You asked for a scale adventure and that’s exactly what we gave you with Mud, Rocks, and Tears 2018. That’s right, last Saturday 65 people took to the incredibly unique MRT course to challenge not just their trucks, but also themselves. You see, the MRT trail loop was challenging for both people and trucks with its demanding climbs and descents. The course was also covered in mud from the recent rains, thus making everything quite slick. Basically, it had all the makings of a challenging, yet incredibly fun, and rewarding, day.
Right after the driver’s meeting, the competitors at #mrt2018 did a long parade loop through the Crystal City Underground cave. The man-made cave was much warmer at 57 degrees than it was outside at 35. This gave everyone a nice “warm-up” while working their way through the dark cave loop. Both truck and body lighting were good for the cave parade and everyone seemed to love meandering through different dark areas. Later in the cave parade, we came across the giant 150 acre underground lake where people normally come to take indoor pontoon boat rides, along with kayaking.
Once leaving the cave, the actual MRT trail loop began. The loop worked around, and through, the remains of old buildings, most of which had fallen over decades upon decades ago. The ruins of the buildings left a perfect area for trail building. This is where Tim Brown and the crew from The RC Freaks Club came in and put in some serious work. The RC Freaks were the co-presenters of Mud, Rocks, and Tears, and were able to take the unique venue and transform it into a hardcore scale experience. Using the different ledges of the building foundations, the trail looped snaked back and forth, delivering all sorts of unique challenges to the drivers. The loop took between an hour and twenty minutes, up to around two full hours, to complete. The course left many trucks broken, many competitors tired and sore, but at the end of the day, they seemed super stoked for having gotten such an adventure.
After completing the #mrt2018 trial loop, it was time for Bounty Hill. Bounty Hill was a hill climb where if you could make it to the top and ring a bell, you could win a brand new Vaterra Ascender scale crawler. The hill was simply a raked-off hillside, but because of the gnarly natural terrain, it was going to be one heck of a challenge. After it was all said and done, the Bounty Hill took on all challengers and spit them right back down the hill. Bounty Hill – 1, MRT Competitors – 0, but it sounded like a lot of guys will be much more prepared to win a new truck if the event is held again next year.
With the driving done for the day, we then gave away raffle prizes and event awards. The prizes were numerous thanks to the massive support given by all the event sponsors. It was amazing to see all the smiles as the competitors came up to receive tons of cool products from companies like Horizon Hobby, Pro-Line, RC4WD, and Hobby Recreation Products. #mrt2018 also had support from companies like Slinky’s RC, Team Turkey, Mark Twain Hobbies, as well as Anarchy RC.
Everyone here at BigSquidRC would like to thank all of the event sponsors for hooking up the competitors, Derek Wagner from Horizon Hobby for coming down for #mrt2018, and especially Tom from the Crystal City Underground for allowing us to create such an incredible event at his venue. We would also like to thank all the people that put in long hours in preparation for the event, our owner Brian for paying for it all, and most importantly to all the people that drove in to compete. The crew from Chi-Town RC was there in full force. Tons of people drove 5+ hours to make it, heck we know 1 that flew in! There were so many cool people that we met, we can’t name them all, but hopefully we can see you again next year for #mrt2019!
Brian S: Just a quick few words, I’d like to also thank Tim Mohr for staying on top of this event and help make it happen. We have been kicking the idea around for an event like this for years, and Tim was relentless in making sure we didn’t let it fall off the back burner. It wouldn’t of happened without him and all the hard work he put in to finally make it a reality. The weather was against us for sure, but once people were on the main loop and getting physical, it didn’t seem as cold as it was. I’d also like to thank everyone that took the time to help their fellow RC’er. I go to a lot of events, and I was moved to see the way people were helping each other out. Not just with extra batteries on the trail, but literally lending a hand to help get up or down a tougher area of the terrain. Everyone had the back of their fellow rc’er out there, and it brought a smile to my face. Thank you to everyone who came out and to all of our amazing sponsors. Can’t wait to do it all again!
