On August 24th Buffalo OCR LLC hosted the Muddy Buffalo Obstacle Course Race at the Buffalo Ski Club. This was the 3rd year of the Muddy Buffalo and their 4th obstacle course race. They also ran the Rally at Three Valley a few years ago. This year the Muddy Buffalo drew 360 racers to its hills and this company is consistently improving on their race, this is my review.
I want to address the race in segments: location, registration, course, obstacles, shirts & medals, difficulty, and midway.
The trip from Buffalo to the Buffalo Ski club was an enjoyable and scenic ride and once we arrived it was great to see that the parking was free as advertised and there was enough of it. The registration process at the Tamarack Lodge was easy and well organized. There was ample availability for changing and yes they had a shower station for after the race.
The course difficulty was moderate … I have ran more difficult terrain but feel the hills and course layout were a perfect combination of hills and open areas. I was able to get into a full run in many of the open areas which was nice. I was able to complete the 5 mile course in an hour ten minutes and the obstacles were fun and challenging.
You can tell that every year they are putting more money into the race … the obstacles are getting better with every year. Be warned there is an obstacle called “Soul Crusher” which is their steepest hill with about 500 ft elevation gain within ½ mile, it sucked. They had about 30 obstacles that challenged your upper, lower, and grip strength. Some of the obstacles they had were: weaver, rope climb, tire wall, mud head, low crawl, farmer log carry, pipe carry, tire drag, floating walls, pikes peak, tunnel crawls, 8 ft walls, 6 ft walls, rappel, funky bars, tire flip, and a few more. They were challenging and fun.
As a bonus they had kids course which was free. It was ¾ mile and had 7 to 10 obstacles for the kids. My son had a blast running the kids course and enjoyed actually being able to run a race with me.
The shirts and medals were pretty cool as they hosted the same “Muddy Buffalo” that is all over the marketing, it is easy to identify and the shirts were a dry fit material. The medal is going to look great on my wall!
The midway was nicely laid out with a great combination of vendors, free product (Runa & Vita Coco), music, food, and a great view of 4 or 5 of the obstacles. This allowed for family to see their friends and family attempt these obstacles.
If you are looking for a great race that is on the rise be sure to check out the Muddy Buffalo as I am sure that next year they will be back with new obstacles and an even better race!
Check them out at www.muddybuffalo.com or www.facebook.com/muddybuffalo