Last year TMHQ made a commitment to putting obstacle innovation back at the heart of everything we do, that means talking about out-of-the-box obstacles ideas, on-course upgrades, and mid-year surprises all year round.
The big brains have been drawing on the walls again but there’s only one way to truly find out if an obstacle can work IRL and that’s alpha testing.
WHAT IS ALPHA TESTING?
Alpha testing is where we put a brand new obstacle, or part of an obstacle, out on course so Mudders can try them and let us know what they think.
These obstacles, or aspects of obstacles will then be adopted, changed, updated, or ditched completely based on how they perform under thousands of muddy feet.
WHAT DID ALPHA TESTING 2018 BRING US?
In 2018, Alpha Test obstacles sprung up on courses right here in the United States where we debuted a version of what became Tight Squeeze.
And we weren’t having all the fun: You can thank Mudders in Germany for their feedback on 2019’s Texas Hold ‘Em and runners in England for Spread Eagle’s shaking straplines and the shockingly good Entrapment.
Overall, alpha and beta testing helped our Obstacle Innovation Lab unveil epic new obstacles for 2019, including 10 new or updated obstacles to every single Tough Mudder Classic and four new obstacles to Tough Mudder 5K.
HOW CAN YOU BE PART OF ALPHA TESTING?
This year’s U.S. Alpha testing will be at our… *drumroll please*… Seattle Tough Mudder 5K and Tough Mudder Classic on September 21 and 22. Register for our Seattle event to be the first to try out what our mad scientists in the Obstacle Innovation Lab are cooking up for the 2020 season.
Not able to attend? We’re still listening. You can give us your feedback via social media, the post-event survey, to Tough Mudder Ambassadors, or to a member of TMHQ at an event. Basically, our ears are open.
