Cerebrun obstacle races, mud run, and OCR information, distance, cost, dates, calendar, discounts, obstacles, reviews, and more

This race could have been amazing! The course was great but the event itself was unorganized and BORING :(
There was no fanfare, the "DJ" left after the last heat and vendors were scarce and uninteresting. We were told to get there an hour early but there was literally nothing to do so we jumped ahead to an earlier heat and no one knew or cared - there were no race chips given out or any real check in to keep runners in their heat. The course was long and grueling but on mental challenges - (although on the memory challenges I will admit that the helpful hints from the staff were appreciated ;) ) when the challenges were failed the staff "looked the other way" as runners went on the reward trail as opposed to "suffeeing" - defeating the purpose of the mental challenges on the course. If you're gonna do it - do it right! At the end, the shirt and medal were awesome but that was it - no banana, no water, nothing. That's it - it's over. No fanfare, really no fun. :( This particular event had no beer, no music, and really no food - there was a taco stand and a smoothie truck that's it. So really NO reason to stay. There wasn't even a sprayer, there were 2 tents - a man's and a woman's to change in and no water so really you were just putting clean clothes on a dirty body. Everyone just left. It was a HUGE let down at the end. I really hope this event takes off and becomes better organized because it was a great course - I LOVED the combination of mental and physical obstacles and I'd love to make it an annual thing but . . . not the way it's currently run.

This was definitely one of the more innovative obstacle course races I've participated in. Clever combinations of resources, new challenges that the bigger races don't event offer, and the mental challenges were very enjoyable too. I'm excited to see how far CerebRun can take off.

I did CerebRun's first race April 2013, and just as the first reviewer stated, it wasn't well managed. However, I signed up for their Thanksgiving race, because the race directer (I think his name is Jared) sent a very thoughtful email, offering a 50% coupon to the runners.

After performing in their Thanksgiving Challenge, I can confirm that the event organizers take this obstacle course race seriously. The terrain was great and so were the obstacles. And the puzzles were creative and original that forced teamwork with the other runners.

This is a very fun and challenging race, and if CerebRun keeps improving, they're going to attract some major audiences.

This was a very fun and fulfilling race. The physical obstacles were challenging, with some innovative obstacles that I haven't seen in any of the other races. But the mental challenges is what makes CerebRun stand apart. They were very fun, challenging, and demanded you to work with other runners (the Lego and sand bag carry were the most challenging).

All in all, i'm excited to see this organization grow. Very fun, organized, unique, and rewarding.

While I did offer a rather critical review of the first event (specifically how rough and unorganized it was), I do feel obligated to offer a part two:
After submitting the review, I received a personal phone call from the race director. I have to express my gratitude. I am very pleased that the race director reached out to me and we had a chance to talk. This is much better customer service than I've received with some of the 'bigger' obstacle races. For example, I won a Spartan Race (team option at a Beast) 7 months ago and was persistent in trying to claim the prize: facebook messages, e-mails, the works. No one ever responded and I've given up hope I'll ever receive my prize for first place.
That said, I'm happy CerebRun responded, is taking feedback seriously without taking it personally, and is working hard to put on an even better next event.
I was on the fence about trying this race again; however, the personal response has made me feel much more comfortable and confident that PA might just have a fantastic indigenous obstacle course.

Upon re-reading my initial review, I realize I didn't offer specifics on the innovative obstacles. I don't want to describe them in too much detail (lest someone else rip off the ideas) but I will say I was pleasantly surprised with their wood and tire combinations: they made things I haven't seen at Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, or any of the other obstacle course races.

The race was excellent in theory. In theory. I'd love to give it more than two stars. I was also holding out on commenting at all as I e-mailed the race director and commented on the facebook page. Given that there's been no response, I'll go ahead and submit a review.
First, one star is earned for the sheer beauty of the location. Honestly, the land was gorgeous. Great view of rolling Pennsylvania hills with the river in the background. No wonder people have weddings there.
Parking was decent. Registration was mildly smooth, though the workers (or volunteers) didn't seem as informed as they should have been.
I was signed up to volunteer. I fortunately found a person who told me where to go after racing (hand out medals). After racing, I did hand out medals. However, aside from someone bringing more medals I really had no communication with a volunteer coordinator. No "How's everything going?", or "Do you need to take a potty break?". It would have been nice for a simple check-in.
Now for the race itself:
For starters, the guy doing the countdown didn't know which way the course was supposed to go from the starting line. He had to ask someone else which of the two paths to take.
Once on the course, it was chaos. The flags were far and few in between. Definitely the worst marked course I've ever raced. I had the lead the whole time, and ran off course multiple times. Each time I had to stop, look, wonder "What the??", then run backwards to recalculate. The sandbag carry was a disaster. It was meant to be a loop to drop sandbags where you picked them up. I figured that out. Many people didn't. Several people carried them through the course to the finish line. A few heats in, there were no sandbags to carry.
The last (at least) 3/4 of a mile, I didn't see a single flag or marker. I eventually found two 8' walls and some hurdles, and then ran to the finish. A few days later--after consulting with someone who ran the next day--I realized I was off course at that point and missed some of the course. Too bad. It was a wild guessing game to stay on course--maybe they cleared it up by day 2.
The obstacles: mildly challenging and terribly dangerous. There were volunteers at one or two obstacles (of over 10). When there's a 10+ foot wall, it would make sense to have a volunteer there with a walkie-talkie in the event of an injury. Or have someone at the sandbags to explain the loop.
The mud crawls weren't mud. Anyone who ran the race had the pleasure of smelling like horse crap the remainder of the day.
A few obstacles were innovative (earning another 1/2 star). I will give them credit.
Mental obstacles: mildly challenging. This was the selling point of this race. Sadly, many mental obstacles were poorly executed. For example, finding the angle of a triangle then going through a crawl based on our answer. Yet, it seemed that everyone had the exact same crawl regardless of answer. Another sign with a trivia question was flat on the ground (I didn't notice it until I passed it). I was expecting more of a difference in the course if you messed up and answered incorrectly. Most of the time, it didn't seem to matter.
What else? The medals were decent, the t-shirts were decent. Another 1/2 star earned.
They ran out of water and cups. Sorry racers. I never saw a hose to rinse off the horse crap.
The first two heats were to be competitive. They combined them for lack of numbers. Timing was done manually. There was no awards ceremony. Nothing special for those who won. First 50 finishers got a CerebRun bag--but that wasn't announced and was only claimed by anyone who saw the note on the website about "extra glory". I'm not sure the bag is glory, but whatever.
The website said photos and results would be up the Wednesday following the race. It's a half week past that Wednesday and nothing yet.

In summary: terribly unorganized but it had incredible potential. I loved the idea of the race, but that's about it. I'm not sure I'd go back again next year.

I ran at least a dozen obstacle course races--in 9 or 10 different states--prior to this so I had several to compare.