Watch all of the epic action from Europe’s Toughest Mudder 2017. Watch as competitors race for 8 hours through the night, conquering obstacles and pulling each other out of the mud along the way.
In the mud and facing natural disaster, Team Rubicon gives a whole new meaning to “Tougher Together”. And this year Team Rubicon, the official US Charity of Tough Mudder, has 5 teams competing with grit and glory at World’s Toughest Mudder to raise money for their cause and spread the awareness of Team Rubicon’s efforts.
Here’s the quick & dirty, Mudder Nation: Team Rubicon taps into the valuable skills of veterans and gives them a chance to continue their service and build a sense of purpose, community, and identity. Like Tough Mudder, Team Rubicon harnesses the power of teamwork and community to tackle life’s challenges (in this case, natural disaster) head-on by delivering disaster response services, mitigating hazards, clearing dangerous debris, and providing emergency home repair. Groundbreaking? We think so.
For more info on our charity partnership, click HERE. And to meet the Team Rubicon veterans who’re showing their badassery and selflessness in the mud, scroll down.
Dear Mudder Nation,
We are officially one month away from World’s Toughest Mudder 2017. Which means if you aren’t deep into a regimented training program by now, say goodbye to your mileage goals. No, we’re just kidding. Sort of….
Before we dig into some fun topics, here are the official 2017 World’s Toughest Mudder Rules. All athletes need to make sure they fully read and understand these prior to showing up in the desert on November 11.
As always, this year’s course in Las Vegas promises to bring the pain in the form of brutal amounts of elevation on each lap. Below you can find the elevation profile for this year’s course. Take careful note of the big orange blob right smack in the middle. How fun does that look? Our legs are cramping just looking at it.
We here at TMHQ are in the thick of it planning to make this year’s event better than ever before. From updating some classic Tough Mudder obstacles and finding new World’s Toughest-only challenges, to bringing the first glimpse of some new 2018 obstacles to life for this year’s course, this year is sure to be a more unique and gruelling challenge than ever before. With course construction beginning in one week, we’re ready to get the show on the road.
Due to high levels of interest in the exciting new National Team Relay category and with the desire to constantly evolve and improve the overall event, we’ve removed the prizing money from the regular 2+ team category and shifted prize money to deepen the overall pool for the National Team Relay. With over a dozen teams from countries around the globe already registered into the National Team Relay category, we’re expecting this competition to be a fierce and exciting new addition to this year’s event. The updated prizing for World’s Toughest Mudder 2017 competition is as follows:
|
WTM 2017 Prizing & Awards (USD) |
|||
|
Top Prizing |
Top Male (Individual) |
Top Female (Individual) |
National Team Relay (4+) |
|
1st Place |
$10,000.00 |
$10,000.00 |
$10,000.00 |
|
2nd Place |
$4,000.00 |
$4,000.00 |
$4,000.00 |
|
3rd Place |
$2,000.00 |
$2,000.00 |
$2,000.00 |
|
4th Place |
$1,000.00 |
$1,000.00 |
$1,000 |
|
5th Place |
$500.00 |
$500.00 |
$500.00 |
|
100 Miles (Indiv. Female) |
– |
$50,000 |
– |
|
110 Miles (Indiv. Male) |
$50,000 |
– |
– |
Now, this does not mean the 2+ Team category is going away, and as always we will support and encourage athletes declaring and running as a team. The spirit of this event has always been one of teamwork and shared, brutal suffering, whether running alone or with your drinking buddies. Any athletes currently planning on running as a team who wish to sign up for the National Team Relay category can do so through this link. Be advised – the National Team Relay bibs are now on a first-come, first-served basis, so sign up quick if you’d like to try this new format. Some general information about the competition can be found here.
Other fun things:
Remember that pesky last lap requirement that we put in place last year? Having to finish a final lap after 12 PM on Sunday, which meant that hundreds of you ended up dragging your tired butts around the course one last time before camping out 100 meters from the finish line while waiting for the stroke of noon? Yeah, we remember that too. Though it was glorious and heartwarming to our blackened souls, we’ve relaxed the requirement slightly. To be considered a 24-hour finisher and eligible for top prizing and the coveted 24-Hour Headband, competitors must complete their last lap between 8AM and the official close of the finish line at 1:30PM, Sunday morning.
