Savage Race

The Mid-Atlantic Savage Race took place in Kennedyville, MD, this passed weekend, and I have to say, this one came the closest of all of the smaller (as opposed to Tough Mudder and Spartan) events to living up the hype.  The event was definitely one that I'd do again, if it were set up in Sept/Oct or May/June.

Lodging
We made reservations at the Crow Farm B&B on 18 July, and they have availability for one night, which worked out great, as it was within only a few minutes drive of the venue.  It turned out that several of the timing and videography staff also stayed at the venue, as well.

Finding lodging near an event venue is a great idea, and for the Virginia Beach Tough Mudder (which was cancelled) we'd stayed at a B&B about 150 yards from the venue entrance.  What I tend to do is type the venue address into Google Maps and search nearby for "bed and breakfast".

Venue
The event was held at the Hopkins Game Farm in Kennedyville, MD.  According to Google Maps, this is a 2 hr 15 min drive for us...way out in BFE...which is why we opted to drive up the night before.  However, the venue is easy to access, although I would think that for a much larger event (say, a Tough Mudder or Super Spartan), the ingress/egress would easily be overwhelmed.  There was one road going into and out of the venue, with the main drive split in half by cones.  The only real way to accommodate a larger event would be with buses running from another location, or if additional space were available with separate ingress and egress points.

I can easily see this venue being used again in the future.  As with many such events such as these, they tend to bring a good deal of traffic into the community, and as long as the volume is planned for, it becomes a great economic "shot in the arm" for the community.  It also opens up opportunities for future events, as the folks who own or manage the venue get to "work the kinks out".  The B&B where we stayed is also a winery with a tasting room, and they raise beef cattle.  As with other B&Bs we've stayed at for these events, the couple who manages it is plugged into the local community and chamber of commerce.  As such, we heard about all of the local folks who were able to work during the course setup, including someone locally who owns an excavator (for digging some of the water pits).  The afternoon after the event saw a lot of traffic stopping at a number of local restaurants.

Course
The course was well marked, without a great deal of open running between obstacles.  This worked out well, as the words "savage" and "bad*ss" were used throughout the course, and having a lot of open fields to run through to get to the next obstacle is...face it...kind of boring.  I think that most folks signing up for something like this appreciated the shorter running distances, as well as the difficulty of the obstacles.

The weather on the east coast had been very bad all week long. Temperatures had been in the mid- to high-'90s, and the heat index has pushed the temps into the triple digits.  Due to the heat and humidity, the course was (wisely) reduced and re-routed through shaded areas.  I felt that there were plenty of water stops, where chilled bottles of water were handed to participants...I would drink part of it, and pour the rest of it over my head.  At some points along the course, sprinklers were installed to provide some relief for participants.  There were also a number of water obstacles that provided some relief, albeit not the cleanest.

Obstacles
There was a great deal of hype for this event, much like other events.  Facebook updates so a number of "here it comes" posts, pictures of some of the obstacles (one of which as unrecognizable), generating a good deal of excitement and anticipation.  One of the benefits of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is that it's easy to generate this kind of excitement, but as many of us have seen with other events in the past, this can also be a major shortcoming if the event doesn't live up to the expectations that are created.

Some of the hype for the Savage Race included...

...more than 21 twisted obstacles scattered about a 5 mile rugged race course...

and...

...bring you the biggest and baddest Savage Race of all time...

I will say this...while many of the obstacles are reminiscent of other events, some were truly bad*ss.  For example, the Shriveled Richard was pretty much the Tough Mudder's Arctic Enema, but the Savage crew took the monkey bars and made it truly bad*ss by adding the sawtooth in the middle (take a look at the picture to the left), ramping up the level of difficulty of this obstacle.  The Colossus was also a great obstacle, with a rope climb up a quarter pipe on the front end (note to Savage crew - make the base at the top of the climb a little wider in the future), a climb to a higher platform and then a slide into a water pit.  This one obstacle provided a sense of accomplishment for all levels of participant, having to overcome a physically challenging obstacle through sheer force of will, or teamwork, to get there, and then having to overcome any fear of heights to get down.  The now-defunct Jungle Cup had a great combo obstacle that I'd love to see again...climb to a platform, rope swing to another platform, followed by a rope traverse (crawl, swing, whatever), and then finished by a balance beam.

I'll say this...the shock obstacles are a bit over-done.  The Tough Mudders I've been on have two of them on the course, and being shocked unconscious looses it's appeal after a while.  I'd rather have half a dozen obstacles that provide a physical challenge, such as multiple high walls or rope climbs up incline walls, or something that requires teamwork to accomplish.

Pros
The course was well laid out, well marked, and well staffed.  Due to the heat, the race was reduced in length (to just over 4 miles), with plenty of water stops, as well as water obstacles.  According to the email notice we received, only one obstacle was removed, which meant that there were plenty of obstacles without much in the way of running through open fields, which was good.  Part of the reduced course had been re-routed through the trees and shaded areas.  We didn't experience much in the way of backups at the obstacles at all.

Ingress into and egress from the venue was easy, smooth, and well managed.  As with most events, there was a fee for parking, and there was plenty of parking within an easy walk of venue.

Registration was smooth, and there was plenty of room to move around the main venue area.  There were a number of vendors available, as well as music and a band, lending to the party atmosphere. There was also a tent set up to shade participants and spectators, and a couple of fans were available to generate air flow.  For the most part, everything was well laid out and well marked, and there were plenty of toilet facilities (always a good thing).

Cons
The only real con I'd offer up about the event is that the wash racks for after the event were far too small for the number of participants.  It was strange that after having a smooth experience going through the course that the participants would have to traverse all the way across the venue, and stand in a line, unprotected from the sun, for more than half an hour.  Given the considerations for the heat and heat index of the day, there should have been more accommodations with respect to this aspect of the event.

Perhaps at future events, the course could be redone so that the obstacles with the really thick mud occur earlier in the course, and then put one with a water pit at the end.  That way, participants are muddy during the course, but not so much so at the end that wash racks or hoses are really required to the degree that they were for the Savage Race.

Overall
For an event that isn't as well known as Spartan or Tough Mudder, Savage did a lot of things right this passed weekend.  I grew up and have lived in the Northern Virginia area for a long time, so I can't really imagine anyone wanting to hold an event like this, in late July.  Had you asked anyone, I doubt you would have found someone who would've suggested that there would be a cold snap that would push temperatures down to the 70s with no humidity during July or August.  However, the staff planned and reacted well, and overall the event was one that I will definitely consider participating in again, in the future.

Finally, for the future...
Looking at the comments on the Savage Race Facebook page, it appears that I wasn't the only one who didn't receive an official notification email with my start time...even after I commented to that effect on the Savage Race Facebook page, there were still other comments coming in afterward, stating the same thing.

I tried several times to get information via the Facebook page about the number of water stops, etc., to no avail.  Pictures were posted of obstacles, but information pertinent to the weather for that day was noticeably absent, even after it was requested.  I received a comment back via Facebook that information would be available at the Savage Race web site...but I don't think that the event organizers have really thought this all through.  The fact that the heat and humidity was going to be an issue the day of the event was no surprise, as all of the local weather stations, as well as many of the national weather web sites, all had the same information the week prior to the event.  The folks setting up the obstacles had to deal with the weather, as well, so getting out information about weather accommodations prior to the evening before the event would've been a great idea.  Spend less time focused on the hype, folks, and put more time toward keeping your participants informed.