By Slade Thompson
Wow! Once summer event season starts here at Event 360 it seems to fly by so fast. As of mid-July, we’ve already completed four of the eleven MuckFest® MS events, including the three largest of the series. It has been a fantastic kick-off and most importantly a safe one. Here are a few highlights of the season so far.
- Almost 2,000 volunteers
- Nearly 27,500 registered runners (registrations to date for 2016 series)
- A truckload of water and ice
- Millions of laughs
In 2015 we focused a lot of energy and investment on improving the runner’s experience on the course and saw that it made a big impact on how people rated the event in their post event surveys. This year we are focusing on improving the festival area where both participants and spectators get to experience MuckFest MS. While we are making many improvements, the biggest highlight has been the addition of individual changing tents. As far as we can tell, this is the first event in the mud and obstacle world to offer such an amenity and people are loving it! Which goes to show that even the little things can make a big difference.
We’ve also managed to integrate two national series sponsors into the event. It is so fantastic to have groups on board who are as committed to the cause as our participants are and they add so much to everyone’s experience.
Of course every event has its surprises and thankfully we’ve been following our own advice of preparing for the worst and remembering to stay flexible. There was the challenge of doing so many new things at our first event in Boston, stormy weather in Philly, a shortage of water resources in New Jersey (water is pretty critical to getting the muck in MuckFest MS) and some hot weather and higher than typical water tables in Denver. But with a well-trained, experienced team and good contingency plans all surprises can be easily managed. But enough of my ramblings. Here are a few things the most important people (the participants) are saying about MuckFest MS. Good luck on the rest of your event season and we hope to see you at one of the remaining MuckFest MS events if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.
“It was a blast; we had so many laughs. Can’t wait until next year!” – Red C.
“This race had everything I could want in an OCR [obstacle course race]. Everyone was so nice and the event worked flawlessly. I hope MuckFest MS returns in 2017, because I will definitely be there.” – Jeff C.
“One of the most fun days of my life!” – Lissa S.
“Amazing event. Great cause. Super fun.
I do 30+ OCRs a year and your event was one of my favorites!” – Mike N.
Slade Thompson has been with Event 360 for more than 12 years and has played a role in planning and executing more than 100 events ranging from a 5K for a few hundred people to multi-day events for thousands of participants.
