Oh My Mudder!

On this typical stormy spring day in Maryland, OSM took a trip to Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in Cecil County for a site visit.  The folks at Tough Mudder have been looking for potential sites in our area to host one of their events in early 2012.  Tough Mudder is thought of as one of the toughest endurance competitions on the planet.  Its 10-12 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. After communicating with them for a few weeks, we were able to narrow down the search and set-up some visits.

Today's adventure was to the explore the possibilities of Fair Hill.  Fair Hill is known for its equestrian events, such as steeplechase, timber course and flat races, and extensive, unspoiled grounds.  Tough Mudder asked us to recommend sites that had over 400 acres in our area, and with Fair Hill’s 5,000+ acreage, we knew it would be a good fit, never mind swallow the event whole.


Terry, Ashley and I met up with Pete from Tough Mudder and Sandy from Cecil County Tourism at the Gilpin’s Falls Covered Bridge (the oldest covered bridge in Maryland, by the way) and caravanned over to Fair Hill.  There we met with Wayne, the park ranger.  After a brief meeting in a nice, cozy conference room, Terry conveniently had to leave us to attend some important business meetings just as we were about to venture out in the mud.  So Ashley and I headed out with Sandy, Wayne and Pete to take a tour of the grounds.

Fortunately Wayne was able to fit us all into his SUV because the rain began to fall upon our departure.  We toured the expansive grounds, driving through streams and fields.  Wayne showed us some areas he thought would work for the event, and Pete gave us great insight into what exactly is needed to put on the competition.  As we drove across the wet, muddy land, we could all start to picture 5,000+ runners trekking through the streams and climbing up steep wooded inclines getting as muddy as possible.

The Tough Mudder event would be a great asset to the state and Cecil County, in particular.  Pete told us that a typical event draws around 5,000 participants each day (it’s a two-day event) with a 1:1 participant to spectator ratio.  The area hotels fill up quickly and restaurants stay busy for the entire weekend.  Tough Mudder wants to host an event in our area because they can draw competitors from Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. An enormous benefit to hosting the Tough Mudder in Maryland would be the economic impact.

So if you’re into walking across fire, scaling high walls, carrying logs up steep hills, crawling in mud pits and don’t mind an occasional electric shock, then duct tape your shoes to your feet and get ready for a future Tough Mudder event in Maryland.

-Jenn from OSM