If you’re reading this then you know all about the growth of obstacle racing in the UK and we have seen it grow massively over the last two years to something that everyone is talking about. So far this year participant numbers have grown 137% to 170,000 with 54 new event locations gone ahead so far this year.
Now this is really great to see but this growth brings money and people wanting a slice of this. Based on current events Muddy Race predict this year the Obstacle Race/Mud Run UK industry is easily worth £6m so far and heading to over £10m+ by the end of 2013.
By most part this is great and obviously we are very happy to see this grow and get new people involved. But what are the hidden dark sides of this boom? Here’s my take on it
With the money comes the greedy cowboys
In the US there have been a few high profile events go bankrupt (notably Hero Rush, Great American Mud Run and Run For Your Lives) but many potential mud runners left unscathed so far. However, this hit a new level when one event in the US advertised for a event, took everyones entry money and didn’t even bother to put on an event! According to Obstacle Racing Media in the US a number of events have reduced locations due to falling demand.
In the UK we have seen a few peculiar goings on. First we had the Norse Challenge in Northumberland which organised an event, everyone turned up but then being told it was cancelled. Hundreds of runners were ready to roll and even paid parking charges to see a man with a laptop declaring the cancellation. With little communication about returning their entry fees - later their organiser went onto BBC explaining the situation but without really saying what happened.
In terms of bankruptcy we’ve only seen one event so far hit the red. Demon Run who seemed to disappear off the face of the earth despite still advertising all their events on the website but not allowing entry. A quick look onto their Facebook page and excited runners are asking questions about if the race is on this weekend but with no reply. It seems some entries have not been refunded and were not told about the event cancellation.
Luckily the venue was the barer of bad news.
“Hi, this is Mugdock Country Park. There is no Demon Run event planned here for October, we have been trying relentlessly to contact Demon Run, but without success” and “We have heard from a third party that The Demon Run Series has folded and this would explain why our emails and letters have gone unanswered”.
So if you’ve just read this and expecting to roll around in some Demon Run mud later this year please don’t shoot the messenger.
Another recent event caused a bit of a stir whereby t-shirts were advertised but not given at the end of the race. There seemed to be a mixed response to this - some didn’t care but others felt a bit ripped off considering the fee is double your standard 10k road run. I guess this is the great thing about Obstacle Racing really, with the laid back attitude and main aim to have fun but this shouldn’t be taken advantage of.
Look Chill Out! Why should we even care?
I guess it’s a balance, we need these event organisers to give us our dose of mud and sweat but you guys should not be taken for granted! There is a slight issue around the ‘image and integrity’ of the sport however, because if you consider a newbie going to an event for the first time and they have a bad experience (not knowing about those good events) this could put them off and creative a negative feeling towards the sport
We’ve all heard it from people - ‘what I’m gonna pay £50 to jump over some obstacles when it’s basically just a run’.
Rock Solid event organiser Ashley thinks some new events go into the industry a bit niave, he explains ‘the minimum standard for a new race is rising all the time, which means you need a lot of resources at your disposal. Money, creativity, staff and a real USP are just a few of the requirements’.
This is backed up by giant Spartan Race who are posting three digit revenue figures but not actually a profit yet and deciding to opt for growth which illustrates the sheer cost involved of setting up these events.
To Regulate or Not?
Some of this kind of problem though could be down to no regulation of obstacle races which some have commented as a problem. For example if you bought a pack of 6 doughnuts (not that you muddy runners would…) and there were only 4 in there most of you would probably go back to where you bought them from to complain or better still get your money back? If you had no luck you could most probably complain to some government body and get your 99p back or whatever.
So the point is made… but what about the future? Well I don’t think we really need regulation as this may increase your race entry and make it more difficult for new event organisers to enter the industry. It’s important to allow new entrants so we keep getting new ideas. We need to give the power to you - if you’re not happy about something then you should make it known.
Using Charities
Our final gripe is around charity usage - we have seen these being used quite a bit which is great for legitimate funding but do we really see how much these events are giving to charity? There is very little transparency in this process and in some instances we see people commenting ‘oh well it wasn’t that well organised but at least it’s going to charity’. So next time you let something go thinking it’s for charity you might want to give it directly instead.
This post was written to expose some of those bad organisers out for a quick buck but I want to stress that these are the minority and the vast majority are top people putting events together for the love of doing so. It’s these people that we like and we are passionate about Obstacle Racing, OCR and Mud Runs that we want people to have a great time, tell their friends to spread the word how good it is.
Have you had any horror stories? Do you agree? Let us know.
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