FORT GORDON, Ga. (May 16, 2015) - The 8th annual Fort Gordon Marine Mud Challenge held May 16 may not be the tidiest event, but it continues to draw a growing number of fans.
"We had about 6,000 attendees and 2,000 participants, which included 400 to 500 children," said Capt. Dallas Butler, the Fort Gordon U.S. Marine Corps Detachment commander. "It's always a great family event."
It is the largest single-day event on Fort Gordon, according to retired Marine Staff Sgt. Jonathan Cochran. "The money raised goes to the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation to support service members and their families.
Every year the Marines tweak the adult and the children's Mud Challenge courses to keep participants interested and aspired to stretch themselves mentally and physically.
"We like to challenge the participants," said Gunnery Sgt. Joshua Kelley, the project officer for the event.
"The Marines busted their butts to get the course ready this year," Cochran said. "We had to move the course three years ago to a new location on Fort Gordon and everything you see today we had to build from scrap. It took a lot of man hours from the Marines to put this event on."
"In the adult Mud Challenge course we added two new military style obstacles," Cochran said. In obstacle six, referred too as 'Tired yet?' we placed 250 tires. The obstacle is a series of tires you would see at a football training camp. Participants run the center of the tires. It wears you out pretty fast."
The second change in the adult course was in obstacle 8: "Wally World". "It was a series of walls about six foot high," Cochran explained. "There were about four of these walls and you had to climb over the walls, which were placed four feet from each other."
"This year we lowered the monkey bars at obstacle 21 to make the course doable for the participants," he said. "In the children's challenge a four foot wall was moved and a log bridge obstacle was added. Again this year once the children signed in, they could run the course as many times as they like."
One of the participants, Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Fogarty, the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Gordon commanding general, whose team, The Commanding General, finished 14 in the competitive male team category with a time of 1 hour, 25 minutes and 41 seconds, said the event was well organized. "This was my first time participating in it and I found it to be awesome," Fogarty said. The general was joined by Command Sgt. Maj. Travis Cherry, the Cyber CoE command sergeant major; Capt. Isaac Macmillen, the general's aide, and Staff Sgt. Ryan Dawson, the general's driver.
Midway through the morning the winning teams received recognition. In the Competitive Hardcore Team category, Marine Pfc. Joshua Winter-Sasamoto, Pfc. Peter Antunez, Pfc. Tyler Beachy, and Pfc. Ariel Guzman of the team, Marines Lead from the Front, finished the adult Marine Mud Challenge in 53:53 to earn the first place trophy. The Hardcore teams had to wear boots and cargo style pants to compete.
Rainbow Warriors took the second place trophy in the Competitive Hardcore category after completing the course in 1:3. Beast Mode earned third place with a finishing time of 1:12;9.
CC Dudes finished the course with a time of 54:42 and placed first in the competitive male category. Toughmudders took second with a race finish of 55:03; and Gators Haters earned third place with a finish time of 56:26. The Unknowns received fourth place and honorable mention with a finishing time of 57:15.
Pretty Lil' Mudders took first place in the competitive women's category with an overall time of 1:10:56. ETC Fab Four earned second place with a finishing time of 1:11:15 and Fitz Girl placed third with a time of 1:42:39.
Team, Mikey Two Cookie, earned first place with a finishing time of 54:05 in the competitive mixed teams; WUJEK placed second with a time of 1:00:21; and Idiots took third place with an overall time of 1:06;23. Sky's Out Thighs Out received honor able mention for fourth place with a finishing time of 1:11:35.
Retired Marine Joe Anderson of the Marine Corps League, Lt. Col. Jimmie Dyess, Detachment 921 of Augusta, Georgia, recognized the Dirty Little Dog as the most motivated team. They were awarded the Esprit de Corps award.
The Marines will be presenting the overall first place trophy to the Fort Gordon Youth Challenge team, Elite's, at the Youth Challenge Academy on post at a later date.
Every year the Marines honor the first place team winners by placing the teams' names on the six foot Marine wall, which is the last military obstacle in the adult Marine Mud Challenge. This year CC Dudes for the winning competitive male team, Pretty Lil'Mudders for competitive female, Mikey Two Cookie for competitive coed, and Marines Lead From the Front for the Hard Corps team will be added to the list of overall winners.
"We would like to give a big thanks to everyone who came out to our event and we hope to see you all next year," Kelley said. "Keep checking www.Marine-Mud.com for updates for next year's Marine Mud Challenge. All we can say for now is we plan to add more mud and stay tuned for more."
For more race results visit goraceproductions.com.
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