‘Tough Mudder’ Adds More Insane Obstacles For 2016

It’s no secret that 5Ks, 10Ks and insaneKs have grown into a popularity unseen in human history. People want to stay in shape but have fun doing it.

Maybe that explains why Tough Mudder, which falls into my class of insaneKs, had more participants last year than the NYC Marathon and the Boston Marathon combined. And the courses only come with more challenging surprises each year.

Because of the constant flux in obstacles and my curiosity of what goes into keeping these insane races intriguing, I connected with Tough Mudder engineer and Director of Construction Bonnie Lee. 

2016 holds Tough Mudder’s highest rated obstacle ever, brings in a new ‘Half’ course and will expand into Mexico and Indonesia. Think you’re tough enough? Here’s what you can expect this go-around. 

Tough Mudder gets tougher?

Josh Helmuth: What’s new for 2016? Tell me all about it.

Bonnie Lee: One of the biggest announcements right now is the unveil of brand-new, epic obstacles that will test participants’ teamwork, strength and mental grit like never before. Tough Mudder has always been about teamwork, but this year, we’re taking teamwork to a whole new level.

Some of our new obstacles in 2016 are: The Block Ness Monster (pictured above), Mudders must work hard as a team to hoist each other over a series of rotating blocks while waist-deep in water; Pyramid Scheme, back by popular demand, this obstacle requires participants to build a human pyramid to help each other ladder up to the top of the structure; Frequent Flyers’ Club, we’re giving our returning Mudders –known as Legionnaires — the option to bypass the final obstacle, Electroshock Therapy, for Frequent Flyers’ Club, which involves a leaping jump onto a crash pad from 15 feet above.

We’re also offering obstacle upgrades exclusively for our Legionnaire’s, making the obstacles even tougher for our repeat Mudders. For example, The Liberator will become Backstabber for Legionnaires. The Liberator requires participants to scale an A-frame structure using pegs and holes. Backstabber takes it a few steps further by only allowing participants to use one peg and just a few small holes to traverse over the structure. It’s an upgrade that our Legionnaires have never experienced and will definitely make the obstacle more challenging.

Another huge announcement for 2016 is our newly launched event series, Tough Mudder Half, which will bring thousands more first-timers into Mudder Nation. The event is a 5-mile obstacle course that packs the thrills of a full Tough Mudder course, as well as signature obstacles, into half the distance. Tough Mudder Half won’t include more extreme obstacles such as ones with ice, fire or electricity, but will include many of our signature Tough Mudder obstacle as well as a handful of new ones. Along with Pyramid Scheme and Everest, Tough Mudder Half participants will experience a unique finisher obstacle, Flying Squirrel, which gives participants the opportunity to jump onto a trampoline, grab a zip line from above and swing swiftly towards the finish line. 

Josh: Which new obstacle are you most proud of or most excited about?

Bonnie: We’re constantly brainstorming new obstacles and ways to surprise our participants on the course, and I think The Block Ness Monster is one of the most incredible obstacles debuting in 2016.

Another look at the ‘Block Ness Monster,’ which involves teammates hoisting each other up over rotating blocks in waist-deep water.

When designing an obstacle, we make sure that it fits into at least one of four categories: fun, teamwork, personal accomplishment or courage. The Block Ness Monster is a mixture of all those elements, and we tested it at two events in 2015 to get participant feedback. Participants didn’t just like it, they gave it the highest participant rating of any obstacle in Tough Mudder history. That was a major factor for deciding to introduce it to participants in 2016, and we’re thrilled to bring it to all 2016 events.

Inspiration

Josh: Looking back on 2015, what was your favorite Tough Mudder moment that helped to inspire the new course designs?

Bonnie: One of the most memorable participants for me in the last year is Randy Pierce, who participated with his team at our Los Angeles event.

Randy is a legally blind man who, despite a significant physical challenge, completed the course and was never once willing to quit. As participants cheered him on, several colleagues and I witnessed Randy successfully do King of the Swingers, an obstacle that fewer than 20% of participants can typically complete. Witnessing that was truly awe-inspiring to everyone watching, and it’s moments like that one that motivate me and my team to create the obstacles we do.

Josh: What are the obstacles you’ve been wanting, or what participants have called for, that you still haven’t been able to implement?

Bonnie: We design and deliver world-class obstacles that you won’t find anywhere else, but we need to ensure that they’ll work seamlessly on site at events that often have 10,000+ participants. Obstacle throughput is a huge consideration to ensure we avoid lines on course, and this can be a major consideration in which obstacles make it on course and which don’t. Safety is our top priority, so we also take that into consideration for every single obstacle we implement.

Our World’s Toughest Mudder event is our only timed, competitive event of the year, and it’s the culminating, 24-hour event of the season. Given the extreme nature of the event, World’s Toughest Mudder gathers the most elite and hardcore athletes from around the world who have been training all year for the event. It’s a smaller group of participants — we had around 1,200 participants this year at Lake Las Vegas. This smaller and more extreme event gives us an even greater opportunity to push the boundaries a little further, and introduce some truly insane obstacles that we wouldn’t normally bring to a Tough Mudder course.

For example, this year at World’s Toughest Mudder we had an obstacle called Operation. Similar to the board game, participants used a long, metal rod to reach through a metal hole and retrieve an object hanging on the other side. If the rod touched the rim of the hole, participants were shocked with electricity. There’s also The Cliff, which is a 30-foot jump off a cliff and into a lake. It’d be really difficult to implement those kind of obstacles on a regular Tough Mudder course, but it’s really amazing that we get to create them once a year at World’s Toughest Mudder.

Think it’s crazy now? This was 2012’s Arctic Enema.

How to prep

Josh: How long is the Tough Mudder? Is it strictly teams or is it also for those seeking personal glory?  I feel like you need to be in great physical condition before attempting one of these things for the first time.

Bonnie: Each Tough Mudder course is 10-12 miles and includes 20+ signature obstacles. Over 95% of people sign up as a team, but even those who don’t often have a helping hand along the way or end up joining a team out on the course. Tough Mudder brings together friends and complete strangers to help each other overcome obstacles, and people from all walks of life and athletic abilities take part in our events. There are no physical requirements to participate in Tough Mudder, but we do recommend training and have created some suggested training tips for participants.

Launching for the first time in 2016, Tough Mudder Half is a five-mile obstacle course that packs in all the thrills of the full Tough Mudder course in half the distance. Tough Mudder Half doesn’t have the more daunting obstacles you’ll find on at a regular Tough Mudder (like Arctic Enema 2.0 or King of the Swingers), but will have signature Tough Mudder obstacles such as Pyramid Scheme, Mud Mile, Everest and more.  We found that many people were interested in taking part in Tough Mudder, but for various reasons preferred a shorter-distance format. Tough Mudder Half is an opportunity for thousands more to join Mudder Nation. For Legionnaires, it’s an awesome way to bring the family and friends who cheered them on as spectators onto the course.

Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports.

Photos courtesy Tough Mudder

Find a Tough Mudder event and check out the schedule on their website here.