We trust all of you are excited and ready to be a part in our largest gathering of F3 men. When F3 Nation descends upon the Leatherneck this Saturday, we will definitely turn some heads and draw a lot of attention. There are a few logistical changes, so this PreBlast is an attempt to provide sufficient detail so things run smoothly. A schedule of events and the F3 Starting Order are included at the bottom.
ARRIVAL**: You should plan to arrive at The Leatherneck by 7:00am. You do not want to be late. Running from the parking lot to make your start time will make for a miserable day. The Physical Address of the Leatherneck is 1215 Valley Ridge Rd., Gaston, SC 29053. Directions are below:
**(FOR SITUATION AWARENESS THERE WILL BE CONSTRUCTION ON 1-26 AND EXIT 125 WILL BE SHUT DOWN AT 7AM).
THE TENT: This year, the F3 tent will be right next to the starting line. You won’t be able to miss it, because we have the biggest, baddest tent on site. It will also be well marked with flags and banners, and will serve as our central meeting point.
Bag Check: There is a bag check for normal registered runners. This location will be chaos. Plan to check you bag into the F3 tent. We will have several volunteers that will be staying at the tent and I’ve heard that F3 Nation brothers are pretty damned trustworthy!
SHOVEL FLAGS: Please bring EVERY shovel flag in your Region and plant them at the tent upon arrival. This is always a significant gathering, and the flags will make a statement.
THE MUD RUN WAIVER: Bring the COMPLETED mud run waiver form with you (ONE PER TEAM IS REQUIRED TO BE COMPELTED).TEAM CAPTAINS are responsible for your team’s waiver (we will print some extras to be available at the F3 tent). Print the waiver here:
REGISTRATION: Don’t go register until your ENTIRE team is Assembled. You register at the registration tent (NOT THE F3 TENT). Give them your waiver and get your race bibs and get marked up with your numbers. Team Captains will get the team’s timing chip. You will be free to come back to the F3 tent after you register. T-shirts can be picked up (as a completed team) at the F3 tent.
THE START: Teams start every 15 seconds. This is it. Do well.
THE COURSE: The course layout is the same this year. Watch Twitter (@F3MudRun) for any course recon updates prior to the race. There should be actual Marines monitoring obstacles (rather than JRROTC volunteers). The Marines are much more strict when it comes to attempting/completing each obstacle or taking penalties. With 108 teams, odds are very high that one of us will piss off a Marine with a hard-on to bust somebody. Don’t let it be you.
Fountainhead’s “Wiki-Mud” provides strategy tips and information about specific obstacles and is recommended reading: http://f3nation.com/2014/03/16/the-wiki-mud/
Purple Crayon’s “How To Beat the Mud Run Obstacles” is also excellent (Note: order of obstacles has changed): http://f3nation.com/2013/10/08/how-to-beat-the-mud-run-obstacles/
THE FINISH: You must cross the finish line with your entire team. In our meetings with the Mud Run reps, they specifically mentioned this rule. Team Captains with the timing chip must finish with your three teammates and ONLY your three teammates.
AFTER THE RACE: When you are off the course, the mud run will have fruit, water, etc. for you. You can also hang around the finish line to welcome your buddies as they finish. At some point, you will want to make your way toward the “showers” (which are hardly more than a glorified garden hose) for a rinse off. Don’t think for a minute you’re gonna get all the mud off you. That will take weeks. After you clean up a bit, make your way back to the F3 Tent for 2ndF (AND ENJOY THE BEER BOAT!!!) We will have this stocked for you and remember that GLASS BOTTLES AND PERSONAL COOLERS ARE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE THE GROUNDS.
OPERATION ENDURING WARRIOR DONATION: Operation Enduring Warrior is an organization that supports disabled veterans through training and competing in obstacle races. You may have seen photos of the OEW guys wearing gas masks during the mud run. Their web site is here: http://www.enduringwarrior.org/
F3 Nation will again support their efforts this year with a financial donation and moral support. You may remember having the option to make a donation to OEW when you signed up on the F3 Mud Run website. We raised about $1700 that way. On the morning of the race, we will “pass the hat” again for anyone who would like to donate to OEW and increase our check size. There will be a donation bucket (very well marked) at the tent. We will also have a F3 volunteer walking around with a bucket. Think about it – if all 420 of us gave just $5, we’d add $2100.
OEW CHECK PRESENTATION: At approximately 7:45am F3 (Fountainhead and Napalm) will present our check donation to OEW. Logistics are still being finalized regarding exactly where that exchange will take place, but we only have about a five minute window before OEW hits the starting line, and we don’t want to back up the rest of the starters. We’ll annouce this when it’s time.
PHOTOS: At approximately 11:00AM, we will take our group picture (please be at our tent at 11:00AM for this). This should not take but a few minutes. We will also have several photographers on the course.
BUSTED PAW: The awarding of the Busted Paw will take place immediately following photos. It better be a team from F3 that wins this and not a pack if FIA gals……
Tenative Schedule of Events:
- 7:00 Arrive at F3 Tent.
- 7:15 Plant your Shovel Flags.
- 7:00-7:30 OEW Donation/Collections.
- 7:30-8:00 Race Prep, Check-in, Registration, Numbering (Full Team must register together).
- 7:35-8:05 Pick-up T-shirt at F3 Tent.
- 7:45-8:00 Check Presentation to OEW by Fountainhead and Napalm (Depends when OEW starts race).
- 8:00-8:15 BOM by Dredd (immediately after we do Check Presentation to OEW).
- 8:45-9:12 All F3 teams Start Race.
- 9:45-10:45 F3 Teams Finish (Go shower and then head to F3 Tent for 2nd F).
- 10:50 Busted Paw Trophy Presentation
- 11:00 Final F3 Group Photo.
THE STARTING ORDER:
Since this run’s inception, we have received countless communications regarding starting times. You name it, we’ve heard opinions from every region. After carefully weighing all the information, the overwhelming consensus was that most of the regions wanted the chance to compete for The Busted Paw against each other’s best competition and on a level playing field. It also became apparent that any solution we offered was going to piss somebody off. This year we have a LOT more regions running for the first time (and not all necessarily consider themselves in the running to take home the trophy).
The defending champion South Beach is not registed to defend there team title so ALL F3 teams are together with nobody between us. Each Regional Q ranked each of the teams from their region.
When all teams were blended together for ranking, we considered three primary factors:
- Evaluated past team performance, with a bit of priority consideration given to the top 8 finishing times.
- Gave a bit of priority consideration to the total number of teams participating from each region.
- Created a weighted team average based on total “points” per runner on the team. Remember when you registed and you had to select a goal for the MudRun? Yep, that’s what we used. This was mostly to use as a tiebreaker where needed.
Basically each region has an equitable starting position to compete for The Paw. Any arguments and speculation should be finally decided in the arena.
While this might not be the best way, its how it was done, and it all should work out just fine.
SO The best part about this is IF you don’t like where your team is, Here are the things you can blame instead of ganging up on YHC:
- Blame your Regional Q for giving you a Regional Seed than you think should have been better.
- Blame your Region for not bringing more Pax to the dance.
- Blame Yourself for not paying attention when you registered (by selecting “Simply Survive the Leatherneck” if you really meant to select “Serious Contender For the Busted Paw”).
With that said HERE are the Starting Times (and remember if you are part of F3 then every last one of you has a “priority starting time”)!
UPDATED TO PDF BELOW:
Below is the Individual Registed Runner List (with the Teams they belong to):
F3 Nation Individuals per team
PDF Version-Individuals per team
Blood Clots…Bones Heal…Sweat Dries…Pride is FOREVER!