No “Landslide” nor “Rats Nest” can keep any “hardcore” man or woman from the finish line this fall during the area’s first-ever Hardcore Mudd Run.
Scheduled for Sept. 8-9 at Tussey Mountain, the event is a 6½-mile run with 20 obstacles up and down the mountain, registration director and co-founder Todd Baney said.
“(This event is for) anyone who likes to have fun and have a bit of a challenge,” Baney said. “Our mean average age of registered participants is currently 35 years old.”
The “Landslide” and “Rats Nest” are just two of the many obstacles HMR participants will face. Others include “Sugar Cookie,” “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sandbagger,” and vary from climbing up walls and swimming under tunnels to crawling below fire and swinging from ropes. The “Sandbagger” requires participants to carry 25- to 50-pound bags of sand up a hill.
The “Sugar Cookie” involves crawling through a water pool, and the “Jungle” obstacle requires the completion of a bungee cord maze in utter darkness, according to the event website. Baney estimates the course will take an average of two hours to accomplish.
“HMR events are neither a competition nor a race, but instead about the person next to you,” the event website states. “(It’s about) helping your team and other fellow mud runners through the course. Each event will push a person to his or her limits … with a unique combination of land and water obstacles designed to promote skill building, camaraderie, physical fitness, mental stamina, social communication and interaction.”
“These events make a person find out how much he or she can endure physically and mentally,” the website continues. “Once a person reaches the breaking point, that’s where the event really comes to life.”
Started by area firefighters Gideon Schwartz and Richard Olsen, the event raises money for the Children’s Miracle Network and Umuryango Children’s Network, an orphanage in Rwanda, Baney said.
“I am personally looking forward to handing a check to CMN,” he said. “It will also be really fun to watch as people finish the course and start telling their stories about it. I am really happy to be a part of bringing a mud run to central Pennsylvania.”
Baney said he will be taking on the course with friends, many of whom he hasn’t seen in more than 25 years.
“I am looking forward to (seeing) them all,” he said. “We all went to school together until ninth grade. It will be a nice reunion. I … just want to make sure everyone has fun.”
For those who may be participating in this type of event for the first time, Baney offers this advice: “Have fun, and remember: You are only competing against yourself,” he said. “Let people help you out when you need it.”
After the challenge, awards will be presented in a variety of categories, including “Best Birthday Suit” and “Largest Team Completed.”
According to the website, HMRs also will be held in Jiminy Peak, Mass., this November and next June, with others coming to New Jersey, Ohio and Texas in 2013.
Participants must be at least 18 years of age on the day of the event. Registration is open now, and can be done up until the day of the event; however, the price goes up after June 1, Baney said.
For more information or to register, call (814) 867-5309 or visit www.hardcoremuddrun.com.
