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Back in March a friend convinced me to sign up for Mudderella Boston. It was a hard sell, but I decided to give it a try.
A Mudderella race is a 5-7 mile, muddy obstacle course. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
I’ve been hearing for years about Tough Mudders and this seemed like a simple way to ease myself into a mud race.
I registered, joined a team and trained. My annual triathlon [2] was placed on hold and Mudderella was going to be my big race this year.
The race is scheduled for this Saturday and I won’t be there for a very good reason.
Then the emails from Mudderella started showing up in my inbox. One after another.
Mudderella changed the location of the run 4 times!
I was willing to travel to all the locations until the final email arrived.
Eight days before the run, Mudderella let participants know that the race venue had been changed, yet again, to Westbrook, Maine. This new spot is about 2 hours and 15 minutes from my home. And it’s in Maine, not Boston.
Not quite feasible when you have other life commitments to drop everything and spend an unexpected day in Maine.
What was originally marketed as a Boston Mudderella is now a Maine mud run. Not what I had signed up for.
Mudderella stepped up to the plate and decided to help their loyal runners out by offering the following:
- All parking will be free.
Why was there a parking fee in the first place?
- On-site spectator ticket purchases will be only $10. We normally charge $20 for on-site spectators, but we will continue to honor the online price of $10 for any spectators who want to come to the event.
That’s right-if you’re watching a family member run in the mud you have to pay $10!
And best of all (insert sarcasm):
- You can transfer to a future Mudderella event in 2014 or 2015 for free. If you are really unable to make it to Mudderella Boston this year because of the change in location, you can get a free transfer to any future Mudderella event.
No refunds people! We had no choice but to transfer our $96.00 entry fee to another Mudderella race. Just what I want to do after losing complete confidence in this organization.
I’m not the only one who’s angry [3]. There’s an entire Facebook Page dedicated to this- Mudderella Boston: We Want a Refund.
But from every loss there is a gain.
This weekend I won’t be joining the Mudderella gang in Maine. Instead I will be running a 5k close to home in support of an incredible organization.
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ME STRONG [5]is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting the friends, families and individuals battling cancer. The organization was formed in the fall of 2011 when a group of four friends organized a 5k in honor of their close friend Linda Ryan. The summer of 2011, Linda had just completed her first marathon when a few weeks later she was diagnosed with recurring cervical cancer. Today Linda is healthy and is living with no evidence of cancer. Yay Linda!
How would you handle Mudderella’s poor planning? Would you travel the 2 plus hours to the new venue?
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photo credit: Presidio of Monterey: DLIFLC & USAG [7] via photopin [8] cc [9]