From a Homemade Backpack to a Rucking Revolution: The Story of GORUCK
It was 2006, and Emily McCarthy was working as a CIA case officer in West Africa.
Her husband, Jason McCarthy, came to visit. His first reaction was, “This is kind of a crazy place. I can’t believe you don’t have a ruck.”
- Jason, a Green Beret with the US Army stationed in the Middle East at the time, decided to make his wife a homemade ruck.
At the time, neither knew this would be the beginning of GORUCK.
Remind Me
Best known for their rucks, weighted vests, and sandbags, GORUCK has been deeply involved in the CrossFit space for years.
- CrossFit athletes were among the early adopters of GORUCK’s rucking events, and GORUCK’s gear has been used in various CrossFit competitions, including the Ruck Run test at the CrossFit Games in 2019 and in the second event of the 2023 Semifinals.
Most notably, GORUCK was the Official Apparel and Footwear Provider of the 2024 CrossFit Games.
The GORUCK Story
As their long-distance relationship began to wear on them, Jason considered leaving the military to join Emily at the CIA.
To keep him busy in the meantime, Emily suggested he get into making bags.
- “And he is always the type who wants to take the hardest path possible and suffer. So he decided he was going to design a bag from scratch,” she said.
Emily added: “Then he spent two years designing the toughest bag that would work in Baghdad and also look good in New York. A bag with a dual life.”
This bag became GORUCK’s signature backpack, the GR1, and was one of the first four products they sold – along with two other bags and a hat – when they founded the company in 2008.
But there was a problem.
- “Nobody wanted to buy them. They were really expensive, almost $300, made in the USA. They were overbuilt, and they came with a lifetime guarantee and all these things. But nobody wanted them,” Emily said.
Jason, though, wasn’t going to give up.
- “He drove around to 48 different states with our dog Java and tried to get people to buy them, and sold a couple, maybe,” she remembered.
After that, Jason decided to pivot a little bit.
At the time, obstacle course races were gaining momentum, so Jason and some of his friends put a bunch of bricks into one of their backpacks to show how tough they were. Then, together, they rucked the first-ever Tough Mudder in Pennsylvania in May 2010.
This created “a little buzz,” Emily said, to the point that Tough Mudder’s CEO asked Jason to start leading various events to get people excited about Tough Mudder.
- “And that’s when the first-ever GORUCK Challenge was born, in September 2010, in San Francisco,” Emily said.
That first challenge had around 20 participants, who were given a GR1 bag filled with weight and went on a rucking tour of the city.
The event was a success, so Jason and Emily hosted a second event in Washington, D.C.
- “It was ‘show up on the street corner at 1 AM, no details forthcoming.’ That’s how it started,” Emily said, laughing.
The concept began to catch on, and by the time they did their third event in New York, 50 people showed up, so the McCarthys split them into two groups.
Sixteen years later, tens of thousands of people have taken part in thousands of challenges GORUCK has hosted around the world. Some have been 50 miles long in places like Normandy; others have included movements beyond rucking, such as push-ups, squats, and swings with the rucks; and others have been short 5-kilometer or 5-mile rucks through a city.
- Furthermore, there are more than 700 rucking clubs — many of them at CrossFit gyms — around the world today to help people prepare for various GORUCK challenges.
As the word spread and their events grew, GORUCK began releasing more and more bags and rucks, eventually adding sandbags and various apparel and shoes. At one point, they found themselves at a crossroads.
- “We went through a time where we were asking ourselves, ‘Are we a gear company or an events company?’” Emily remembered.
Ultimately, they realized, “Guess what, we’re both,” she said.
That said, their gear drives profits. Still, what their events have done for the GORUCK brand, and the greater rucking community, is invaluable, Emily insists.
- “People become very invested in our community from our events. They find new best friends or spouses through us. Because you get to know people when you’re under a ruck, or under a log, to see the sun rise,” she said.
And more than anything, their events have introduced people to the power of rucking, which Emily believes can be transformative for so many.
- “We are all about growing the rucking revolution. We think that rucking is such a great accessible kind of strength training, and more people need to be exposed to it,” she said.
She added: “If you can walk, you can ruck.”
Our Favorite GORUCK Products
All of GORUCK’s gear is backed by a lifetime guarantee, and here are five we recommend.
- Spy Ruck: Designed specifically for women, built with extra-padded shoulder straps, non-toxic weight filling, and scaled for optimal comfort during rucking and workouts.
- Mackall Rucking Shoes: All-terrain workout and rucking shoes featuring an aggressive triple-compound outsole, lightweight knit upper, and a 13mm heel-to-toe offset built for stability under heavy loads.
- Men’s and women’s training shorts: Made from 4-way stretch ToughStretch® fabric, built with a supportive liner and designed to resist pilling or tearing against barbells and rucksacks.
- Achilles Vest: Men’s weighted vest available in 20 lb and 30 lb configurations, filled with specialty-coated steel pellets and built with heavy-duty 420D Robic fabric.
- Training leggings: High-waisted, squat-proof leggings made in the USA with abrasion-resistant ToughFlex fabric, available with or without side pockets.
