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

Our company was a sponsor for the Zombie Run in San Antonio, TX on October 26-27. The event was cancelled and we were not notified. When I called William, our contact, he stated that the event would be issuing refunds within the next two weeks. It has been a month and a half, we have not gotten our $500.00 refund, and William is no longer answering my calls. I feel we were scammed as a company, and this has caused irreparable damage to my position in my company.

I don't know about anyone else filing multiple bad complaints about this event, and I just found this review on this site. But it's bad. It's so bad. I did the Gut Check Challenge in Austin in June, and it was awful. There was very poor organization, no water stops (and yes, water stops - at least one - on a course at 11 AM in June in Austin, TX WERE needed), and the water at the end ran out! There was improper first aid, and one of the obstacles BROKE on the first wave and someone broke their leg, so they had to shut that obstacle down due to questionable construction of the obstacle. We were also promised barbecue afterward, and they provided a cold sausage wrapped in a flour tortilla and that was it. The obstacles were not fun or challenging. There was no barbed wire. Everything that they said that they would do, they did not. All of this, of course, AFTER they had already rescheduled the race and refused refunds to anyone who had a scheduling conflict with the new race date. We were also promised a free headband for our team members, but they ran out of headbands. Just all around awful, NOT WORTH the $50 that I paid. Never, ever again.

Clarification

Please take note of the highlights below about previous reviews. The below reviews are brand new accounts that were created and written by the same person. This individual has been posting his reviews all over multiple internet boards.

Our event is not a scam or anything of the sort. We are responsive to all of our customers and work hard to respond in a timely and professional manner. We also work side by side with all local authorities in order to have our events approved and run smoothly anywhere we go. If you have questions about our company or it's legitimacy you can call the Bastrop County Judges office (the office we received our permits) or you can call Rusty's Walnut Creek Ranch in Cedar Creek where the event was held.

The foundation we support is Make-A-Wish and we share that information with great pride. The latest review posted by this individual below only shows you a small part of the email he received from Make-A-Wish. In actuality, we had discussions with our MAW contact once we became aware of his latest rant. With that said, our partnership with MAW remains intact and we will continue working together.

We have tried reaching out to this individual to rectify this situation but with no luck.

We are aware that our course layout may not have been the best one for the type of terrain we were on in Austin. For all future events our course will be built wider to allow for a smooth flow and little to no back up times at obstacles.

If you have any questions or concerns about our event or our company please feel free to email us at register@gutcheckchallenge.com. Let us know if you prefer email or phone response and we would be happy to speak with you.

What a rip off!!!!!!!!!

It should be zero stars. Basically what I experienced is pretty much what everyone below did.

These guys should be shut down.

ZERO STARS! Lies and Fraud, that's the M.O. of this crew. Join my facebook group as I start to organize those who were ripped off so we can ensure that other folks don't fall victim to the same scheme and hopefully bring these liars to justice. https://www.facebook.com/groups/gutcheckfraud/

The Gut Check Scam!

Victims: Check back here often. You were a victim of fraud and in some cases it can be proven. I filed a complaint with IC3 (google it) BEFORE the event ever occurred as I knew these guys were committing fraud by continuing to promote an event that they factually could not deliver. Change the date, change the date. Keep selling, we need more money. And that's just the tip of the iceberg but I have inside information on this crew so it came as no surprise to me to follow up and see these reviews as these guys were not only amateurs and unprofessional but also liars and without question and per my complaint # I1303251315539492 with the IC3 filed over a month before the actual race (a race to stand in the longest line it would seem). As the IC3 no doubt likely gets thousands of complaints as internet fraud is rampant they never got around to responding, perhaps an intern looked at my lengthy and detailed collection of facts and decided it was too long to read and didn't send it on to someone who could actually do something. So much unlucky for you, you got to shell out your hard earned money for little to nothing, all for nothing. So I encourage all of you to please file a complaint with the IC3 and reference this complaint number I1303251315539492 so someone can come down on these guys scamming "for a cause", in this case the Make a Wish foundation. How much went to Make a Wish? I guess you could check their facebook page. Nope. Or perhaps post on there? Nope you've likely noticed all that functionality has been suspended, with good reason! I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't hand over a dollar or if they did it likely wasn't much. And now, like any good scammer they have burned the bridge here (see Austin 360 as well) and will move on to San Antonio for their "zombie run". Help put a stop to it and let's show these folks that when you scam folks via the internet, that's a long blood trail to clean up and there's enough scammer dna scattered all over this event to hand these guys a felony and even better hopefully get some of your money back!

Scammed...and disappointed seeking revenge..

Whoever cares to read this:

My wife and I run these type of events a few times per year. This was the worst EVER by far.
You failed to deliver on several items you had expressed in the website and emails which I have decide to file and have made copies of all.

Plate of BBQ? I got a burnt, cold, nasty sausage wrap and a bag of fritos. Give me a break
Inflatables,No one was there to supervise the obstacles and regulate the flow of runners. 2 hour waits at obstacles, What happened to "Over 5 Miles" the whole thing was horrible.

Liars all around.

You should go to the Spartan Race and take a notebook because the organizers of this course had no Idea of what they were doing.

Do not recommend and will highly discourage ANYONE from participating in ANY of your events in the future. I hope you made some good money of this one because it was easy to tell that was your only motivation for this run.

after the run there was a water truck to rinse everyone off...it was empty we had to wait over a half hour to clean up enough to get in our car.

The medal that some little boy handed us at the end, the set up , the obstacles and the ridiculous vendors only added to the cheapening of your event.

Totally Disappointed and I would like a refund of my two passes we purchased way before the event was rescheduled

I hope that the organizers of this get sued.

