Mud Mulisha Race Review

Mud Mulisha Mud Run, Saturday August 9th, 2014

-Jessica Bleasdale

This past weekend was the inaugural Mud Mulisha Mud Run held in Shawnigan Lake on Vancouver Island. The Race Directors - Steve Hornick and Jay Wright - are elite obstacle and trail racers and avid mud enthusiasts so I was particularly looking forward to this race. There was a little something for everyone from elite athlete to a newcomer to obstacle racing, and even a kids race. The overall festival atmosphere for the racers following the race was bar none and everywhere I looked people were smiling and having a great time.

As it was their first race I was initially expecting a tempered down version of some of the big races but let me tell you this race was stellar in its own right. It was advertised as a 5K mud run but it was a 6.5km race with 23 top notch, interesting and challenging obstacles. Many times when there are numerous obstacles some are more like fillers or just little things. But this was not the case in this race as each obstacle was a challenge in its own right. There were some standard favourite obstacles such as monkey bars, 8ft walls, barbed wire crawls, tire flips, inverted walls and tire pulls. There was a ton of mud and muck and water obstacles, which was particularly welcome on such a hot 32C/90F race day. And if you were expecting to jump into one mud pit and then move on to the next obstacle then think again; for example at one obstacle called "Dale's Ditches" you would have to jump/slide/dive into one muddy water hole only to claw your way out and then do another 5 of them. There were a few different torturous obstacles like this that made it both gruelling and awesome all at the same time! They also had some fantastic elements that I had never seen in a race before such as the infamous Devil Steps, a Monster Slip Wall with a giant cargo net down to a Hillbilly jump/crawl across wrecked cars, and the highest rope climb I have ever seen at 22 feet high (which I am happy to report I made it to the top to gleefully ring that bell.) Lastly another element I really enjoyed was the use of the natural terrain with some exciting single track trail running down the backside of the race property, the use of a natural rock formation similar to a bear cave that we had to essentially bear crawl through, a giant wooden slat climbing wall that popped up out of nowhere that spanned across the trail path we had to make our way over, schlepping our way up and over giant drain rock piles, and plodding through multiple ponds.

At the end of the race we were greeted with a finishing medal, an ice cold beer, a fresh made recovery drink from a local supplement store, and a chilled protein drink. We all signed the "I Survived" wall and then made our way to the festival area where a live band entertained everyone, tents were set up for shade, and even a local caterer was barbecuing up salmon, pulled pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, fresh burgers, and salads for a reasonable price.

Even at peak pricing the couple of weeks prior to the race it was still only $65 which included race entry, a finishers medal, a cotton "I survived" race t-shirt, a free post-race beer (for those over 19), free parking, free entry to the festival, and professional race photos which are to be posted to Facebook and available to download for free. I felt it was excellent value for the money paid.

Another great component of this race (and one I highly value as a Mom) is the Kids Race. It was a 1.25km race for kids that wrapped partly around the adult course once the adult heats had all left and had some super unique obstacles just for kids. I was particularly jealous of the teeter totters made from logs that the kids had to balance walk across....I wish they had adult sized ones for our race! To watch about 125 kids dash off from the starting line and jump into mud is both a delight and inspiring. For $25 the kids got to race, received a cotton "I survived" race t-shirt, a finishers medal, and lots of mud for parents to wash off later!

The creativity of the obstacles, the post-race festival, the kids race, and the pricing were fantastic. I have few minor suggestions for future races: better placed water stations so the water can be more easily accessed by volunteers to refill and even better if numerous crates of giant water jugs were placed at water stations prior to the race starting so there is never a lack of water; on such a hot day there could have been 1 water station at each mile marker. There needed to be more porta-potties especially for prior to the races beginning when everyone has pre-race jitters and needs to go all at the same time. The registration table could have used multiple check in lines (easiest to organize with line ups for last names beginning 'A-H, I-P, Q-Z') to prevent pre-race line ups. More garbage cans placed around the festival area were needed. Two out of the 23 obstacles had a backlog (the first 8ft wall and the up-hill barbed wire crawl) which has a quick fix by making the obstacles wider so multiple people are able to get through at the same time. It might have been nice to have a his and hers change tent area for anyone who wanted to get out of their dirty, wet clothes. I also wished they had a merchandise table as I loved the race so much I wanted to buy some extra swag to cover my body and car in to celebrate my accomplishment. As far as I am concerned these were minor glitches that are part of any new event and can be easily be remedied for future races.



The Mud Mulisha Mud Run race directors have indicated they have some exciting expansion coming for the future and I for one cannot wait. I have done about 20 or so obstacle and theme races and unequivocally I can say their races have certainly made it to the top of my "I Can't Wait to Do it Again" list and am eagerly awaiting being able to register for their next event which I certainly hope is sooner rather than later!! This race sold out by race day so be sure to not miss out on their next event. Follow Mud Mulisha on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/themudmulisha and check out their websitehttp://mudmulisha.net