The SUCK Scholarship

The SUCK Scholarship

One athlete. Full entry to The SUCK. Joe Decker's personal coaching. The complete Dr. Doug's recovery kit. We're covering the whole thing.

15th Anniversary · Apply by June 1
Apply Now → Applications close Monday, June 1, 2026 at 11:59 PM CT.
The Scholarship

What this is

Mud. Sandbags. An axe. A shotgun. Hay bales. 36 hours. No sleep. The Decker Farm in rural Illinois telling you everything you came in believing about yourself was wrong. That's The Ultimate SUCK. Joe Decker built it 15 years ago — and people keep coming back, year after year, because something about this event breaks you down and rebuilds you stronger than you came in.

Joe was named the World's Fittest Man in 2000. Guinness World Record holder. Army veteran. He grew up on the same farm The SUCK is held on. He could have built any endurance event in the world. He built this one for the reason he says in his own words:

"Having grown up on a farm, having served in the military, having been a pretty accomplished ultra endurance athlete — it's an opportunity for me to share the things in life that help make me the human being that I am today."— Joe Decker

Dr. Doug Strobel is a board-certified neurologist. A former Marine. An endurance athlete who has finished the Ultimate SUCK three times — the full 36-hour version. He doesn't just sponsor this event. He's lived it. He knows what mile 18 in the dark feels like. What the cold at 3 AM does to your decision-making. What the bonfire feels like when you've earned a seat next to it.

That's why we built this scholarship. There are people out there who would show up at the farm, work, hurt, and come out the other side different — but they can't write themselves a check for the entry, the coaching, and the gear. So we're writing one of those checks. One athlete gets the full experience.

Every year, Joe gives participants a quote to memorize halfway through and recite when they cross the finish line. One year's was: "Tough times never last. Tough people do." We want one more person to find out what that feels like to live.

The Package

What you get

1

Full Entry

To The SUCK 2026 — your choice of 12 or 36 hours. Sept 4–6, 2026 at the Decker Farm.

2

Personal Coaching

From Joe Decker, selection day through the start line. Video check-ins, programming, the same attention his paying athletes get.

3

The Recovery Kit

Three balms built for exactly the things hard events do to a body — blisters, chafing, cramps at 2 AM, the wreckage at the finish. Dr. Doug formulated them for events like this. He was grateful to have them when he ran The SUCK three times.

4

Your Story, Told Right

Guided content briefs at each milestone. Your face, your voice, your truth — never scripted.

The Three Balms — and what each one does for you out there

Neurologist-formulated by Dr. Doug for events exactly like this one. He was grateful to have them when he ran The Ultimate SUCK three times himself.

Organic ingredients. No toxins. No fillers. Just what your body is meant to have when it's asking for support.

Original Miracle Balm

For blisters and chafing before they start. Goes on under your pack, between your toes, anywhere skin meets gear. Seven organic ingredients. Creates a protective barrier that holds up through mud, water, and 36 hours of grinding. The product Dr. Doug made for himself after his first 50K — because he was tired of carrying five different ones.

Magnesium Balm

For the cramp that gets you at 2 AM, mile 22, no sleep in sight. Goes right on the muscle. Magnesium chloride plus the same seven organic ingredients in the Original. Soothes the muscle from the outside in so you can keep moving.

Recovery Balm

Arnica — nature's Motrin — plus magnesium chloride, plus the seven organics. The one you reach for when you're sitting down for the first time in 36 hours, looking at what your body just did. Comforts the soreness so you can do it again.

The Filter

Who we're looking for

Real athletes. Not influencers.

Someone who has never set foot on the Decker Farm. Never done The SUCK. We want this to be their first time — the experience they tell stories about for the rest of their life.

Someone who already trains four or five days a week. Has a real reason they want to do this. And genuinely can't write the check for an entry, a coach, and a kit on their own.

Someone willing to document the journey honestly. Not perfectly.

We're looking for the person already grinding before sunrise. Alone. The one whose WHY is real.

"I really want to do this. I just can't afford it on my own right now."

If that sentence has gone through your head — this scholarship is exactly what we built for you. Apply.

Apply Now →
The Event

What you'd be training for

Footage from The SUCK at the Decker Farm. · Watch on YouTube

12 or 36 hours of mud, obstacles, and limits at the Decker Farm in Cuba, Illinois. Mid-Western farm chores meets military boot camp meets strongman training. You may want to get familiar with shooting a shotgun, bailing hay, chopping wood, climbing a rope, and carrying all kinds of heavy stuff.

Required gear includes a ruck sack, sandbags (50 lb for men, 35 lb for women), 5-gallon buckets, a splitting axe, a headlamp, a life jacket, an emergency blanket, and a green reflective vest. For the 36-hour, also: a military duffle bag filled with half your body weight.

You are NOT allowed to sleep once the event begins.

When it's over: a bonfire, breakfast, and a great time. You'll have done something most people never will.

"Conan the Barbarian meets Full Metal Jacket with a dash of Deliverance."— Joe Decker, founder of The SUCK
The Application

How to apply

The application takes about 20 minutes. We ask 23 questions across three sections — about you, about your relationship to The SUCK, and about the partnership. We're looking for honest answers, not polished ones.

Applications close Monday, June 1 at 11:59 PM CT. We read every single one personally.

Every applicant hears back by Sunday, June 7 — whether or not you're selected. If you're not selected, you'll still get a discount on the entry fee from Gut Check Fitness AND a discount on the full Dr. Doug's recovery kit. Because if you applied to do this, we want to help you get there anyway.

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