Rebel Race Maryland/DC

I just participated in the Rebel Race MA and I can’t believe how horrible it was. I have previously run in the Warrior Dash and my expectations were at that level. The course was dangerous. VERY DANGEROUS. There were very few volunteers and many injuries. We actually witnessed one of the obstacles break while a runner was on it. Another runner fell off the rope obstacle, hit her head on a rock below and the obstacle was not closed so runners went over her body. It took 30 minutes to get help and she was finally taken off in a neck brace and body board. We all know that injuries can happen but I feel it is the responsibility of the organization to support the runners!
When on the official Facebook page, many people have posted complaints or documented what they saw. The Site not only deletes these posts, but blocks that person from the site. (I know… because it happened to me).
In short: Dangerous, unorganized, ran out of food and beer, worst tshirt ever and EXPENSIVE. A total rip off!!!
Never Again!

Participated in the Rebel Race on June 24^th in MD and was left unimpressed.
First, the good…
Parking was onsite, so there wasn’t the need to park and then wait in line for a bus like I’ve experienced at other races.
The volunteers were nice and well meaning.
The location was beautiful and I’d love to do a normal trail run there.
It was fun, it just really paled in comparison to other events on enough significant points that I won’t do another race by this company.
Now the rest…
The volunteers were nice, but there weren’t enough of them. Most of the obstacles were under or not staffed at all. The obstacles themselves were a little slapdash and rickety. I’ve no idea if anyone was hurt or not, and you assume a certain amount of risk when you do one of these, but climbing walls shouldn’t wobble when you go over them and there should be spotters in case someone takes a header off one of them.
The course wasn’t the one showed on the website. It was in the same location, but obstacles were moved or just missing. Also… running backwards isn’t an obstacle.
This isn’t a complaint, exactly, but I am fairly sure the course was longer than advertised. We did the 15k and I am fairly sure it was closer to 20k than 15k. A person running with us had a run tracking device and said the «5k course» was about 4.2 miles. I can’t speak with authority on that, but it certainly felt accurate.
Much of the second half of the course couldn’t be run on. It was either a narrow trail that, by 1pm was calf deep mud, or it was down a creek.
There were three water stations on the course, not really enough for 90+ weather. Worse… they ran out of cups at two of them! On our second lap, in 90 degree heat, if you wanted a drink you had to pick through the garbage cups. That’s unforgivable.
Some of the timing chips didn’t seem to work. There have been a number of complaints about this on their facebook page. As I said, we did the 15k and no one who finished over three hours (or, 45 minutes after the winner on the women’s side) got a time. Not even a DQ time. I’ll give you that three hours is a long time to do a 15k (or 20k) but given the heat and the course condition, it didn’t seem outlandish. I know we finished ahead of a good number of 15kers.
The wash-​off station was a disaster. Three or four hoses for a massive amount of people and… once again… no staff. A bunch of racers just got out of the long lines, went to the water trucks and disconnected the hoses at the source. So now you’ve got people who had been waiting in line for 45 minutes forced to get out of line and try and push their way in to the water. Thankfully, we walked up as it happened but a bunch of people who had patiently waited were angry.
As I said, it was fun, but I felt that the amount of fun was in spite of and not because of the organizers.
EDITED TO ADD: The photos were linked to a time stamp, not the bibs. So if you didn’t get your time, there is no way other than sorting through 1000s of pictures to find yourself.

fun race in md… lots of mud and a fun terrain … deff was not sold out as advertised… we only had 20 – 30 people in our 3 pm heat. the toughest part was muddy hills — not the obstacles. some of the obstacles shown on the website were not at the event. i saw lots of blood from the jagged rocks at the bottom of the last pit — the point of the race is to be challenging not dangerous.
camping fees were over priced… i could camp down the road in a clean KOA campround for $ 25 a night vs $ 95.
open up less «heats» to fill others up. THEN add more later.
3 hoses aren’t enough to clean off everyone (long waiting lines). try hosing everyone down in a group with a wide fog stream as other races?
i see lots of people waste water — get smaller cups so you don’t run out. (they had water for us) you’ll see lots of people take a sip and waste the rest. (not the races fault)
not sure i’d run this race again but it was a fun experience
(to add more) i posted something similiar to this post on their facebook page and they deleted it along with my race ID and bib number so i coudln’t get the results from the race. I do know that the timers weren’t accurate since people before and after me had their times mixed up. Since this post, they also blocked me from commenting on facebook

