Red Bull’s endurance-testing “toughest mile” returns to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Saturday.
The Red Bull Quicksand race is back for a third year, and the course will be laid out near the 3rd St. entrance in similar fashion to previous years. Race officials expect as many as 250 competitors participating — a more than 50% increase compared to last year.
Some big names in the running world are expected to compete, including Red Bull ultramarathon athlete David Kilgore, who won the 2023 World Marathon Challenge: winning seven marathons on seven different continents over the span of seven days. But many of the competitors will be local military service members or enthusiasts from run clubs, such as North End Run Club.
Barry Clark, North End Run Club’s founder, said there will be as many as 100 members competing in the family-friendly event, with a handful of runners making the podium the previous two years.
“I’m actually bringing my 6-year-old son out, and he’s been really, really excited to do something different,” Clark said. “I’m going to be running it with him. I’ll be seeing a lot of families out there too — given certain people’s fitness and if they want to get pushed and run this type of terrain, it’s really open to all ages and in all athletic abilities.”
Running on sand can be twice as difficult as running on the road, and the half-mile course is filled with obstacles, such as climbing mounds and rolling bumps, which competitors will run through twice per heat.
“We anticipate there’s probably going to be some flooding out of the course as well, so there’ll probably be water features,” said Ethan Forrest, a spokesperson for Red Bull Media House.
Forrest added that this year’s competition will have a twist, with the addition of the GORUCK Division, in which runners can wear a vest that sports a 30-pound plate, raising the difficulty factor.
“To add a challenge to running on the beach, which is already challenging, we are adding the weighted vest division for some of our participants,” Forrest said. “We really wanted to play into the rucking community and at an additional challenge.”
Red Bull Quicksand races have been held around the world, from South Africa to Egypt to the U.S., and a run was held at San Diego’s Oceanside Harbor Beach just two weeks ago.
Clark said that the Quicksand race is the second Red Bull event his running group, which meets for regular runs throughout the city on Tuesday nights and Friday mornings, has participated in this year.
The challenge of running in the sand and over the features and competition among friends excites members, he said.
“It’ll be a lot of grit and courage,” Clark said, “watching people truly push themselves and others throughout the course to get it done. It’s 1 mile full sand and it’s really just show up and give it all you’ve got.
“Sand is uneven terrain to begin with — you throw some of those obstacles on top of it, and it’s definitely a challenging kind of nontraditional course that I think really lures people in.”
Red Bull Quicksand
Saturday at 3rd Street Beach, Virginia Beach Oceanfront
Race check-in: 8-9:45 a.m.
Race briefing: 9:45 a.m.
Solo Division heats: 10-11 a.m.
GORUCK Division heats: 11-11:30 a.m.
Last Chance Qualifier heat: 11:30-11:45 a.m.
Finals and awards: noon.
For more information or to register, go to https://www.redbull.com/us-en/events/red-bull-quicksand/.
For more information about North End Run Club, go to https://www.facebook.com/northendrunclub/ or https://www.instagram.com/northendrunclub/.
