Third Annual Mudtastic A Dirty, Good Time
SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Parks and Recreation Department held its annual Mudtastic Classic Saturday, and participants of all ages turned out to have some good, clean fun — while getting dirty, of course.
The event has grown each year, and the third annual iteration pulled in roughly 175 participants from ages 7 and up to the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation Education Center.
“It’s grown a little bit every year, and the community seems to be responding pretty well to it,” said Syracuse Parks and Rec Program Director Tyler McLead.
“I think it went well. People seemed to have a good time. Got a lot of compliments, a lot of positive feedback.”
Unlike some mud runs, the Mudtastic is an untimed event, and, instead of prizes for race winners, awards were given out for best team costumes. The Youth Team Costume Award went to Hunter Horan, A.J. Rotkis and Trenton Plummer for their nautical-themed life jacket and Hawaiian Lei costumes, while the Super Muddy Heroes team of Belen Cervantes, Catherine Clark, Ellen Slain and Michelle Frost won Best Adult Team Costume for their superhero-themed getups. The youth winners received a gift card to Wawasee Bowl, while the adult winners were given a Pizza Hut gift card.
The colorful costumes and the untimed nature of the Mudtastic makes for a laid-back atmosphere, and that’s the very quality that attracted many participants Saturday.
“We’ve done a couple out of the Chicago area, and we wanted to do a more family-oriented one that was closer. We’ve got the kids out here with us today,” explained New Paris resident Holly Denton of Team Jenkins.
“We’ve got grandpa out here, dad and the kids, and we’ve got neighbors out here as well.”
“Three generations of good times,” added Team Jenkins teammate Adam Jenkins.
The Mudtastic course was divided into two routes — a mile-long children’s course and an extended 2.25-mile adult course. Both featured numerous obstacles, including pits, trenches and tunnels. The extended course included a crawl-through tunnel with a bubble machine attached, and there was an inflatable slide just outside the finish line for children and adults alike. Members of the Syracuse-Turkey Creek Fire Department waited outside the finish line to hose down muddy runners on request.
“This is my first time doing a mud run, and it’s a really great experience,” said young Munster resident Daniella Nahnsen.
“There’s a slide, and you go straight into mud. And then there’s a bubble machine; that was really fun, too.”
For Daniella’s older sister, Alyssa, Saturday’s romp in the mud was a dual celebration: The day after her 15th birthday, the third annual Mudtastic also marked the one-year anniversary of a back surgery for scoliosis. Along with the Nahsen sisters, Alyssa’s friend and Munster High School track teammate Samantha Buffano also showed up to run.
“I had my surgery June 24 of last year, so this is kind of like my first year anniversary. Sam has been my big supporter through all this; she visited me in the hospital. We started running track together, and we just wanted to come out and do this, have a good time,” explained Alyssa.
“Getting dirty, who wouldn’t want that as their present?”
Entry for the Mudtastic Classic was $20 per adult, ages 15 and up and $10 per child, ages 7-14. Proceeds go to the Syracuse Parks and Recreation Department, but the department’s maintenance crew more than earned their keep: The course represented roughly two weeks of work by the crew to get the grounds at the WACF ready.
“We dig a few pits in certain areas of the course, and they truck the dirt from those pits over to a few of the mud pits we build,” said McLead. “There are also some obstacles they build where you climb over, crawl through. They’re out here for the better part of two weeks getting it done.”
Sports writer James Costello ran in Saturday’s event and filmed the experience on a GoPro camera. Here’s the footage: