In today’s “softened” society, staying fit through normalized, conventional treadmill running and elliptical machines just isn’t going to cut it for many adult men. Sitting in front of a desk for long hours, laboring inside a cubicle devoid of excitement have revitalized an innate primal need for functional fitness, specifically the prehistoric running, jumping, and climbing that our forbearers once did to survive. The article “In Cold Mud” by Lizzie Widdicomber in The New Yorker details the growing popularity of the functional fitness fad that is obstacle running, specifically the Tough Mudder competition. First developed by British special forces, this competition stresses not only a brutal competitive spirit, but also, paradoxically, the communal effort to surmount the challenge together with other “mudders”. Running over fire pits, plunging into freezing mud pools, and receiving 10,000 volt shocks from live wires have all found increasing appeal among adult men and women who assume the risk of death and engage in extreme pain and suffering. The fact that there has already been one death from the Tough Mudder competition only adds to its appeal. The Tough Mudder has transformed obstacle running into one of the country’s fastest growing athletic activities where everyday men, and even women, look to unleash their primal strength while smeared head to toe in mud.
What is the Tough Mudder? It’s a race based on “hardcore obstacle courses designed to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie,” according to the company website. The competition focuses on unleashing the competitive spirit, but also on team and group bonding, and communal effort. Founder Will Dean, a former British counterterrorism officer and graduate of Harvard Business School, created the competition in response to the boredom he felt in running marathons and triathlons. After looking into events like the Strongman Run and Ironman, Dean became interested in creating a challenge that incorporated prehistoric strength (strength used by our ancestors, spanning more than just a healthy set of lungs for endurance). The 10-12 mile challenge (Dean makes it clear that the Tough Mudder is NOT a race and NOT timed) features obstacles throughout the course. The Arctic Enema forces competitors to jump 15 feet to a pool of ice cold water and pass under a wooden board. The Kiss of Mud has competitors crawl through a long stretch of mud under barbed wire that is 18 inches from the ground. There are many more obstacles that make this competition seem more like Marine Corp boot camp than a weekend recreation event. The two most noteworthy ones are the Fire Walker and Electroshock Therapy. The former has mudders run over burning firewood and the latter has them run through dangling live wires that deliver 10,000 volts of electricity. The weak of heart, mind, and body need not apply.
The appeal to this fad is hard to pinpoint. After all, what compels sane people to willingly put themselves through grueling pain and suffering? Many competitors take on the Tough Mudder challenge to test their fitness in a new kind of competition beyond the demands of traditional road racing. Throughout history, young men have long been engaged in passages of rite to test courage, toughness, and manhood and the Tough Mudder challenge is no different. Perhaps fundamentally, all participants are trying to recapture a lost primitivism they cannot find anywhere else in their civilized lives.
Even the recent death of 28 year old Avinash Sengupta has not derailed appeal to the event. Sengupta drowned in an attempt to complete a Walk the Plank obstacle where competitors jump fifteen feet into a deep man-made pool of muddy water. In fact, this dark side of the challenge seems only to contribute to its allure, endowing it with an almost “mythic” status. In reality, fatality rates from the Tough Mudder are less than the death rates of a marathon, 1 in 1.3 million to 1 in 259,000, respectively. Before the event, mudders must sign a waiver that they accept the “assumed risk” they may lose their lives during the event. This danger, combined with the sense of mission that is fueled by pep talkers during the event, inspires greater appeal and publicity. In 2010, an estimated 50,000 people took part in obstacle races. Last year, the number was 3.5 million with Tough Mudder bringing $115 million in revenue.
The Tough Mudder is more than just a dirty and muddy race; it’s a movement of mavericks refusing to conform to the norm of traditional fitness or settle into the complacency of civilized society. In a world where technology has created a life of easy convenience, it appears that challenges like the Tough Mudder will continue to draw people looking for the darker, more primitive side of human nature. For them, the mud is a great place to start.