Anyone who thinks of a vigorous workout in the fresh outdoors thinks of Mud Masters, Thousands of participants storming the muddy course, pushing themselves to the limit. Last year, the organisers decided to do something new: Mud Masters Indoor. Founder André Skwortsow tells us more about the event.
The collaboration with Jaarbeurs went well and, in fact, everything to do with the organisation ran like clockwork.André Skwortsow, founder of Mud Masters
Mud Masters – isn’t that supposed to be outdoors in the mud?
“Yes, exactly. Since 2012, we’ve been organising outdoor obstacle courses with plenty of mud, water or ice under the Mud Masters banner. It’s a workout inspired by our background in the Marine Corps, and we’ve made it accessible to a wide audience. At Mud Masters, you tackle an obstacle course of varying distances, based on real military assault courses. We’ve now built up a large community of 50,000 participants.”
But this event was indoors.
“That’s right. Mud Masters Indoor was a pilot to see if we could also cater for our target audience in winter. Normally, the temperature needs to be reasonably decent, because in the depths of winter, you’re not going to lie in an ice bath outdoors. With an indoor event, we can keep our community active and also offer seasonal workouts. As far as I know, this is the first time something like this has been organised indoors in the Netherlands.”
So there was no mud in Jaarbeurs?
'Haha no, this was Mud Masters without mud. We did build a complete course in the hall. Think of a kind of athletics track, with all kinds of parts in the middle. The participants started with a running lap and then walked the obstacle course in the middle. This included swinging on a monkey bar or running up a quarter pipe, for example. So unlike a running race or an outdoor course, here everything stayed very close together.'
Weren't you worried it would be too different from a 'normal' Mud Masters?
'It was definitely a challenge. Because how do you deal with people's expectations? They are used to us setting up Mud Masters literally on a grand scale. Normally it takes place on festival grounds of around 200 hectares. Our keywords there are intensity, heights, cold, water and mud. But we solved that by positioning it as an indoor workout event. Our aim was to offer a cool preparatory workout that you could never do yourself at home. Basically like a kind of monkey cage for adults. Including DJ and cool lighting effects.'
And why did you choose Jaarbeurs and not a sports hall?
'It had several reasons. The team at Jaarbeurs thought along with us from the first meeting. From electricity to waste and from security to first aid. They acted as colleagues, rather than the classic customer and supplier approach. We also thought the image was important. This was our very first indoor event, so you have to exude a bit of credibility, don't you? The Jaarbeurs brand reinforces that.'
And...was the pilot successful?
'Yes, we are happy with how it went. The cooperation with Jaarbeurs went well and actually everything with the organisation ran smoothly. The participating Mud Masters also gave positive reactions.'
Apart from positive feedback, did it yield anything new?
‘We noticed that a number of companies used this event as an opportunity to swap their Friday afternoon drinks for a sporty Friday afternoon. People came in their company shirts to have a workout. We also found it to be a good introductory event. We sometimes come across people who are initially wary of mud. At Jaarbeurs , we were able to put them at ease and make the event more accessible. So we’ve also gained a new target audience.’
