Tough Mudder told to take a hike after backlash stemming from Silver Lake event

WOODBRIDGE — Tough Mudder’s first event at Silver Lake Park in Prince William County may have been its last.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland asked county staff to explore what it would take to issue a land easement to prevent future athletic events like the Tough Mudder event that occurred two weeks ago.

Should the easement be enacted, instead of events that draw thousands of people to the park, activities at Silver Lake would be limited to walking and hiking. The park would then be akin to the protected Crows Nest Natural Preserve in Stafford County.

The Tough Mudder organization has an agreement with Prince William County to hold its “Tough Mudder Classic” event at the park for the next five years. The pop-up fitness event features a 10-mile run with obstacle courses in a party-like atmosphere, according to the organization’s website.

The first and only “Tough Mudder Classic” event to be held at Silver Lake Park near Haymarket was held June 1 and 2 and attracted 9,400 people to the region, according to Prince William County Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Director Seth Handler Voss. Attracting Tough Mudder to the county is part of the county’s effort to increase tourism to the region, he added.

The event generated $1.25 million in sales for local businesses, $10,894 in local sales taxes, and nearly $15,000 for hotel taxes in the county, Handler Voss estimates.

“If the facts and figures show that this [event] had a positive economic impact, we should continue the relationship…” said Prince William Chamber of Commerce Director of Government Relations Ross Snare told the County Board of Supervisors.

Others who participated in the event also said they appreciated having the Tough Mudder in their own backyard. Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland, who participated in the event with his daughter, He called the event “uplifting,” and one that provides people with a “great sense of accomplishment.”

But his praise for Tough Mudder stopped there. When Handler Voss warned Board of Supervisors that the Tough Mudder organization needs to know by the end of this month whether or not it will be welcomed back to Silver Lake, Candland said: “Tell them to prepare to find another location.”

Candland took issue with the more than 1,200 square feet of the 230-acre park that was excavated to install the obstacle course for the event. “It’s going to take months to get it back to the way it looked before the event only to turn around and tear it up again,” Candland added.

He asked Handler Voss to work with the Tough Mudder organization to find another public or private park in the county to host its event next year. Handler Voss said there may not be another suitable site, and added the organization enjoyed being at Silver Lake.

Silver Lake was proffered to Prince William County by a land developer in 2006. It opened as a public park three years later.

Photo: Seth Handler Voss addresses the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.