Tough Mudder: Now With More Tear Gas!

Tough Mudder is an adventure racing competition with the sole purpose of seeing how much it can torture you before the breaking point, and a new addition to the obstacle course will be no exception.

DNAInfo reports that the competition will be adding tear gas to “its list of torture devices.” If this sounds shocking to those of you who’ve never participated, then you’ll probably want to cover your ears when you notice that it also utilizes electric shocks, a fall through a ring of fire, and a plunge into freezing cold water.

Based in downtown Brooklyn, Tough Mudder employs Nolan Kombol as its lead obstacle designer, so if you participants want to blame anyone for your woes, start there.

Just what is the tear gas obstacle, known as “Cry Baby,” going to be like?

According to one of the early testers, Austin Murray, it’s the “feeling of having Sriracha poured into every one of our tiny cuts and abrasions,” he said in comments to Sports Illustrated.

Tough Mudder has not issued comment on what the exact ingredients of their “tear gas” concoction are, but it sounds utterly unpleasant.

DNAInfo‘s Janet Upadhye says that “Cry Baby” will join “the course’s other tried obstacles like scaling ‘Everest,’ a quarter pipe 15-feet high, running through 10,000 volt electric wires and diving into a tank filled with 34-degree water — making this year’s Tough Mudder course one of the most harrowing since the race was founded in 2010.”

Tough Mudder will directly host more than 50 events in 2015. Not every course will incorporate tear gas, so try to withhold your disappointment when you’re swimming around in sub-zero temperatures.

Kombol is expected to formally announce the tear gas, as well as other additions to the course, on January 13 at 15 MetroTech Center in downtown Brooklyn.

The first event of 2015 is expected to be March 7, 2015, on the Gulf Coast. Hopeful participants can register now, but better hurry. These events sell out pretty quickly.

One other concern you may ought to watch out for if you go — and this is something adventure racing events like Tough Mudder fail to advertise — there have been some cases of bloody diarrhea connected to the event, so it’s best to load up on the Imodium and probiotics before taking off for the finish line.

What do you think about events like Tough Mudder? Have you ever participated in one? Share your experiences in the comments section.

[Image via College Times]