Like any respectable traffic engineer, our goal is to minimize backups and increase the efficiency of the overall transportation system. We’re widening this window of time to allow all athletes the opportunity to complete their final lap with style and grace, as opposed to huddling in a large group waiting for high noon. 24-Hour Headbands will still only be distributed at 12PM, at which point the Start closes and no new laps may begin.
Finally, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you will have heard rumblings about the possibility of a venue change for next year’s World’s Toughest Mudder. Though we can neither confirm nor deny such rumblings at this time, we will take this opportunity to take a page out of the Amazon headquarters search announcement playbook and tell you what requirements we may be looking for IF these rumblings happened to be true:
-Minimum 500 acres of usable space with varied and unique terrain
-Must be within 60 miles of a major metropolitan center and/or international airport
-Must have 200 acres of terrain with dig capacity containing soil with a minimum of 1.33 grams/cubic centimeter density and 50% pore space
-Water. Lots of water.
-Must encompass terrain which during nighttime hours can be described as “spooky”, “ethereal”, “mystical”, “scary as shit”, or “so dark I can’t see my hands in front of my face”
-Must have minimum (1) natural feature which can be turned into a badass WTM-only obstacle.Currently accepting castles, castles with moats and/or multiple trebuchets, oceanfront piers, glacier-fed lakes, or naturally-occurring hot springs
-Unpredictable weather a plus
-Wild animals on the property are a plus. Double plus if more than one carnivorous nocturnal animal calls it home
That’s all for now, folks. We’ll see you soon. Just need to put together these puzzle pieces….
This week the Obstacle Innovation Team is tinkering away in Las Vegas at the soon-to-be-built 2017 World’s Toughest Mudder course with their tough and twisted imaginations. This year they’ll be updating Legionnaire-favorites, thinking up WTM-only obstacles that’ll have even the toughest athletes on the planet shakin’ in their socks, and playing up your fears like never before. Plus, after the TMHQ obstacle team sifted through hundreds of brilliant, terrifying and just plain bizarre submissions and to crown Kong 2.0 Infinity their winner, it’s time to bring the winner of the Obstacle Innovation Challenge to life.
We’ll be Live from the dessert this Saturday October 21st with some behind the scenes action and 2018 obstacle sneak peeks. That’s all we’re saying for now, but you can bet that 2018 isn’t just going to be tough – it’s going to kick toughness on its butt and drag it through 10 miles of mud, all the way to the finish line.
So in the meantime, take a look at some behind-the-scenes snaps taken by The Obstacle Innovation Team. If you’re not curious, you’re not human.
Obstacle Innovation is in full swing and the Obstacle Innovation Team is spending the week in Las Vegas tinkering away. We’ll be Live from the dessert this Saturday October 21st with some behind the scenes action and 2018 obstacle sneak peeks. That’s all we’re saying for now, but you can bet that 2018 isn’t just going to be badass – it’s going to kick badass in the butt and drag it through the mud, all the way to epic.
So in the meantime, take a look at some of the 2016 and 2017 Extreme Obstacle Design Challenge submissions that you WON’T be seeing on course. Are we a tease? You bet.
Created By: David
Harder to crack than a rubix.
Created By: Daniel Hiscoke
This obstacle won last years Extreme Obstacle Design Challenge.
Created By: Andrew
This event consists of one team hoisting people up a steep wall, and down a steep drop. I.e. start training now.
Created By: Maxwell
Not at all like the innocent monkey bars of your childhood, “Shocky Bars” encourages the crowd to laugh at you, using your face to break the fall. Athletes propel across a deep, muddy drop with nothing but random electrically charged rings.
Created By: Henry
Upon first glance, All Aboard seems like a splashing good time. Until you read the fine print – wobbly and weak planks barely float in a man-made bog of mud of sweat.
