Teams power through 5.2-mile course during Saturday race
{module Mud Run}
An inflatable arch with the Red Bull logo marked the finish line. Racers ran or walked — or limped — under it.
They were greeted by volunteers who handed out oranges, bananas and free samples of flavored peanut butter, with selections like cinnamon raisin and banana nut.
Around 9:15 a.m., Amanda Pollak, a first-year graduate student in public health, stood with her teammates, still about an hour away from their scheduled start time. All four were wearing T-shirts with “Cocky’s Mud Monsters” written across them.
The Mud Monsters were competing in the twice-annual U.S. Marine Corps Ultimate Challenge Mud Run for the fourth time, but Pollak was a last-minute addition to the team, after one of the original members had to attend a wedding. Megan Whitley, the team captain and a 2008 graduate of USC, said Pollak was her first choice for a replacement.
As a first-time runner, Pollak had no idea what lay ahead. But Whitley knew exactly what to expect from the 5.2-mile run and the 36 obstacles she was getting ready to face.
“The ones where you’re actually crawling through mud are fun, because it’s gross and muddy,” Whitley said. “My fiancé is in the army, so it gives me a better appreciation for what he does.”
The Mud Run has become a family affair for Whitley, whose father, sister, cousin and fiancé all competed in the race as well. She said the race is also an annual reunion for her group of friends from USC, who came from as far away as New Jersey to run and then watch USC’s football game against LSU together.
The Greater Columbia Marine Foundation has hosted two Mud Run races each year since 1993 to raise money, awareness and support for the Marines.
More than 1,600 teams of four competed on Saturday, with one group starting every 10 seconds from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.
Teams had a variety of themes and costumes, ranging from serious, such as “Always Remember” in honor of the victims of September 11, to “Vicious and Delicious.” Another ran in suits. Jamal Hamilton, a volunteer, said he saw one team with blond mullets and tutus.
The course’s challenges included a 15-foot wall that each person had to climb, five mud pits and a fireman carry, in which a pair of teammates had to carry the other two for 100 yards. Cari Bailey, who sat near the course with her daughter, said her 16-year-old son Ted lost his shoes in the first mud hole, the race’s fourth obstacle.
As the course stretched to the end, the inflatable arch was a welcome sight for the racers, and volunteers directed them to areas where they could pick up T-shirts and take showers — cold ones for free, hot ones for $10.
More importantly, they said, the sense of accomplishment made the race worthwhile.
“At the finish line, I always feel more exhilarated than anything else,” said Mikas Kuprenas, a fourth-year chemical engineering student. “It’s a feeling of ‘I did this, and I am awesome because of it.’
“You forget about your cramps and your tiredness for a little while.”
But for some racers, like Rachel Maxwell, of Lexington, there were other incentives to finish quickly. She left the course muddy and cold, but she was still happy with her result.
“We were running to beat my sister’s team,” Maxwell said, laughing. “We did.”