I follow Tough Mudder’s page on Facebook and they’ve been advertising new obstacles in 2017 recently, and since I’ve done this race before and want to do it again, I figured I should investigate what these new challenges will be and there are 5.
The new obstacles to be featured on Tough Mudder in 2017:
1) Augustus Gloop:
You may enter through water or just a wet area, but your object is to get inside a vertical tube and climb it. However, the challenge of this is that there’s water pouring on you as you do it and the object is to get over the tube.
Usually challenges in Tough Mudder involving tubes have you go through them either horizontally, when you crawl, or in my case, sliding down. This is the first time, there’s a tube related challenge that has you climbing up.
Now if you have claustrophobia like I do somewhat, you may actually find that it’s not too bad as long as you focus on climbing.
One thing you should also do is avoiding looking up to avoid having the water hit your face of go in your nose, otherwise it can create a drowning sensation. You can practice this when you take showers, by avoiding looking up and if you do for whatever reason, you’ll know what that sensation feels like and be able to avoid panic.
2) Kong:
You have to swing across from one end to another via the type of rings you see people do exercises on in gymnastics. Having failed in this type of challenge when I did the Spartan Super, I can tell you that these things are deceptively slippery and hard to hold onto.
But in Kong, you have to swing across about 5 or 6 of them and they are quite far from one another so when I say swing, I really mean swinging FAR, otherwise you just won’t be able to reach the next one.
The key to this may be to first maintain a STRONG grip and stamina and you practice that through these exercises, but if you can start this obstacle and get a very strong swinging momentum from the start, you will have better chances of finishing it faster and maintaining your stamina throughout each swing, vs missing it, swinging back and then hoping to catch the next ring on the next swing across.
3) Funky Monkey (2017):
Funky Monkey is one of those challenges that gets changed very often. When I did it, you had to climb monkey bars upward, then work your way down through a series of other poles and bars which really tested your grip.
Now in 2017, they’re changing it again and this time, it’ll still start with monkey bars, but at the top, you’ll have to grab a circular ring, turn yourself using your body to get to the next rings. These rings are huge, but the idea is to turn them like wheels until you reach the end of this challenge.
This type of wheel challenge is actually seen commonly on the Savage Race so if you need an idea of what it can look like, that’s a mud run worth looking into.
4) Artic Enema (2017):
Like Funky Monkey, Artic Enema is also one of those challenges that gets changed. Before you used to slide into freezing water. Now you slide into it through the same tubes you used to climb in the Augustus Gloop. These tubes have you slipping downward into the icy water, coming out, and having to go through about 20 feet of it. And there’s a ton of ice there too, so that certainly “helps”.
You will need to practice by taking cold showers and getting used to the freezing sensation.
5) Snot Rocket:
This is supposedly only for “Legionaries” of Tough Mudder, but it is the pre challenge to the Augustus Gloop. It is a look alike of the cage crawl (possibly the harder version, rain man) challenge where you’re submerged everywhere but your head, but here this obstacle leads into the Augustus Gloop.
More challenges than this!?
It’s very likely there’s more than just 5 new challenges on Tough Mudder in 2017, but other than these 4-5 new ones, the rest will most likely be for Legionnaire members. They are usually the ones who pretest the new obstacles that come out before they become available to the regular runners.
Now if you’ve never done this race before, what you need to know is the following:
1) Here is the general obstacle information about it. Despite there being new challenges, they’re just upgrades from certain old ones this race has had. But for the most part, 90% of the usual challenges will be the same in 2017.
2) First time runner through this race? Get prepared for it here. If you’re completely out of shape, start at least 3 months before the race event and if you are active, in shape, you’ll need a few weeks to specifically get your body ready.
3) Remember to wear some protective and danger reducing gear (scratches, injuries, slips, ect…). Here is a list of protective gear I wear on EVERY mud run I do and frankly, I would recommend everyone wear those things.
4) Despite giving you an overall obstacle list, I’d recommend you read about my Tough Mudder experience and the things I learned from it. You may find that it also helps you on yours.
I am planning on doing the night run in 2017 so the next time I post a new update on this race, I just may have to post the pictures and videos in night vision mode 😉
If you are a legionnaire to this race or have gone through all the new challenges in 2017, please share what it was like! I’ll be sure to personally update the obstacles post race.
I personally can’t wait to try each of the new ones and challenge myself with the night race. I can’t imagine how much more difficult it’ll be to do it in the dark, but if you enjoy challenging yourself (like I always do), consider doing the night version as well!
Update: Many of these new obstacles I listed were in a second Tough Mudder I did. But I will say, the ones in this event weren’t as fun as in the first one. I hope they return to previous obstacles in a future race I’ll do.