RELENTLESS FORWARD COMMOTION
RELENTLESS FORWARD COMMOTION

An Open Discussion on the Cost and Future of Obstacle Racing

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Last Updated on September 27, 2019 by Heather Hart, ACSM EP, CSCS

I’m not one to deliver breaking headline news.  Truth be told I couldn’t if I tried, my average computer start up time in the morning is hovering around 34 minutes and our internet reliability is as spotty as the New England weather (but wait five minutes, it’ll change.)   Regardless, if per chance you missed the news, the ever popular “fun run” obstacle race 5K Foam Fest announced last night that they have gone bankrupt and have cancelled all future races. 

5K foam fest bankrupts

This Facebook announcement had nearly 1,000 angry comments before the entire page was taken down.

Anyone even remotely connected to the obstacle racing world knows that fly-by-night race organizers, promising the biggest, baddest experience yet, have been plaguing our community almost since its inception.   Early last year I wrote a post for Obstacle Racing Media about this very topic, demanding that entities wishing to enter our community not only take their role seriously, but treat the community as a whole with respect by providing  solid, well executed races instead of simply bold statements. 

Let’s all take a moment and laugh at this, the best (worst) promo video of a race that never actually happened,  before I get serious in the rest of the post:



But back to the subject at hand:  what happens when a clearly well established race series goes under?   5K Foam Fest had been putting on what most rated excellent races for well over two seasons before things started to fall apart.   They had over 650,000 facebook fans before they pulled the page at some point this morning.  Clearly they were not another  fly-by-night series.  Now, I am not one to claim to even begin to understand how these businesses work, hell I’m probably Dave Ramsey’s biggest nightmare.   But from what I gather, 5K Foam Fest was accepting registrations up until the day before it declared it was closing it’s doors….with NO refunds to participants.   I wonder, along with thousands of angry participants, how a company can willingly take in that money knowing that it would be making this announcement within a matter of hours.  Perhaps they really were trying to hang in there until the very last minute, fighting like hell to avoid the inevitable.   

I don’t know exactly what happened.  But I’m left shaking my head thinking “no wonder no one takes this sport seriously.”   

Like it or not, it’s often true.  I frequently bounce back and forth between social media events for the obstacle racing world (my passion) and the strict road running world (my first love).  When I introduce myself as predominately an obstacle racer to my road running cohorts, I am often met with polite responses that have an undertone implying “aww, isn’t that cute.”   Face it, much of the athletic community OUTSIDE of the obstacle racing world sees us as weekend warriors out for some ridiculous thrill seeking that takes little to no commitment or training,  free finish line beer, and a new facebook profile photo.   Of course, if you’ve ever tackled something like the Killington Beast, you know that a measly half marathon fails in comparison to the difficulty of what we do.  (Hell, that course took me 3 hours longer than my FULL marathon PR, and I was a top 10% finisher).   

But that is neither here nor there.  I am certainly a little ranty this morning and it is no secret that I am incredibly passionate about obstacle racing.  

Tough Mudder Funky Monkey 2

Recently  this article made its appearance across Facebook, claiming the Spartan Race, a for-profit company, didn’t donate what the news station deemed to be “enough” money to charity.    I saw it posted in countless road racing groups as well as obstacle racing groups.   The overwhelming response seemed to be “those races are too expensive anyway, they must be making a massive profit, Joe D (founder of Spartan Race) is lying about being in the red” so on and so forth.    I don’t agree nor disagree with the charity article, the reality is that I personally have no idea what the financial statements of Spartan Race look like.  But I do know this:  obstacle course races clearly have a significantly higher overhead cost than your average road race 5K.  If not, why would they be dropping like flies, with bankruptcy claims happening almost weekly?  

This morning I saw a quote on my Facebook feed from a fellow racer named Aaron Ott, and I have to say I completely agree:  

“This is why I say ‘Spartan Race’s first responsibility to me is making a profit.’ If they’re not making money – I mean a lot of it – then they can’t hold the events I enjoy so much. It’s like we used to say in the Kung fu studio: ‘We don’t teach to make money. We make money so we can teach.’ “

 Do we fault a company for clearly doing it right?  Can we have our cake and eat it too (well executed races at minimum cost), or will that be the demise of the sport we have grown to love?  Can we expect anyone to take us seriously when the community as a whole is seemingly falling apart left and right?

