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

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3rd year in a row at Warrior Dash Ohio, I think one year it was named Warrior Dash Ohio II, anyways its in canal fulton area, the course is good, plenty of room to pass or in my case get passed. The obstacles have some wait but not as bad at other events. One or 2 times I have seen obstacles closed do to damage or injury. All in all I love this one as I am able to grab a beer afterward unlike the 10+ milers that I am just happy to survive.

Great for Beginners, Still Fun for Competitive Athletes

Info for Competitive Athletes:
The obstacles are not particularly technical, nor are athletes penalized for failing/required to complete the obstacle. It is very much a runner's race in this regard. That said, the terrain at Milky Way Farms was tough, starting on a steep, unforgiving incline. It is very clear that Warrior Dash targets the fun run "weekend warriors," but the competitive division is still available and offers some great prizes including: a free race entry, a voucher for Vibram shoes, and (at least in this case) an OCRWC qualifier shirt for podium finishers. In short, it's fun, but don't expect your upper body/grip strength to be challenged much.

For Non-Competitive Athletes:
If you've been toying with the idea of an OCR or mud run, this is a great entry-level course to introduce any and everyone to the sport of OCR. You can finish this course with very little training. Go have fun with your buddies and earn some really fun swag. The festival has some good activities for everyone, too.

Overall, not as good as last year

Background: I ran my first Warrior Dash in 2016, and have done a ½ Tough Mudder since, so this was my third event of this type. There was a constant drizzle on 3/4/17, so the weather was one of the obstacles.

Pros: This is normally a good event for beginners, as the short distance (5K) is a nice starting distance and the obstacles aren’t too difficult. The course itself was the toughest obstacle this year, as the rain made large parts of the path extremely muddy and slippery, so you got a great workout just moving along the course (carefully). Quite a few people went down quite a few times. Obstacles like Fisherman’s Catch and Pallet Jacked provide some good opportunities to test balance and strength.

Cons: However, there was a lot lacking that I didn’t notice last year. First, two obstacles that were advertised weren’t offered at all: Dead Man’s Drop and Mud Mounds. The loss of Mud Mounds is especially disappointing because it is arguably the only collaborative obstacle on the course (the mud is slippery and high enough that a boost up is required for most people). But these two were nowhere in sight. Next, Alcatraz and Goliath were shut down, and they were only letting people crawl under Bridge the Gap when we ran (noon). Alcatraz and Bridge the gap were presumably due to the weather. Goliath was so clean that we suspect no one ran it all day. We noticed that the landing pool for Goliath was much shorter than last year and honestly wondered if it was unfinished. But given the nature of the event, if your obstacles can’t handle a little mud and water (Alcatraz and Bridge the Gap), then they are poorly designed in the first place.

Which leads to another point: Safety and security. We saw almost no one who appeared to be at the obstacles representing Warrior Dash (either as staff or volunteers). No one directing traffic, there in case someone got hurt, etc. Likewise, bag check seemed haphazard. Two friends who had left stuff in our bag were able to go in, get their stuff out of our bag, and leave. Not only did anyone not stop them, but they saw no one there TO stop them (they were our friends so it is OK with us that they did it, but the lack of security is concerning). We also heard some complaints that medical response time was extremely slow, and one of my friends noted that it seemed to be the same person responding to the three injuries we saw.

So, Warrior Dash seems like a good beginning course to cut your teeth on. But it doesn’t seem as well run as some of the others (the friend of mine who does 50 miles of this a year vouches for that), which may lead to safety concerns. Take this for what you feel it is worth.

LOVED IT

It was awesome!! Despite cold, wet, slippery conditions this was the most fun I've ever had at a race. I was worried about the obstacles but my training paid off and I did them all without issue. The long line at the Warrior Summit gave me doubt (a lot of people struggled) but climbing over the top was a real thrill. Alcatraz was not closed when i came through; I had no trouble crossing it but some people were surprised to learn that the water depth was 7 feet and that actual swimming would be required. You can tell the experienced runners/athletes by their use of etiquette, and many of the WD particpants are neither -- they just want to have fun. You have to accept that going in. If you're competitive, choose the competitive wave! I think the event was remarkably well organized given the location and weather, and I want to say a huge Thank You to the organizers and volunteers. I loved my swag and the fun atmosphere and the music -- had the weather cooperated, the after party would have really rocked. Overall, my first OCR experience was a ton of fun. Great job, thanks again!

This is my first Warrior Dash. I've got a few other brands of OCR under my belt.

Overall it was a good event. Considering there was steady rain most of the day and the trail was sloppy and slippery, they did pretty good. They should've put in an express lane or two at the rope/slope climb. The Alcatraz obstacle was closed. I'm not sure why. It was raining and everyone was already wet.

Cons:
The lack of spectators being allowed to see all the different obstacles was a waste. My mom came to watch me for the first time and was disappointed because she really couldn't see anything.

As with most events, there's no signage advising slower people, walkers, and groups need to stay to the right of the trail, so the faster people can run by.

Pros:
Quality beer selection (i.e. not Bud/Miller/Coors). It's Central Texas so Shiner was a must have and they had it.

