I have been looking into the Warrior Dash, I am totally hooked on these obstacle races.
What is your opinion on it? Have you done any other obstacles races?
Well, I can look at it from a few standpoints. From either an actual event (having done events & marketing for 15 yrs now) and from the actual race. Some things they did great, I got off the shuttle at 10:30 for an 11am heat, signed my released, got my packet, and checked my stuff in 5 minutes. That never happens unless I am the only one there and in this case they had 5 buses unloading at once. Post race they had plenty of space to hang out and chill, flat screens showing the results, etc.
Other things, not so great. Had to park 10mi away (supposed to be the secondary parking spot). Once I parked, had to wait in a line 1/4mi long to get on a shuttle. No real communication about the course, and there were stretches with no support where they needed staff. Most of the people there were volunteers, which is normal, but they had absolutely no info beyond their little role. And for an event that is so different from a normal race, info is needed.
Definitely seemed like a money grab for the event company. The things are popular enough, they were expected 18,000 runners between the two days, but to then charge and extra 10 bucks to park? (At all events, not specific to this venue) The bling seemed great, shirt, warrior helmet (think royal order of water buffalo) and a medal, but once you got it the shirt was thin, helmet was cheap, and the medal was the smallest I have ever received. And none of it mentioned the specific location. 4 bucks for a 12oz or so beer, 20 for a souvenir mug. Didn't see the food prices. And post race, you got a cup of water. Not a bottle, a little dixie cup.
The staff was great though.
The race itself? As I said, ankle-knee deep slop. Several of the obstacles were changed. They promised obstacles like running through a junkyard, crawling under barbed wire, a tire high step. No junk cars to climb over, the bar wire crawl was replaced with an over/under, and the tires were hung from ropes. All of which I can easily imagine were related to the mud. So I give them a pass on that one. But the 1 1/2 mi or so of the course was running through the woods. Would have been a great run, if not for the mud. Every hill people were falling all over the place sliding into exposed roots and fallen trees. Surprised I didn't see any serious injuries. The obstacles that were there were pretty fun. Scaling walls, jumping fire, sliding down hills at breakneck speed all made for a blast. Could have done without the snowguns for wash off however. Regular hoses would have worked much better.
I definitely want to do one again as I think it shows a ton of potential if the course was in better shape. If you get the choice, take the earliest heat you can. Someone on the first day put in a 22 min race, second day was a 25 min race. And the times definitely got slower as the day went on. I was 23rd in my group from the after the first 2 heats, only dropped 7 places during the remaining 8 heats or so.
Outside of the mud (which they had no control over) it was a pretty good course for a fairly well run event. I may try one of the Spartan Sprints next over one of the longer distance races.
I have been wanting to do this, but there is never one closer that a 3-4 hour drive from Birmingham. Once they get closer, Ill bite and do it. I just dont want to travel that far.
Surprised that between the Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, and Spartan Race no one comes closer than that. It's a shame as it was a lot of fun.