This was my first "Mud Run" event and I was disappointed. The event was nothing like the website portrayed it. It was too short, the obstacle were not challenging, the food not as advertised, and the overall experience was not worth the money paid. I will try other events hoping they are as advertised, but will not go to another organized by these folks. It seems they used a good name like "Make a Wish" to draw people in to a sub-par event. The only thing that saved the day was spending time with my family and some friends. I could have used the money spent on this event for a great cookout at the house and made a donation directly to Make a wish.

tl;dr Rip off. Terrible event and planning.

The Gut Check Challenge, mud run event (Austin TX, 6/8/2013) was Terrible. http://www.gutcheckchallenge.com Please find a way to stop these people from throwing another event. I registered for $60 per person 3/5/13, and the next day they released a living social for $35 / person. On 3/27/13 they pushed the event from 4/13, less than 3 weeks before the race. They said the reason was they needed a bigger venue aka: over sold or didn’t get the right permits. Sometime around here they changed it from a 5 mile to a 5K in length. No Refund! Race Day: $10 to park (why?) and 15 min wait to get your bib and t-shirt. We did get our headbands, but they ran out soon after that. Not organized, shirt size was what you told them, not what you registered for, so they were running out of some sizes. I found out the living social people did not get a shirt, BBQ lunch or beer. They did not know this when they signed up. We watched the 10:00 wave start out of the gate, only to stack up at the first obstacle 75 yards ahead. We immediately lined up for our 10:30 wave. They did not regulate the waves, instead letting people run regardless of what they signed up for. The living social people didn’t even get a chance to sign up for waves. The whole reason for waves is to keep the course flowing, what were they thinking? Obstacles advertised as 14 over a 3.1 mile course. Ended up being 12 over a 2 mile course.
1.Mud pit with bungee cord to crawl under. Good sized pit, but most people just walked under it without getting that muddy.
2.Tires 4 tires to cross. Joke obstacle. My buddy tweaked his ankle because the ground inside one tire was not level.
3.Slant wall up and down with spaces between the boards, ~ 8 foot tall.
4.Bungees stretched between trees about 3 foot high 15’ long. Joke obstacle
5.4’, 6’ & 8’ walls with gaps in the boards so you can climb them like a ladder. Maybe they count this as 3 obstacles.
6.YES! 15 foot wall rope climb NOPE! shut down. Someone fell and there was no cushion or mud to break the fall. EMS shut it down before our wave, because it was not safe.
7.Mud hole about 6’ x 4’, everyone just ran the edge.
8.After running through the woods for a little while, came to a complete stop waiting in line for a mud wall obstacle. Waited for what seemed like 30 minutes, and they ended up shutting it down. This wait for the obstacle included at least the 9:30 and 10:00 wave people. The obstacle looked like a 10 foot dirt ledge with a rope to help climb up it.
9.Because the waves are really stacked up by now, we waited about 10 minutes to go through the 4’ tubes positioned in watery mud. Was able to flag down my friend spectating to bring us some water, because they didn’t have any on the course.
10.Ice pit turned out being a 4’ x 6’ x 3’ foot deep, cool water pit.
11.5 min wait Inflatable run? I think this was a bungee run inflatable. You run down it about 30’ and hop over the back wall. Joke
12.15 min wait, Obstacle inflatable. This was right after the previous one. The reason the wait was so long is none of the event people were regulating the course. This one had some obstacles to climb through, Then you had to scale a 12 slanted wall and slid down. The problem was there were so many people crammed in, it was caving in. Then the wall didn’t have anywhere to grab. With it slicked down from the previous runners, the footholds don’t work. 10 minutes of my wait was watching some poor girl trying to climb and keep slipping down. There was no way to go back or around at that point, because of the people stacked up. We yelled ahead for the people to help her, and they were finally able to heave her over. We had people in our team, so we were able to work together to get through it.
Done in about 1.5 hours. Clean up station was standing in the mud while someone shot you with a fire hose, and someone standing at the back of a truck with a garden hose. Time for my well-deserved beer and as advertised at sign up, a BBQ plate. Got our beer and went to the BBQ line. Ended up being uncooked sausage wraps (tortilla and sausage) and a bag of chips. We wanted to stay for the Jack Ingram concert. The cow pasture where the stage was had no shade anywhere. There was no other food to even purchase, just raw sausage wraps. We heard the fitness place had free pizza, but they ran out. It’s about 12:30 now and 90 degrees outside. Well there is still beer. We had a team of more than 10 so we were should have received an extra beer ticket. We could not find anyone there that knew how we could do this. I would have brought a shade and some food to wait for the 8:00 Jack Ingram concert, but the FAQ had nothing like this on what to bring. In fact it said no outside food and beverages allowed.
No one there could tell us who was in charge, or who to complain to. We were all so upset and defeated, that we gave up and went home
I feel sorry for the people signing up for their Mud, Obstacles & Zombies race in San Antonio TX, Oct 26 & 27. I want to know how much of my registration fee went Make-A-Wish, and how much went to profit. Every time I watch that video on their website, I get more pissed off. They show real obstacles and even state five miles on the video. If you know of a way to stop these people from doing this again, please do.
tl;dr Rip off. Terrible event and planning.

Worst mud run I have ever done by far! Poorly advertised. Stated 14 obstacles but only had like 5. Website states 5K but was only 1.6 miles. Obstacles were poorly put together and people were getting hurt. Event staff was not very concerned with safety from what our group could tell. Not worth $45 + $10 parking!!! Save your money. Very poorly put together Mud Run! Felt like they put this together in less than a week and with very little thought put into the run itself. VERY DISAPPOINTED! Waste of my Saturday!