read the marketing, it sounds like he consulted with people about designing a great mud obstacle course. There was no mention that he consulted an expert in managing the logistics of these types of events on race day. Had he done so he probably would have been smarter to start small. Nine to twelve miles of obstacles and muddy terrain is quite a bit to manage for an first race. I have seen 5Ks get screwed up mostly due to untrained staff. It happens more often than not. For the record, I am not seeking my money back. Too many fun events to look forward to... My next race is http://rock2rockrun.com - a 10K race - 5K up a mountain - 5K down - just outside of Asheville, NC. It is more grueling than any mud race I have have done in the past and thanks to laws of gravity there is no mistaking how to get to the finish line.
ReplyDeleteThe Thunder Challenge was not any better
ReplyDeleteTHe Thunder Challenge was a very poor race also! The owner from Denver was a total ass at the race. I will never do another thunder challenge and I do not suggest anyone else do the event also. Too many people trying to be Tough Mudder and do not have the skills to do it. Thunder Challenge is run by one guy in Denver. He acts like he has a lot if SF types working there but he does not it is just him working from his home! What a joke!
ReplyDelete