Created By: Jonas
Half the challenge of Spider Monkey is removing the splinters afterward.
The physics and construction of this obstacle are not the first thing which comes to mind. While this challenge would perfectly suit a hungry season of Survivor or the final caper of Lara Croft, a one-at-a-time approach to obstacles could tank the whole thing.
Created By: Steven
No such thing as too much rope.
Created By: Sascha
Upper arm strength for days.
NorCal Mudders,
As a result of the fires spreading throughout the Sonoma area, TMHQ will be cancelling the Tough Mudder NorCal event on October 14 & 15. The safety of you and the community are our paramount concern. Additionally, TMHQ wants to ensure local officials and emergency responders who are instrumental to producing safe Tough Mudder events can focus their attention on supporting the local community.
We understand you have important things to focus on, so TMHQ is trying to make changing your ticket as easy as possible. Please see below for details.
Please select one of the following options:
Do nothing, and you’ll automatically be transferred to the same NorCal event in 2018.
Request a free transfer – email [email protected] by November 10, 2017 and let us know you’d like to transfer. You can transfer your ticket for free to a future Tough Mudder event (excluding Tougher Mudder, Toughest Mudder, and World’s Toughest Mudder; check out toughmudder.com/events for the full calendar). Nearby events include:
Reserve your registration for 2018 (and select your event at a later date)
If these options aren’t right for you, email [email protected] by November 10, 2017 and we’ll work with you to find the best solution.
TMHQ is thinking of you and your loved ones who have been affected. Stay safe Mudders.
-TMHQ
Since 2011, World’s Toughest Mudder has been the extreme, insane, imposing, pulse-pounding, heart-stopping 24-hour long culmination of the Tough Mudder season, that is not only a challenge but a competition. Designed to give the world’s most hardcore OCR athletes the opportunity to display their competitive spirit in a non-stop 24 hour battle of grit and willpower, WTM is the toughest event on the planet… which begs the question: why would anyone want to put themselves through this?
You asked, and we’re answering. During the month of October, we’ll be releasing 4 part series with Amazon featuring 5 different athletes and their individual journeys to the world’s most grueling day-long obstacle race being held in Las Vegas on November 11th, 2017. Starting October 9th, every Monday in October we’ll be releasing an episode that will showcase an intimate portrait of a WTM athlete: who they are, how they train, why they train, and how they prepare physically and mentally for WTM 2017. Watch our athletes’ preparation pay off live on ToughMudder.com on 11/11/17 and during the 1-hour special on CBS, the Home of World’s Toughest Mudder, on 12/23/17
On October 9th, get ready for the release of the first episode of the series featuring Tyson, also known as “Superman” who at age 33 is a paraplegic athlete from Woodland, California. While he might be confined to a chair, Superman is not limited in mind or body; instead he is as serious and as tough an athlete as you’ll find on the course. He was a star football and basketball player until he was 19 years old, when he fell off a roof during a construction job and broke his back.
While Tyson’s fate may have been sealed, his inner athlete-spirit continues to soar. At age 33, Superman tried his first Tough Mudder with his brother and team. That’s when he knew this was the sport he wanted to pursue. 10 Tough Mudders later, Superman is now training every single day with his team to prepare for World’s Toughest Mudder 2017. With a goal of completing 25 miles, he will be the first paraplegic athlete to attempt this grueling race.
On October 16th we’ll bring you Super Couple from Toronto, Canada. Ryan and Lindsay have been dominating the 2017 Toughest Mudder Season. Ryan is the 2016 World’s Toughest Mudder reigning champ, and while Lindsay is new to the scene, she’s proving to be a serious contender this year. This young, dynamic, super couple has carved out a professional space for themselves in the world of obstacle course racing: training and racing full time, while making a living off of prize money and and sponsorships. Both as beautiful as they are talented, the duo remains humble as they live a quiet life in rural Canada, doing what they love: training in the outdoors all year round.
