We're at McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast.

For the past several years, you'd be hard pressed to scroll through your Facebook feed

or Instagram feed, especially in the summertime, without seeing some of your friends posting

pictures of themselves at the finish line of a mud run or obstacle course race.

Events like the warrior dash, Spartan race, tough mudder have become well known parts

in the modern recreational scene, and many of you listening have probably done one yourself.

But why exactly have obstacle course races, also known as OCRs, exploded in popularity

in recent times?

And why do millions of affluent suburbanites pay as much as $200 to have their bodies bruised

and banged and sometimes subjected to extreme cold, electrical shocks, and even tear gas?

Well, my guest today has spent the past few years exploring that question, and he's

made a documentary sharing the answers he's uncovered.

His name is Scott Cannellan, and his documentary is called Rise of the Suffer Fest.

And in today's show, Scott and I discuss how the little known origins of obstacle course

racing can be traced to a farming England, how an innerprising businessman turned that

idea into a multi-billion dollar industry, and the cultural forces that have provided

the soil for obstacle course races to grow so rapidly.

We also discuss the criticism, levy dapsical horse racing, and what Scott thinks the future

holds for OCRs.

Really fascinating podcast, if you're a fan of obstacle course races, after the show,

be sure to check out the show notes at aam.is slash suffer fest, for a link to the documentary

on iTunes, as well as other resources to delve deeper into this topic.

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