If you live anywhere near Rehoboth and have yet to attend a Tuff Scrambler, you are seriously missing out on a great local race! As one of the first really muddy local events of the season, this is one you should never miss.
Joe, Carinda and the rest of the crew – made up of family, volunteers, and family volunteers – always do a great job of keeping registration moving, making sure there is plenty of water available at the water stops, and recording official finish times at the finish line. There is typically a decent turnout for this race, and this one was no different!
Previous reviews have been written on this event and they detail the course, so I won’t bore you with the specifics. (You can go here to check out last October’s review.) For those who are new to OCR and Tuff, this is a flat yet technical 3 mile course. There are walls and various other things to traverse, a cargo net climb, and plenty of things to crawl under, but there are no heavy lifting obstacles. In fact, there are very few obstacles that a single person could not complete on their very own. Joe didn’t have time to add to his ever changing course after the crazy winter we endured around here. As a result there was really only one change this time around – after exiting the wooded trail for the first time there is a hill of sand and then the mud crawl. After the mud crawl there used to be another mound of dirt. This mound was knocked down and turned into a mud hole instead, with 2 deep areas, which kept participants and spectators guessing all day long. Where are the deepest parts? Where are the shallowest parts? This was a great addition to an already great course.
In previous reviews, there has been mention of the course markings. In the earlier days there were definitely some places where extra marking was needed. I can remember having to stop, look around, and figure out where to go. For this event there was never any doubt. There was tape everywhere! In the middle of the course, where all the spectators can hang out and watch a multitude of obstacles, the traffic cones were even replaced with tape. I can honestly say, there was no shred of doubt where to go! I think they have this solid now, with miles upon miles of tape used to mark the course..
Post race, the tent was set up for free noms and a free beer (both a part of race registration). I opted not to use either of my freebies, but from the line looping through the tent I would say the fare options were favorable and many were taking the opportunity to have a yummy lunch!
Cleaning up was a breeze. There were hoses and shower stalls available – one each for men and women. While I was sad the horse trailer changing stations were gone – part of the charm of having a race on a farm – they were replaced with more spacious tents. The tents were great, except for the fact that there were open seams facing the general public and so you had to be careful you didn’t end up in *that* corner, just in case the wind blew the wrong way.
Another nice change: Bling! Yes, you read that correctly. I did like the pint glasses, but in my house we have enough race pint glasses to have replaced our drinking glasses with nothing but pint glasses. It looks like Tuff has joined the ranks of giving out finisher medals. Bling fanatics, rejoice!
Pros:
– Organized
– Nearly flawless course marking
– Larger teams get tent space (like we did!!)
– Continuing trend of safety color tech shirts for finisher shirts
– Bling in favor of pint glasses
Suggestions for Improvement:
– More volunteers needed on course, specifically at the obstacles