I don’t know. I really don’t have a conclusion to  this post, but I did want to open up a discussion to the endurance community as a whole:

– If you don’t consider yourself an “obstacle racer” , what are your views on the sport?

– Do all of the recent cancellations and folding race series make you hesitant to sign up for race? 

– Do you feel the cost of obstacle racing is simply too high to sustain the sport long term?

I’d love to hear your input, please comment below! 

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Heather Hart is an ACSM certified Exercise Physiologist, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), UESCA certified Ultrarunning Coach, RRCA certified Running Coach, co-founder of Hart Strength and Endurance Coaching, and creator of this site, Relentless Forward Commotion.   She is a mom of two teen boys, and has been running and racing distances of 5K to 100+ miles for over a decade.  Heather has been writing and encouraging others to find a love for fitness and movement since 2009.

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Comments

  1. I recently did my first obstacle race, not a challenging one like Spartan (which is on my to do list) but a “fun” one and really enjoyed it. While I love my road races like 10 milers and half’s I really want to do some more. I think there is a saturation problem with more of the “fly by nights” that are hurting the more established. I’d hate to see them go.

    Reply

    • I completely agree John! And the other saturation issue is that so many of them are simply exact replicas of each other with different names…you kind of get that “one and done” feeling, which ultimately hurts the sport as a whole. You MUST do a Spartan, they are killer and fun!

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  2. I love that quote – OCRs need to be profitable. Profit isn’t a bad word, nor is it greedy. Even events that donate large sums of money to charity – they still have to MAKE money to do it.

    Insurance costs alone are higher than road / trail running, not factoring in venue costs (you need the venue for days prior and post), obstacle build costs, crew to do it … it’s more comparable to setting up a concert or fairground than setting up a road or trail (or tri) event.

    I would prefer to run high quality obstacle course races that charged me $100 a ticket, than poor quality, border line dangerous events that charged $50 (or worse, put out a groupon)

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  3. After doing my first Tough Mudder, I knew right away I’d sign up for another. But with all of life’s demands, I only like to pay for a few races a year and only one of them is likely to be an obstacle course race. With my love of long distances, I will always sign up for the longer obstacle course races.

    I think too many of these 5K fun runs have flooded the market and made obstacle course racing a bit of a joke, but at the same time, they certainly did play a role in getting more people moving. On the surface, many of them seem like they were just thrown together by people with no true sense of the sport who simply wanted to make a quick buck. If a few of those organizations get weeded out to make space for A) events that raise money for charity or B) events that truly offer a unique and challenging experience that sets themselves apart form other races, then I think it may actually be a good thing if a few of them go bankrupt. Like ANY industry, it’s survival of the fittest. You can’t just throw up a Start and Finish line with a little fire, colored chalk, or bubbles and a few walls in between and call it an obstacle course race– just like you can’t glue canvas to a piece of rubber, loop some string through the top and call it a sneaker. If you promise something and don’t deliver, you won’t stay in business for long.

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  4. The first obstacle race I registered for was Dirty Girl; it was cancelled with no refunds. Coincidentally, a fellow runner had warned me two weeks earlier she always waits until the last minute to register for obstacle races as they are often cancelled with no refunds. I participated in the Insane Inflatable 5k this year, it was silly and fun but the whole time I was thinking about how much the liability insurance must cost them. I witnessed several injuries due to over-crowding. I am frequently horrified by races that don’t take participant safety seriously; one lawsuit is all it takes to end a company. The liability waiver means nothing if a race fails common sense practices, i.e. no water or emergency services.
    The more I run, the more I prefer trail races to road. I’m hesitant to sign up for any obstacle course. I’d like to compete in a Spartan, but would like to work up to it. I’m signed up for Warrior Dash in August and am keeping my fingers crossed it doesn’t get cancelled.

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    • Warrior Dash is one of the biggest series, I think financially and participant wise it is #1. You *hopefully* should have no issues with it being cancelled! That said, it was my very first OCR as well, and a ton of fun. It’s a great introductory series, you will love it!

