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

First Time, Great Time!

It was my first time doing this type of a race. I found it to be very well organized. There was a great group of "Maniacs" that turn out for this event. Obstacles were challenging and most had no wait. The course layout worked well. The festivities after were great! The only negative was the lack of water stations - there was only one! The way the course was laid out the one water station was located between two of the trails and could have provided water to both trails. I can't wait to do my next Rugged Maniac race!

Great Time......but

I had a great time running this race. The obstacles were a lot of fun......a few too many walls to climb though!! Also, one water station throughout the race. This is HOTLANTA!!! NO photographer at obstacles...only the last two at the finish line. People, we love our photos!!! Also, and most important....the line for free beer was too LONG!! I didn't even get mine. You had 4 people giving out free beer at a table...yet there were 100 people in line! Could use improvement!! All in all a great time with some minor complaints!!! Thanks

Great, Good, and Bad

There are great pros and not so great cons... and some in between. The race was fun... Comparable to the Warrior Dash in difficulty, so challenging, but more fun than difficult.

Pros: I loved the course because it was not too hilly and was beautiful. Most of the obstacles were great... Not too many walls (I hate courses with 10 walls back to back), great mud slide, loved the teeter totter obstacles, trampoline jumps were fun, and wall ladders were great.

In between: Some of the obstacles were lacking a little something... The leap of faith was barely a jump. More like a hop into a 4 foot pool. The slide at the end was very small in comparison to other similar races.

The cons... WATER! Come on! One water station in 90+ degree heat? And the water was warm! We were all dying and we had even brought our camel backs that were filled with water. After we raced, we volunteered and had to go straight from running to volunteering in the heat with no water. I asked a paramedic for water when he came riding by and I am sad to report that he was a JERK! He acted snotty and said "I only have my own water" and then a few minutes later he miraculously found some and gave it to my niece. When I asked her where she got it, he heard me and said "I gave one of MY OWN." Ummm... Ok douche. You are riding around in a shaded golf cart while we are standing in the hot sun for hours and then pulling up tape in the hot sun after that.

Long story short... Worst volunteer experience yet. We are usually provided with a food voucher and water. We could have volunteered for much longer had we been provided with just a little fuel and a lot of water.

A suggestion for the future... Some races allow volunteers to register for a specific category of volunteering positions.

Great race, some really fun unique obstacles. Could use 1 more water station was 90 degrees, and no medal wtf? I need my medal!!

Hills, Hills, and more Hills

I had a blast running this race. The setting is a ski area and the race starts out with the masses running the wrong way up a ski slope. This foreshadows the rest of the race, because there isn't really a moment where you aren't climbing or descending a huge hill. This alone makes the 3.1 miles feel more like 5 or 6. If you're into longer races but only have time/funds for a 5K course than this would be a good one for you.

Tons of obstacles ranging from very easy to very hard. The warp wall at the end is a nice touch as well. Also, the last obstacle is the water slide which effectively washes most of the mud off you right as you finish. You spend most of the race muddy than finish clean, whereas in Warrior Dash you aren't really all that muddy most of the time until the end when they make you slog through the "fake mud" pit, the mud and barbed wire crawl at the end where the mud was twice as thick as any other point on the course. They did that just so you could take mud pictures and it came across to me as lame and fake. In contrast the Rugged Maniac has two barbed wire crawls through the mud pit, with the wire much lower to the ground. This was was much more challenging and you got muddier, a better in race experience in my opinion.

I am 33 years old with a wife and 3 small kids. I hated the party at Warrior Dash. It felt like a frat house and I thought to myself more than once that I am too old for this crap. The Rugged Maniac by contrast felt more like an outdoor festival, still a party but one that a respectable person might find themselves at on the weekend. Also they had inflatables, so if you bring the kids they have something to do.

Overall this course was much more challenging than I anticipated. The atmosphere and obstacles were better than Warrior Dash. I hope the word gets out that this is a better race. I'm for sure coming back.

This was the second year that my girlfriend and I did the Rugged Maniac in Wilmont and it was a very good time. The course was more challenging this year with the addition of many new obstacles (sandbag carry, hanging rings, mini tramps) just to name a few. Every obstacle was constructed well, staffed and a true test of your fitness level. The new layout and the fact that they made everyone go and up and down the ski hill three separate times thinned out the field. Only had to wait at a few obstacles. One drawback was that they only had one water station. Parking was good, after party was nice.

