Tough Mudder Reveals New Obstacles for 2018
Things are about to get even tougher—and muddier.
On Thursday, Tough Mudder—the 10-12 mile obstacle race designed to "challenge the toughest of the tough"—revealed its new obstacles for the 2018 season of races, challenges the company is calling "the biggest, baddest, most badass obstacles in the industry." For the first time, the race will include "Kong Infinity," a 15-foot structure invented by the winner of the Tough Mudder Obstacle Design Challenge, and "Happy Ending," a 25-foot-tall structure that will serve as the race's finish line.
Kong Infinity, designed by Ross Munro and Jonny McDonald of Glasgow, U.K., is supposed to be one of the most technically challenging obstacles on the course, requiring participants to have both upper body strength and agility as they attempt to climb the 15-foot structure in order reach a barrel with handles that is on a set of tracks suspended more than 20 feet off the ground. Participants must rotate the barrel along the tracks to the other side.
Courtesy of Tough Mudder
Happy Ending will replace Tough Mudder's typical Electroshock Therapy (EST) obstacle, where daring challengers sprinted through dangling electrified wires. Standing at 25-feet tall, more than 80 feet wide and 100 feet long, Happy Ending is the largest obstacle to ever be included in a Tough Mudder event. With the help of other racers, the obstacle requires groups to make a human-pyramid on a slippery surfaced angled at 40 degrees. Once that is completed, a feet-first dive down a 30-foot slide into a pit of water awaits.
Courtesy of Tough Mudder
Don't worry: if you're still looking to participate in a shocking challenge, the new Third Rail obstacle—a bonus electricity challenge featuring more than 10,000 volts hanging from wires on a 30-foot slide into a pit of water—is sure to suffice.
If you're interested in signing up, we advise making a weekend of it and booking a trip to a new place in conjunction with your Tough Mudder event. With more than 150 events in nearly a dozen countries, from the U.S., to the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Africa, and Philippines, expected for 2018, there are many destinations to choose from.