I had posted my review on the Rebel Race’s Facebook page. They not only didn’t address my concerns, the deleted the post, and blocked me from the page. They have no intention of changing their actions.

I also did the Haverhill, MA race and what a nightmare. It was so disorganized and poorly run. I met a lot of people who missed their heat time because they were still trying to pick up their sac. Thank God that the weather wasn’t awful, because the bottlenecks at the obstacles were unreal. I waited ONE HOUR at the rope crossing obstacle. Also, people from teams were cutting in line and it didn’t matter because they only Staff member around claimed he didn’t work there (of course he was wearing a bright red REBEL RACE 2012 STAFF shirt). Some of the obstacles (run backwards, sideways, etc. were not only lame, but easy to miss because there was no staff ANYWHERE. There was no hoses or showers and one small tent for each gender to crowd into and change. My cousins tried to do the 15k version, but it started so late and the obstacle lines were so long, that they couldn’t finish because it got dark and there were no lights. I can’t wait to do another obstacle race, but I will never do this one again!

I just ran the Haverhill, MA race on 11÷10÷12 and wanted to do a review on that specific event, but there is not a Unilocal listing. Also I left a couple of critical, but civil, responses on the Rebel Race’s Facebook wall and they were both deleted within minutes. I’m a member of a peer group of folks running obstacle course races, and several folks also tried to post critical comments and they were deleted and their capacity to leave feedback blocked. Not the sign of an organization which stands by their product.
I’ve done races with Tough Mudder, Spartan, and Ruckus, as well as lots of community road and trail races, and the Rebel Race was without a doubt the worst designed and managed race I’ve ever taken part in. Not only was it a poorly designed course with several «obstacles» being laugable (shuffle sideways? run backwards? roll down a hill? get squirted with a squirtgun by a volunteer hiding behind a tree?), but several of the obstacles were poorly constructed and quite dangerous. The Tryrolean Traverse was 10+ feet over hay bales and rocks, with totally inappropriate grade rope being used. I heard about 3 different significant injuries and witnessed one where a woman fell and had to be put on a board and carried out by EMT’s because they feared serious spinal injury. Several of the obstacles also had terribly long lines as the course was just badly planned out.
The registration, etc, area was equally poorly designed and managed, not enough port-​a-​potties, crazy lines, overwhelmed volunteers, and a confusing and unnecessary ticket system instead of cash. Really just a terrible race and event.
The only good thing I can say about it was that the venue, Kimball Farm in Haverhill, MA was absolutely gorgeous, and if they ever want to run a simple trail 5k or 10k they would definitely have a runner in me. But I will absolutely never do another Rebel Race and will warn others away from this terribly run event.

I entered the race in Maryland (7−7−12) which was at a horse stable and the race was over the horse’s eventing course. The obstacles were really easy and felt unstable.
There was a slip and slide going into a filthy pond (horse manure in it) and it was rough going down. There wasn’t an official to make people wait their turn so this 240 lb guy came down right after and hit me in the back at full force. I temporarily lost use of my right leg and was back boarded at the scene and taken to the ER as they thought I could have paralysis — not so but it was a major injury. They were not equipped with proper 1^st Aid supplies.
Anyways — not one person from Rebel Race came by the injury tent to see if the «paralyzed» runner was OK, just volunteer firemen. I’m upset because my calls and emails to Rebel Race go unanswered — I would like to tell them how I got hurt so it doesn’t happen to someone else. If there were an official to have people wait at the slip and slide I would not have this (still) painful injury and many hospital bills. They really don’t care about their clients at all, once they have your money they will not deliver: not a fun race, not a safe race, not a sanitary race. I was eager to crawl in mud but not horse feces. I was in good shape and understood reasonable risks involved, but this accident was completely preventable. Don’t make the same mistake I did, find a better organization to run with!