2016 WTM Champ Stef Bishop is as tough as she is feisty. She not only plans on winning again, she plans to be the first woman to reach 100 miles in the 24 hour obstacle race. Stef has lived for extremes since she left her high-paying Wall Street job to pursue a career as a professional OCR athlete. Her 2017 racing season was filled with ups and downs, now, with three months before World’s, she is training by herself in the Colorado Rockies.
Finally, in the series final on October 30th, Mudder Nation will realize that OCR isn’t just only for the 35 and under crowd. Mark James, 50, is a superfit father of three, a Navy Seal Instructor, and gunning for 75+ miles at World’s. Mark tries to find balance in life between work, fatherhood and his athletic endeavors. As the current top-spot leader on the quest to the Holy Grail with 220 annual miles logged this year, Mark is hoping to bring home the 2017 Holy Grail and log 75+ miles on the WTM Lake Las Vegas course.
Join us as Coach takes on the Music City, joining local Legionnaires and taking fitness and fun to famous Nashville landmarks. In this episode of Coachified we tackle the Music City, doing everything from blasting quads at Titans’ Stadium, to partying all night on Broadway.
Dear Mudder Nation,
In a year that has seen the unprecedented expansion of Tough Mudder’s portfolio of competitive events, TMHQ is excited to share another groundbreaking announcement for 2017: the launch of the 2017 Tougher Mudder Championship Series.
The four event series, taking place at Tough Mudder event weekends in October and November, will include three Regional Championships, one World Championship event, and a total prize purse of $50,000.
Athletes can register online for the regional events by signing up for the timed, competitive Tougher start wave at any of the three events listed below. To compete at the World Championship event, athletes will need to place in the top 10 at one of the three regionals or submit a waiver application for consideration.
Tougher Mudder East Championship – 10/7 (Tri-State Weekend)
Tougher Mudder South Championship – 10/21 (Carolinas Weekend)
Tougher Mudder West Championship – 10/28 (Las Vegas Weekend)
Tougher Mudder World Championship – 11/4 (SoCal Weekend)
As TMHQ has expanded our Competitive Series, we’ve paid close attention to the different athletes and aspirations in Mudder Nation. With each new format and industry-leading prize purse, we’ve taken note of the enthusiasm and excitement generated by the unique nature of each type of challenge.
For our ultrarunners, the Toughest and World’s Toughest events have proven to be tremendously popular challenges throughout the year. The creation of Tough Mudder X provided short-distance prodigies and heavy-lifters the opportunity to push themselves in a new way (and earn some serious cash). So what about the mid-distance specialists?
While the Tougher events that we’ve held to-date throughout 2017 have provided a popular first step into the Competitive Series, we wanted to create a Championship-level event catered towards middle-distance athletes that are just really good at the classic 10-mile Tougher Mudder. Enter the 2017 Tougher Mudder Championship Series.
The Tougher Mudder Championship Series is based on the same core Tougher Mudder format that Mudder Nation has been taking on throughout 2017, including 10 miles of rugged terrain and 20+ signature Tough Mudder obstacles, with a few small twists:
-Obstacle variations
-Penalty loops for obstacle failures
-Qualify for the Tougher Mudder World Championship
-An increased prize purse
|
Position (M/F) |
Regional Championships |
World Championship |
|
1st |
$2,500 |
$10,000 |
|
2nd |
$1,000 |
$2,500 |
|
3rd |
$500 |
$1,000 |
Whether you’re ready to show off what you can do on a Tough Mudder course or simply interested in watching from the side, here’s how you can get a piece of the action:
Athletes: Don’t wait until it’s too late – head to the event pages for Tough Mudder Tri-state, Carolinas, and Las Vegas to purchase your Tougher ticket. A limited number of tickets are available – and if you want a shot at competing at the World Championship, you’ll need to hit up one of these events to qualify. Walking away with a cool $2,500 wouldn’t be too bad either.
Spectators: Want to get your eyes on the action in person (and maybe capture a bit of fame in the background of the show)? Head to the event pages for Tough Mudder Tri-state, Carolinas, Las Vegas and SoCal to purchase your spectator pass. Remember – spectator passes are always cheaper in advance, so buy ahead of time!
