Mud mayhem inspire runners
It’s a different kind of person who pays for the privilege of squirming through cold mud under electrified barbed wire, swimming through icy water and running through flaming bales of straw.
But that’s par for the course in the world of adventure racing, an increasingly popular form of marathon-plus-masochism that’s become catnip to bored runners and other athletic thrill seekers.
“The culture’s changed,” said Peter Claussen, former treasurer of the Prairie Striders Running Club in Brookings. “It used to be, if you look at runners from years ago, you ran to be fast. Now people are more into participating with running. You’re seeing some change in the culture toward general fitness.”
Barbed wire and fire-jumping are a common theme in adventure runs. Most end with a celebratory free beer (because, hey, they earned it). Part of the allure, contestants say, is being thrown into a pseudo-primal environment in which success depends on group cooperation and character is built through adversity.
One of the more popular events is the Tough Mudder, a 10- to 12-mile course with obstacles designed by British Special Forces.
Other races feature obstacles more intense and diabolical – machine-gunners firing blanks overhead, paddle beatings by helmeted warriors, labyrinths – but the Tough Mudder seems to have hit that sweet spot between a boring old half-marathon and downright crazy.
Several people from Sioux Falls participated in the Tough Mudder race the weekend of May 20 in Somerset, Wis.
Among other things, they were required to crawl through tunnels of frigid mud, sprint through a curtain of live wires and negotiate a series of slippery mud dikes.
“Running marathons is fun, but it’s more that you’re running for time and you’re by yourself,” said Steve Sundet, 51, who ran the race with two children, his soon-to-be son-in-law and 11 friends. “With the Tough Mudder, you’re part of a team.”
He remembers swallowing muddy water while slithering under a low roof of barbed wire littered with live wires, people around him screaming in pain from the electric shocks.