I ran the race in Smithville, TX.
This was by far the worst-​organized and –managed race or sporting event that I’ve ever been too. The organizers are going to be very, very lucky if nobody got hurt because they’d be in a world of trouble.
1) Check-​in wasn’t paying attention to waivers. Several people commented about not being asked to sign one. Not good for liability purposes, which was a significant concern…
2) THEY RAN OUT OF WATER. Middle of June in Texas and they had run out of water for sale in the staging area before noon. The main water station that was set up was out of water too. We finally got some at one of the obstacles, but they had clearly just gotten it in and they were already running out. NOT COOL
3) Obstacles were poorly constructed. From the hay bales to the climbing walls, wobbly as all hell.
4) There was broken glass in one of the «ninja turtle» tunnels.
5) There were very few staff members on the trail and none at some of the obstacles, including the aforementioned climbing wall. The big one that would have been dangerous for someone to fall from. The 5-​footers, on the other hand, had 2 – 3 people stationed at them. WTF.
6) I didn’t see any medical personnel stationed on the trail. There was a med tent at the corral, but nobody on the trail. With all the above problems, NOT COOL!
7) They let people go find their own bags at gear check, without checking tags. So anybody could have walked off with somebody else’s stuff. When you’re leaving wallet, keys, and phone at gear check, that’s not a comforting thought.
8) Oh and the food was abysmal.
Update:
I complained about Rebel Race, LLC to the BBB. I rejected all of their responses because they continue to parrot that all of the obstacles advertised were present, obstacles were safe, their was staff at every obstacle, course was well-​marked, water was available, etc. Whether blatant lies or delusion, I don’t know, but this promoter clearly has no interest in running a safe race or owning up to any mistakes.

Okay, first things first. If you’re upset because the participants medal wasn’t fancy enough for you, or that there weren’t pillows on the obstacles or escalators on the hills, you shouldn’t be doing these sorts of races.
The race itself was fine. I did this in 2012, when it was 105°F outside, so no personal records were being set by anyone. Obstacles were challenging and kept it interesting. The risk is part of the race. I didn’t even see anyone fall, let alone get hurt, but I’m sure someone did… people get hurt crossing the street.
The reason for the 2 stars is simple, and I’ll explain because I think Rebel Race has a lot of potential. Lord knows they are web-​savvy — I can barely log into Facebook without seeing a Rebel Race ad. So you got my attention. Good for you.
If I were running Rebel Race, here’s what I’d do different.
1) PARKING. I’ve never had to pay $ 10 to park in a field for a race. Are you kidding me? Are you KIDDING ME? It’s a field, and it’s empty. Right off the bat, you’re messing with my perception of the race. To make matters worse, the money is being collected by pissed-​off looking police officers who are carrying rather prominent firearms on their belts. I’m not talking full uniform officers. These cats were wearing black t-​shirts with Glocks on their hips.
Since the website said nothing about parking fees, I didn’t have $ 10 of me. No problem… the two guys wearing «Rebel Race» T-​Shirts (but who told me they weren’t actually race employees) told me there was an ATM at the gas station five or six miles away… So off I went, and parked for free on a side street 100 yards down the road.
2) WATER. Okay, it was hot today. My car said it was 105°, and that’s not counting the heat index. No one was surprised by this; Maryland is in the midst of a record-​breaking heat wave. So why, in the name of General Lee was I told at more than one water station not to drink too much because this was all there was. And why wasn’t there more water at the finish line? I’ve attended much larger races that cost much less and had all the bottles of water I needed when I crossed that line. And this is a good one: Why, when a pregnant woman, presumably, watching someone race, asked for a glass of water was she refused? You really couldn’t spare a glass for a pregnant woman?
3) SHOWERS. Look, after a race like this, everyone is going to me muddy. I realize you can’t control everyone, but I spent more time waiting in line for a hose than I did running the freaking race. You either need more water, or you need a better system of crowd control. While I waited, I saw people who took 10 – 15 minutes to get every omicron of dirt out of every crevice of their bodies.
Toward the end, a staffer came by to hint that people shouldn’t take too long because they were running out of water (see #2). WHAAA?
Look, a good race. I have a great time while I was running. But the experience was ruined by stupid, STUPID decisions that were made long before the first runner hit the track.
Maybe the point of this race is to milk every penny from a runner and then never expect them to come back. If so, congrats. But if you actually want this race to be something people do more than once… you’ve got to do better.