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  5. I love my OCRs and usually stick to just The Spartan series.
    I tried Foam Fest last year and was very disappointed in the staffing and the deflation of half the obstacles.
    It’s not surprising that they went bankrupt. Last year’s was my first and last. I wouldn’t waste a dime on that race again and told them so when they emailed me to register, a bazillion times.
    This year’s event was a fiasco. No parking on site, shuttle buses and people were 1+ hours late for their waves and all shuttle drivers took lunch at the same time, leaving many racers stranded for 1.5 hours.

    As far as the cost for these races; the early registration for many of them are sweet deals. The later registrations are far too expensive. Spartan Fenway at $150, ridiculous in my opinion, especially when you have couples signing up.

    Last year I spent over $1,000 on races and most of that was on obstacle races. This year, 1 OCR The Spartan Challenge and that’s it.
    I would like to see OCRs doing something like a sliding scale registration for those who can not afford the full price of these races.
    These races are fun and a great way to get off the couch and get moving.

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  6. Keep in mind at this point I would consider myself a simple road runner with OCR experience.
    There are a few things many people have not mentioned in all of this. How much money did theses races start with. Talking to owners of OCR’s one thing most of them mentioned is they started with or did not start with enough money to cover the first year of loss. Hero Rush for example expected a bigger turn out their first year. With people getting more and more hesitant to try a new race the race is losing money on the first year even if they put on a few races.
    THe other thing that is not mentioned is the failed road races. THere are road races that only run one year and no one makes a big deal of it. OCR’s cost more so people make a larger deal plus in order to run one because of insurance you have to set up a business. Road Races can be run on an individual bases without becoming a business. Don’t ask me all the details because I’m not certain but I do know a failed or failing road race gets no press everyone just moves on to another one or a different one.
    My apologies if I don’t make a lot of sense as I am not the best writer.

    Reply

    • It makes perfect sense Hilary! I think one of the issues is that the majority of road races are one or two locations, whereas many of these OCR series are nationwide. They are booking races years in advance and taking money, without knowing the current sustainability of their business.

      Also, long live Hero Rush. I can’t even tell you guys how bummed out I was when that one went under. I ran two years in a row and it was seriously one of the most FUN races I’ve ever done!

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  7. I do identify myself as an obstacle racer and GRT more than a pure runner. I have seen many trail races that charge fees equal or greater than OCR, so I don’t think that they are too expensive. I think that there are actually two separate markets going on here. There are the Warrior Dash/ Glow Run/ Foam Fest fun runs, and the real, tough, beat-down-your-soul obstacle races. The obstacle races are very few, with 90% of them worth the name run by Spartan, but with a few worthy competitors coming online. The fun runs are a market where it is very easy to get forced out, because no one takes them seriously and it is easy to come out with a new brand.
    As for if it makes me hesitant to sign up for a new one: I look for signs of a quality production, or red flags of a bad one, in the same way I would check out a road race before I sign up.

    Reply

    • Absolutely agree that they are completely separate markets and categories. My point I suppose was that the “outside world” (non OCR people) don’t recognize the difference, they lump everything together. Is that a bad thing? Only when the failed races hurt the community as a whole.

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      • It can be a bad thing on many levels. Lumping them together is a huge barrier in getting people to take this sport seriously, causes people to show up to a grueling event expecting a cakewalk, and hides the ranks of serious athletes behind the ranks of the weekend warriors. With a type of activity this new. I think the failures may be the new growth cleaning itself out. Foam Fest is a fun race, but I don’t know anyone who is truly passionate about it, the way they are for Tough Mudder, GORUCK or Spartan Race. If there is no passion, its sort of a “if nothing else is going on that weekend” mentality, which can lead to the types of boom and bust cycles we are seeing.

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  8. What the heck is the point of that Bloody Murder race?

    I do feel that OCR is pricy, but there is a good reason behind it. I’ve done two Spartans and a Running Dirty. The Spartans are a whole lot pricier than the Running Dirty was, especially since we got discounted entries through groupon. That being said, I was pretty disappointed by the Running Dirty compared to the Spartan race. We got there about a half our prior to our heat time. We were all hanging out, using the bathroom when with about 10 minutes to go when we heard final call for our heat. We waited for everyone to use the bathroom since we thought we had enough time, but by the time we got to the start our heat had already gone and we had to wait a half hour to start with the next one. It also felt sloppy and unorganized. Second, the obstacles kind of sucked. They seemed like really thrown together and there were no volunteers along the way. It just kind of felt crappy. So long story short, you really get what you pay for. The market is also saturated with the cutesy kind of OCRs – there are at least 3 different kinds of colors runs, which makes for over saturation and leads to races going out of business. My cousin wanted to do a color run this summer and when we looked into it, there was one almost every other week in NYC, in different boroughs and different series.With that many races, how many runners can you really expect to come to each one.

