Race Reports

Rob Hall: Muddy Buddy Richmond 2009
May 3, 2009

The Muddy Buddy Richmond race was on May 3rd and was the first race for the series in 2009. It was at the Pocahontas State Park. The race was a team event where one person rides a bike and one person runs. After a short distance (just over a mile) you both do an obstacle and then you switch from what you just did to what your buddy was doing. The Richmond race had 5 stages with 5 obstacles. If you started off running, you switched to biking, running, biking, and then finished with a run. The 5 obstacles were a climbing wall, a balance beam, a cargo net you crawl under, a hill you climbed over with a cargo net and then a slide, and the final huge mud pit. It also had a water crossing in the last stage with the water up to your waste because of the recent rain. They had a staggered start and the bikers left a minute before the runners. This made sure the bike was there for the runners at the end of the first stage. The runner turned biker then passed their buddy and left the bike for them at the end of the next stage. You only had to be together at the start of the mud pit and you finished together after it. The race has a lot of hills and most of it is on forest trails. There is a bit at the end on a road. It took us about an hour to finish the course and it was around 7 miles. You can really get very muddy at the end, but they have some hoses for you to wash off at. It lacked pressure and you really did not get good and clean, but you did get clean enough to make it home. It would also be wise to have a garbage bag for everything you had on or your car will be a mess. It was days before I felt clean again. The race was a lot of fun and I would suggest you find a buddy for next year.