Smithville TX
First let me say DO NOT run with this promoter. Your safety and enjoyment will be at risk. There are much better organizations. I don’t often write reviews but I feel it was my duty to put this out there… I will just list the things of utter FAILURE!
There were only a HANDFUL of real obstacles. Some of the Obstacles were just small uphill down hills on the trail run portion that had two pieces of wood laying at the bottom of them.
Trail wasn’t clearly marked, people were getting lost and a friend of mine missed half the race because he was turned around in the wrong spot
Safety was a JOKE! I saw hardly any safety staff, no medical stations, only one maybe two check points with no radios no water no first aid kits. The worst part was they had kids to include my daughter and her friend running the race good thing my little one can out run me and I didn’t ever need help.
Water JOKE… the had TWO Gatorade coolers (the kind the football players dump on the coach) and a half filled reusable water cooler bottle at the first check point (no one manning it) that were almost empty and then NO water the rest of the run.
Banana’s only at the end and I swear to god they were GREEN, not slightly unripe I mean not even CLOSE to edible
Check in was an utter mess, they had lines by names BUT were too dense to put the letters up on the tent where you could see them only on tables hanging. They were so frantic they barely looked over your form and never even check my ID.
The «medal» was cheaper than a prize you would get at the dollar tree for a kids birthday party.
Last the cost… so I booked this out MONTHS ago for 50.00 bucks. Not but two weeks before the race they have a living Social offer for 42.00, I emailed them about it and got ZERO response.
Take my word on it this is NOT something worth spending your money on or risking your health or safety for.

I ran the race in Smithville, TX
This was the worst race I’ve ever seen… I’ve seen races with less than 50 people running that at least had a water station with water and had better medals… When we tried to notify the staff that the water station had no water they said they had no radios! What would happen if someone seriously got hurt? How long would it have taken for someone to go get help?! It was the 10:30 wave and already mid 80’s with no water. I was sad that I brought my friend out to try a obstacle race and his first one was this one. I will never do another one from these people. The Warrior Dash was 10 times better.

Let me start this review by comparing the racing experience to Warrior Dash, NY.
Warrior Dash: Rebel Race:
Race Location: At a Ski Resort running across farms (literally)
Race Supervision: At every obstacles scare to none
Race markers: clear and precise spray on arrows (or no marker)
Obstacles: well maintained home made
Medals: well made and engraved worth 5 cents
This was literally the worse experience I’ve had in running these obstacle course races.
I ran the 15k and from the start of the race, i knew it was not what i had expected. We ran across farms, over crops, literally. The air was so foul that it was hard to breathe the entire race. The obstacles we encountered looked homemade.
For example, the mud pit crawl, was literally a patch of area, where someone was holding a hose to the ground so that a «mud pit» was made. There were sharp rocks in the mud and they expect you to crawl with your hands and knees.
Another example, the jumping over flames part, was home made with BBQ logs lit by a torch. with the stock materials clearly visible next to the obstacle. Are you serious?
The race markers were scare or none existent. Half way through the course, the markers disappeared at a fork in the road. One way lead to ticks and thick shrubs, the other way led you into an unmarked area with mud and a ditch…
This is by no means to run a race. someone could’ve seriously injured and they would not know.
I am surprised as to why there is no review of this business. I will not recommend this to anyone in the future and do yourself a favor and do warrior dash or tough mudder.