Illustration by Aron Rook.
Feet pounding on pavement for 13.1 or 26.2 miles may not be for everyone.
For those in central PA who dread the presumed monotony of the traditional race, you may be pleased to hear that the East Shore YMCA has been adding options to its race schedule.
If army crawls and mud slides are your idea of a perfect weekend, you’ll celebrate when you hear that the YMCA’s MudMash is back for a second year with new obstacles, more mud and more memorable moments.
“The race world has changed a lot in the past five years,” said Tom Gifford, the race series director of the East Shore YMCA.
Gifford and his team of volunteers are on a mission to rebuild and rebrand their traditional race series. One of the goals is to make races that the whole family can participate in. The MudMash illustrates this approach—a combination of running, family fun, memorable moments and impact on the local community.
Getting Dirty
The Y’s annual race series actually steps off this month, with another non-traditional event—the Vinewinder, a four-mile run through the grounds of the Vineyard at Hershey. To balance out the universe, a beer-based run, the HopDash 5K, returns later in the year.
And, of course, there are perennial, traditional favorites like the Harrisburg Mile (July), the Harrisburg Half Marathon (which returns to September) and the Harrisburg Marathon (November).
But, this year, Gifford is especially juiced over the MudMash, which is also the only mud race in the immediate area. So, for the first time, mud-loving runners don’t have to travel long distances to get to the event location.
The race—about the length of a 5K—is one of the few of its kind not considered fiercely competitive. The first heat is perfect for MudMashers looking for a little competition, but the overall course is designed to be safe and accessible for many ages and athletic abilities.
Melody Matter and Jenn Chetaitis—dedicated runners turned dedicated MudMash committee members—said that helping to plan the race gave them a new perspective on the logistics necessary to execute a successful event.
The committee’s unique list of tasks included making the mud pit appropriate for the obstacle; making sure there wasn’t a backlog at obstacles; coordinating obstacles to avoid any younger participants feeling scared; and multiple trial runs, just to name a few.
Andrew Hildebrand has been volunteering for the YMCA for three years, dedicating more than 100 hours to prepping for the 2016 MudMash. Many of those hours have been in the woods bringing the committee’s imagination to life through new and revised obstacles. The greatest obstacle the committee had to face? Making the mud.
“The biggest challenge for this race so far has been water,” he said. “Because the race is on the side of a mountain, we can’t bring large water trucks in like most other races that are held in a field.”
The location also makes the MudMash unique. The race is held on land given to the YMCA by long-time donors Daniel and Barbara Witman Rogers. The mountainside woods make it the ideal place to prep and hold the MudMash, said Hildebrand.
“We dreamed up this course that we can put out on property that we own so we could build permanent obstacles that we can just refine every year and make it better,” he said.
What’s better this year compared with last year’s inaugural race?
Matter and Chetaitis mentioned the mud slide (they were so enthused telling me about it that I wanted to register), as well as the general point that participants can expect to be muddier this year than last.
Also, the 2016 event will host a 21-and-over “Happy Hour Heat” on Friday, June 17 at 7 p.m., complete with a build-a-bar truck quenching the thirst of muddy participants with Shock Top. The all-ages race, the “Saturday Scramble,” will be held the next day, June 18, with starts at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Friends, fun, mud, beer, a good cause and a slide. How could you not want to get a little dirty?
The Harrisburg MudMash takes place June 17 and 18. For more information and to register for this and other races, visit www.ymcarun.com.