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    • haha there is no point to it. It was initially called the “bloody murder” race, later “Peeplechase”, and neither ever actually happened. They just took registration money then disappeared. That video though, it makes me laugh every time. Did they really think that would get us excited to run their race?

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  9. Not an obstacle racer at all here- I’ve never attempted one. But I know many who do are passionate about the experience and I have to agree with this from Aaron:

    “This is why I say ‘Spartan Race’s first responsibility to me is making a profit.’ If they’re not making money – I mean a lot of it – then they can’t hold the events I enjoy so much. It’s like we used to say in the Kung fu studio: ‘We don’t teach to make money. We make money so we can teach.’ ”

    Why do we get mad about a company making money and staying in business? That’s insanity. You hear this a lot when it comes to Disney races: too expensive, they make too much money. They stay in business and allow me to follow my passion. I’m glad they are making some coin so they can stick around!

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  10. I’ve done The Color Run and haven’t done any obstacle races beyond that. I don’t understand how the industry can sustain itself because the prices are outrageous and from people I’ve talked to (myself included), they do it once and that’s good enough — they’ve had the experience. A lot more people I know will run one 5k and immediately want to sign up for another. I think a lot of the feeling is that you’ve done one color run, you’ve done them all… and with the costs, it just makes it hard to justify the cost. I understand why the costs are high, but to me, I don’t want to justify the cost to myself. It’s fun for families, but wow, what an expensive way to spend an hour or two!

    Plus, with the number of these organizations that are going out of business (and those that have negative reviews), I think people are hesitant to give their money. When you register for a 5k in a small town, you know that it’ll be a bit hokey — it will likely start not on time, you probably won’t have chips to time yourself, and there’s a good chance there’ll be about 100 people there. But, if you pay $60 for an obstacle course and get a hokey experience, that is unacceptable.

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  11. I have participated in a Spartan, Tough Mudder, a few Adventure 5k’s,Run for your Life Zombie race all well organized and fun. I ran the Rebel Race and if they are not out if business by now then they should be since although we made the best of it the quality of that race was not comparable to those listed above. I have also run 2 half marathons and countless road races from 5 k to 10k so it is safe to say I have some experience on both venues. I personally can say, not be a Spring Chicken, that I have trained for each and every race. What I expect out of both obstacle and road races is a safe, organized and fun environment. Running a safe obstacle race is of course more costly than a road race and so I expect the price of participation to reflect that . The possibility of injury is always a present in an obstacle race but as a participant I use my discretion taking into accounts my own abilities but do expect that race organizers have taken great are in designing their course that provides a challenge but is also safe at least structurely. If a cheaper admission fee means that organizers skimped on safety then I rather skip it. The other side of the argument is that there are many folks who have not trained the way they should . At a not so young age of 47 I passed many sitting on the ski hills during the Tough Mudder in NH. They may have not trained nor took the event seriously and are perhaps at even more of a risk of being injured or in taking chances tackling obstacles they are not equipped to try. Perhaps as mentioned performance may not be as important to them as a profile picture. Well, we all run our own races and cool picture or not know inside what we accomplished. It is better than sitting on the couch and who does not benefit from fresh air, fun and exercise? There sure are worse ways for us all to use our spendable income regardless of how competitive you are! Safety however is important to both camps and that comes with a price.

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  12. I’m a straight up road runner – I haven’t done an OCR or any of the fun 5k type races and I’ve only run a couple of trail races. Before this week, I didn’t realize the Foam races were obstacle races – I thought they were more like the color runs.

    Anyways, having worked behind the scenes for a few large road races and a number of smaller road races, I know that races are costly. And you want them to spend the money. You want good liability insurance, a safe course, good police and EMT support, etc. I’d rather pay more to a reputable company, knowing that whatever course I’m on is as safe as they can make it than to run a cheap race that puts my life in more danger than whatever danger I’ve chosen.