Your run at the NOLA Motorsports Park is going to leave you sore, soaked, and grinning from ear to ear. With miles of backcountry trails, steep-sided canals, and even a gator or three (we’re kidding…maybe), how could it not? After you’ve washed away the mud you’re bound to be looking for a few fun activities to fill the rest of your Nawlins getaway. Sure, Motorsports Park also plays home to go-karts and trail-riding, but with the French Quarter a short 20 minute drive away, we figured we’d let you in on all the best things there are to do once you’re off course.
To help you prep for your jaunt to NOLA, here’s a helpful guide on some of the best places to eat, stay, and adventure straight from locals, TMHQ staff, and Tough Mudder ambassadors who know a thing or two about The Big Easy.
Around mile 8 you may start daydreaming about your post-event meal. One thing’s for sure, you can’t go wrong with good ol’ fashioned fried chicken. Well, anything fried really (which there’s plenty of in these parts). If you’re looking for America’s Best Fried Chicken (that’s actually what it’s called on the menu), look no further than Willie Mae’s Scotch House. Since 1957, Willie Mae’s has been cranking out the tenderest, finger lickin-est fried chicken southerners and northerners alike have ever seen. Skip the calorie counting when you’re at Willies and don’t forget to stay hydrated – this chicken’s hot. Top it off with a classic southerin cocktail from one of the oldest (and unique) bars in the United States, Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar.
Looking for something a little finer for that post-event celebratory meal? Take a stroll to the Garden District, where you’ll find the Commander’s Palace and plenty of old world ambience to go along with traditional Creole fare. Brunch, lunch, dinner, cocktails – the Commander has it all. Treat yourself to a meal fit for a king after a weekend fit for a warrior.
And for dessert? Beignets of course. It’s hard to go wrong with the fluffy, powdery treats at Cafe Du Monde, a New Orleans staple.
New Orleans is perfect for the energetic vacationer. If you get the chance, take in some live music on Bourbon Street – jazz, blues, cajun, zydeco – it’s all worth it. If you’re looking to take things outdoors though, we’ve got you covered on that too.
Looking to flex those bis and tris before you hit Willie Mae’s for a calorie-loaded lunch? Yak your way to earning that massive meal and take on a real New Orleans adventure with Kayak Swamp Tours. Learn about the Gulf Coast ecosystem and check out the dense beauty of cypress groves as you paddle. Just book and post up at one of two pick-up locations.
Itching to escape the city and hit a trail? Take a trip to Hooper Road Park, where 10 miles of lush green awaits your sore or soon-to-be sore muscles. Only an hour west of New Orleans, Hooper Road is also perfect for a mountain bike. Luckily, you can rent.
City Park is another spot to stretch those legs and see some of the natural beauty New Orleans has to offer. Hit Couturie Forest, located within the city limits, for a short hike that’ll leave you with more fond memories of your trip south than you can shake a muddy shoe at.
Missing crucial gear for said epic weekend adventure? Check out what Merrell’s serving up in 2017 and start checking things off your bucket list.
Mudders make the most of everything – badasses that you are, it’s just what you do. That, of course, includes picking a place to stay. If you’re going to rest your head somewhere, may as well make it the coolest place in town, right?
In Nawlins, there may be no cooler place than the Henry Howard Hotel. Located in the Garden District, the Henry Howard is all about uniqueness and Southern hospitality. Mixing vintage and custom furniture with local artwork, and offering a variety of unique room set ups for all budget sizes, the Henry Howard is the perfect place to rest up before and after you tackle tough.
If you’re in for something a little more adventurous we present you with the Places d’Armes Hotel. This one counts as a kind of twofer – the Places d’Armes is both an adventure and a place to stay. Situated in the heart of the French Quarter, with Bourbon Street (and boozy tourists) adjacent, you’ll be right in the thick of things. Where’s the adventure you ask? Said to be one of the most haunted hotels in NOLA, erie voices, footsteps, moving furniture and music without a source will surely kick up your heart rate and get you out of your comfort zone both pre and post event.
Need more inspiration on where to stay? Click here to view our discounted hotel options.