Fun atmosphere.

Summary:
Good mud run/obstacle race for beginners or people looking to do it for fun.

PA Warrior Dash 2016

I'd only done one mud run before, but I have to say this was an awesome experience. First, parking was fast and efficient. Check in was smooth, with only a short wait. The race and obstacles were challenging enough, well spread out, and a minimum, or no, back up. The only, minor, disappointment was the showering set up. But hey, a good time for chatting with folks. Same for the food/beer lines, a bit of a wait, but not insurmountable. Looking forward to next year!

“A mediocre adventure of waiting…”

Parking- A:
Pretty much the venue parking is in a dirt field. The volunteers did good at directing the flow.

Festival- B:
The festival ground is standard for these mud events. There are various tents for food, medical, and a warmup area with monkey bars. There is a large stage that random bands played at or a rock mix blasted over the large speakers. The swag sold is ok priced but not very creative in design. Nothing really enticed me that I really wanted. The only spectator viewable obstacle that can been seen from the festival grounds is the final mud crawl. The biggest problem I had was the line for the race bibs. I was an hour and a half early to the venue and waited 2 hours to get my bib (t shirt and Viking hat given here as well)! I got sun burnt just waiting in line and missed my heat time. The beer tent was Coors Light, no thanks.

Bag Check – n/a :
No idea, didn’t use it. From what I saw though the line was stupidly long.

Starting line- B:
The hype man was good and very motivating for the runners. Each speech was different than the last and sounded special
Course Layout – D:
The course was very bland. It was very little on the haggard trail or mud aspect. The trail was lead mainly through open grass fields and most the trail path was not technical at all. Really the woods trail was a normally designed nicely kept forest walking trail. The obstacles where very tightly spaced between each other; usually ¼ mile or sometimes less of distance. The semi plus side is that since your will be mainly running through an open field, its relatively easy to run around people who have stopped.
Obstacles - F:
Every obstacle had a wait time of at least 10-15minutes. There are so many people that either stalled in the middle of effort either from fatigue or stopping to pose for a picture from their friends. The difficulty also isn’t really anything special for veteran racers; mainly climb a simple wall or wall with rope and go down the other side. There is also only 1 mud obstacles and its at the finish line. So no complex mud or water tranches and no crawling under barbwire (Except the final mud crawl, the rest of the race you crawl under a mesh netting).
Water Stations- D:
3 water station on the route that are always a waiting line as well.
Finish Line- F:
The longest wait of them all. I waited at least 25 minutes just to start the final crawl. The mud area is not wide enough to support the slow bottleneck of racers. Its also an area where everyone including the venue officials are taking photos. So yet again people are stopping to pose. When finishing, the officials are also unhelpful aside from giving you a medal. I could not see because a racer kicked mud in my eyes and I had no way to get it out since I’m covered in thick taffy style mud. The officials couldn’t offer anything to help (no shirt, paper towel, nothing?? Really? I’m blind!!) A random woman finally helped me (not a race official) after seeing me run into a fence…
Shower/Changing:
The way they see fit to spray down racers is to have a tanker truck and have someone randomly spray 2-3 people at a time. So after about 10 minutes of spraying, the truck driver has to leave the venue, refill water at another location, and come back around 10 minutes later! Wish this was a joke. Stood in line for about an hour to get a little less muddy.

Conclusion:
This race is made for people who are not very athletic and are looking for something a little different as a group for a physical adventure. The obstacles are not too hard and the travel distance is around the effort of a couch to 5k goal to set. The whole vibe of the venue and even the racers is that of an outdoor party rather than a competition. I had a racer yell at me, “no point in running, your not going to win!”, which really sums up a lot. In reference, I did 2 Spartan Races (Beast and Sprint) and was disappointed when attempting this race. In reverse perspective, Warrior Dash in terms of competition thrill, it is a stepping stone for harder races. Regardless of who the race is to appeal to, the major issues with staff and venue design is ridiculous. I have never seen such sloppy event decisions like what WD decided on.

Our family participated in the 5km Foam Fest in Red Deer for the first time last year and had so much fun together. Big smiles and so much laughter. Would highly recommend this well organized event as a family activity to do together!

So Much Fun

My husband and I had so much fun. It is well organized and the obstacles were about the right level. I had trained by swimming laps, running up sledding hills repeatedly, and working on the number of pull ups I could do. I think my training was very helpful. There were people that passed me and there were people that I passed up. Looking forward to doing another one!

Warrior Dash Carolina 2016

I gave 4 stars because I did have a great time. The swag was pretty awesome. That said the obstacles need help. The mud mounds had no mud. The first 1 1/2 mile had nothing that I'd call an obstacle. The fishermans catch (ring grab) might have been difficult for anyone under 4 ft tall but the rest of us you'd bang you head on the rings as you went through while walking on the net. They need more obstacles. The mud at the end was great with a perfect viscosity which made for great after pics. I would do this again even if they don't improve the obstacles. It's for a good cause and the venue is great the staff were very helpful and friendly. again the swag is great bring the whole family..