    It sucks that these companies go under and don’t offer refunds, but hopefully weeding out some of the lesser companies will allow the more successful ones the opportunity to put on a safe, well organized event.

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  13. I was one of the lucky ones at the NE Foam Fest, as I was in the 8:40 heat so had no problems. But it definitely had me walking away itching for more. I am not physically ready for Spartan or Tough Mudder (and I passed on Warrior Dash this year because my 7 year old wanted to do Color Me Rad the same day…the event that caused the future parking issues for Foam Fest NE), but I want more of a challenge that the “fun obstacle races” because they really are a joke. Yes, they are getting people off of the couch, as are the other fun runs getting people to run/walk a 5K when they otherwise wouldn’t. But the “fun obstacle races”, you don’t need to train for.

    I would like to see more middle of the ground obstacle races, where I need to train some for, but not be in completely kick-ass shape. And I am willing to pay up to $100 for them and I would love to do 3-4 a year. I understand the $ goes to insurance, more time needed at each venue, and I hope professional riggers 🙂 And I am definitely very worried about over crowding – trying to fit more people into each heat and the result being more injuries – and especially worried about overcrowding if less and less companies are out there. I don’t think the popularity will wane – people know you’ve got to move your body more than just running and this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

    That being said, I am signed up for 2 races in early August – ROC, which my friend convinced me to enter and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got cancelled, even thought it is only 2 weeks away. And the other being a “Biggest Loser” heat at Spartan – I am not sure what to expect in terms of what obstacles they would even have us try. But I am excited to be able to get closer to a Spartan course without actually doing one…..soon, not Fenway soon, but hopefully 2015.

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  14. Market is saturated. Not just the for-profit market either… every non-profit organization and their mothers are organizing a ‘fun run’ or obstacle race of some kind it seems (myself included lol). At any one time, my gym has flyers for 3 or 4 races going on for cancer, children with handicaps, schools, communities… it is never ending!

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  15. I’m mainly a trail runner, I do some road races, never done an OCR or novelty 5K. I get why people like OCRs, but I’ve always felt like I get plenty of mud, wet, rock climbing, hypothermia, fall hazards, and broken bones just by trail running. OCRs feel like “manufactured adversity” to me (especially electric shocks on the Tough Mudder course; really, guys?) and while I get the appeal, I can get plenty of adversity other ways.

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  16. People still see OCRs as fun mud runs and less so a competitive sport. As long as that mentality exists, people will still expect registration prices to be low and for there to be a charity associated with it. And at face value if they see the $100+ registration price, plus the “sign up before its sold out” messaging, they assume the race is making a profit.

    I believe it is through competition that we better ourselves. That concept applies to business as well. Spartan Race, Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash are fierce competitors and they could easily monopolize the ‘industry’ but I would prefer new races constantly try to put themselves out there to innovate on ocrs and the industry itself. It just gets risky that some of these races fail before they even begin. I often look at where the “elite racers” participate and gauge past reviews to determine if a race is worth the registration.

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  17. My first race EVER was a Down and Dirty Mud Run.

    If I say that I was not properly prepared, that would be a drastic understatement. I wasn’t. At all. Since then I’ve stuck primarily to road races, with a few mud runs thrown in (I’ve since figured out that they aren’t for me).

    My trainer and I discuss this and he finds it interesting that I chose that as my first race and furthermore that I went in so ill-prepared. I think you need to be trained and I also think that the way some of these races are marketed they are presented as “fun runs” rather than challenges. Then again, how does one fully train for an obstacle race within their own environment?

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    • My trainer had us work on running intervals then stopping and performing other exercises like burpees, or weighted squats, lunges, push ups etc. since in OCR your are running for parts then stopping to tackle obstacles. Some of this was done inside with the treadmill or on hilly trails outside. For The Tough Mudder we ran or fast walked on incline carrying weight bags and worked extra on the quads etc so plenty of weighted step ups since the course was on a ski hill. Also worked on upper body strength to get over those walls and low crawls for getting under barbed wire. We were pretty well prepared. We ran all the straight aways and fast hiked up the hills but never stopped aside from the water stops and only briefly . It was 98 degrees and humid so we did drink at each stop.there are some folks who go to playgrounds and use the Monkey Bars or build simulated obstacle in there yards. I found that indoor boulder climbing is also a fun way to prepare.

      Reply

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