Overall experience was outstanding Rugged Maniac improved the race and looks to be on a upswing. We take part in many different obstacle races (Spartan, Tough Mudder) and this was one of the best.

This race was great, first rugged maniac race, but plenty of other obstacle course/mud runs under my belt, and this race was one of my favorites. Need more water stations, but terrain and obstacles were perfect. Number of legit obstacles was great also, not just a random mud puddle like some races that they count as an obstacle. Will be back next year for sure and bringing friends.

Lack of organization, 1 water station on the entire course, a few obstacles were dangerous and a few simple steps could have been done to change that, no communication (Walky talkies) or plan between workers to get help for injured participants, not enough swag for as much as race cost, etc. I watched person after person get injured on two obstacles and then watched a man break his ankle (so gruesome) and the worker I ran down had to run down the course to get someone else to get them to run to med tent and more then 10 mins later they show up with a 4 wheeler. I said u need to call an ambulance! The man was in shock and they had no training how to get him help. I will say the course was definitely rugged and a challenge which I like but common sense in building a few obstacles would have prevented a lot of injuries. Also this is rugged terrain in Colorado! High elevation and many ups and down the hillside... And only one water station??? Not a good idea. Seen and heard many people complaining of dizziness etc before reaching the water station. Not impressed w lack of safety & organization.

The course was extremely and hard to actually run many parts of it. Lack of water stations on the course and missing staff made it somewhat dangerous. The last obstacle was a huge wall that had a line (we waited 20 minutes) mud obstacles that you had to crawl under barbed wire were filled with pea gravel tearing up your knees. I would not support any more mud runs at this venue. Parking was another 20 minute wait for the shuttle. This race was the worst mud run I have participated in.

Constantly Improving

PARKING = B
Parking was onsite but yet they still charge you $10 for parking. It beats taking the bus.

FESTIVAL = B
Food, vendors, free stuff, games. Actually, more games were adding this year. They had a bull ride, inflatable joust arena, and an inflatable mini-obstacle course. The only reason I didn’t give this an A is because it’s not as impressive as a Spartan festival.

BAG CHECK = C
There was a bag check but it was chaos.

STARTING LINE = B
The DJ hyped you up (briefly) and there was music. You have to climb over a small wall to start. The waves were very large. The starting line had an arch banner so it was very easy to identify the starting location.

COURSE LAYOUT = A
While not as muddy as the previous years, the change up of the obstacle placement was the best yet. The muddy stuff was right in the beginning so you stayed muddy the entire race. Water obstacles were towards the end. This way, you get to do a “mud” race and end kinda clean. The obstacle spacing is perfect at the Rugged Maniac. It’s almost obstacle after obstacle. The terrain is mostly flat and on mud, grass, or dirt. This race has one of the best course layouts ever.

OBSTACLES = A
New obstacles added (trampoline walls, seesaw obstacles, higher walls). Although some obstacles from the previous years were removed, the new obstacles were great. Rugged Maniac is constantly evolving their obstacles and making their race harder (but not too hard). They are at the point now where not everyone can complete every obstacle (unless you are a true mud runner). Obstacles still have a lot of backlog.

Best Obstacle = Balance Beam with Pendulums
Worst Obstacle = Cage Crawl

WATER STATIONS = D
These have gotten worse over time. This year, they only offered 1 water station with just warm water (in the past, they had multiple stations with water and bananas).

FINISH LINE = A
There was a hard obstacle (quarter pipe with a waterslide), an arch banner, a timer, the crowd, and a photographer. This is the way a finish line should be.

SHOWERING/CHANGING = B
Showers were improved. They had almost a full shower system but it lacked good flowing water and pressure. They had changing tents broken out by gender. There is usually an hour wait for the showers but due to the good obstacle placement, most people didn’t need them, hence, no backlog.

SWAG = D
You only get a t-shirt. This is “wear” this race suffers. If they gave additional stuff away (more swag and a medal), this would be my favorite race. Rugged Maniac has enough money and they need to step it up in this category.

CONCLUSION:
Still one of the best races and it keeps getting better. Obstacles get better each year and the race is constantly improving. It’s a perfect race for beginners (because of the largest number of obstacles offered) but still great for those who are in competitive shape. Because of it constantly evolving, it’s never the same exact race as the prior year (I plan to do this race every year). I predict it will be the next Warrior Dash.