Healdsburg Resident Seeks Donations for Obstacle Race Documentary

A Healdsburg resident is hoping to make a documentary about the rising popularity of obstacle course races like Tough Mudder, Spartan Race and others, but first he needs a little help.

Scott Keneally launched a Kickstarter campaign Tuesday, hoping to raise $297,000 to fund the production of "Rise of the Sufferfests." If he doesn't reach that goal by Dec. 8, he gets nothing and all contributions to the crowd-funding website are refunded.

On the website for his Kickstarter campaign, he says he wants to explore why people pay good money to trudge through mud, be electrocuted and climb over barbed wire.

"There are many interesting possibilities: narcissism, loneliness, media saturation, outsourcing of manual labor, and so on," Keneally writes. "To help drill down to the root of it all, I'm assembling a dream team of experts, athletes, insiders and everyday people. And while I certainly don't presume this journey will lead to a single answer, I believe the [obstacle course racing] phenomenon holds a mirror to life in the digital era... and that this discourse is important."

If funded, his documentary will require cross-country and international travel, as well as extensive post-production and visual effects, Keneally says. He writes that he hopes to "make the kind of incisive, definitive documentary that this community has earned for all their blood, sweat and tears."

More information is available on the site for his Kickstarter campaign.

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