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The Crusher 2023

CrusherMS 23’ is in the books, but you have a lot of time left to keep crushing it. CrusherEX is open until 9.30.2023. If you thought the MS courses were FUn – check out the EX stuff. Trick a friend into joining you, get registered, and get out there. EX takes things to the next level. More elevation, more remote, more gnar, and you’re on your own unless you take someone with ya. It’s the natural progression for all Crushers.

Parting thoughts… Otter Lake Campground is a great venue for our Mass Start, and Ellen and Nick have welcomed us with open arms. Ellen told me it’s her favorite weekend of the summer now. I hope you enjoy it too. We fit more people in there this year and you really couldn’t feel it. The event was also larger than last year but it still felt very grassroots and low-key, aside from the Metallica, of course.

When we were lining up the MS40 I could not help but notice how many kids were lining up – there were a lot. I saw a lot of kids lining up for the MS100 too. Later in the weekend, someone mentioned there was a wait and a line at the women’s restroom Saturday morning, and she thanked me because she said “There’s never enough women at an event to create a line.” For reference, 31% of the registered Crushers this year are women. I hope we continue to see the numbers grow, all of them: Men, women, and children. Out of all those kids that lined up last weekend – every single one of them finished, and we saw a low DNF rate overall from all categories.. I think y’all are training better and showing up more prepared.

A big thank you goes out to our volunteers. Not only do they stay up all day and night to help run the event, but this year they tackled a food tent, and it kicked ass. On top of that, it didn’t matter when I saw them; they were smiling. It’s an amazing crew. Their dedication to the organization, event, and community is incredible. Hats off to ya, Crusher volunteers.

I hope you enjoyed the courses – I know I did. They were the perfect blend of fun, FUn, and mud. I hope you went home feeling accomplished because those courses were tough, and they should be; it’s the damn Crusher. You can go just about anywhere for hours of head-down gravel grinding. I wanna keep things interesting… and I think the courses this year delivered.

Lastly… I just want to remind ya that when you adventure with us you are supporting a nonprofit dedicated to empowering people to discover the best version of themselves through outdoor adventure. Your donations and race fees support us in a big way. We have youth programs in ten communities around the Midwest – thanks in part to you and every person who has raced with us since 2015. If everything goes to plan the events will continue to be successful and we will continue to develop more Adventure Teams across the country. I’ve been doing this almost ten years and I can tell you… what we do is more important now than when we started.

Crush on,