Tough Mudder brings wackiness to Wintergreen

WINTERGREEN — Tourists were enjoying the panoramic views from the Wintergreen overlook as they normally do, but a massive pillar of smoke and the faint yells of the “mudders” running, splashing, sliding and falling over the bare slopes below made it clear that on Saturday, the mountain was a little less tranquil than usual.

About 9,000 madmen and madwomen from Virginia and across the Mid-Atlantic converged on the Blue Ridge resort this weekend for the Tough Mudder, a 10-mile obstacle course billed as “Probably the toughest event on the planet.” Organizers estimated 4,000 to 5,000 spectators would turn out Saturday and today to cheer on their friends and family members, or if necessary, pick them up from the medical tent.

The course features 27 obstacles designed to test the mudders’ ability to climb walls and cargo nets, crawl through pipes and mud, carry heavy objects and endure heat, cold and electric shocks.

Mudders — dressed as superheroes, fairies and rodeo clowns — gathered at the starting line, but no matter how crazy or colorful the costume, everyone finished the event covered in a soggy-looking shade of brown.

Harris Wexler, a 24-year-old student who came with a group from Blacksburg, prepped for the course by getting a fresh-cut Mohawk from the “Mohawks and Mullets” tent.

“It’s Tough Mudder. You just got to go crazy and get in the spirit of things,” Wexler said. “And it’s a free haircut.”

After the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” participants recited the Tough Mudder pledge.

“I understand the Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge. I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time. I do not whine — kids whine. I help all my fellow mudders complete the course. And I overcome all fears,” each wave of mudders said in unison with right hands raised, and then they were off.

At the Chernobyl Jacuzzi obstacle, mudders jumped into dump bins filled with colored, icy water, each plunge sending up a splash of bright red or blue. Lest the water get too warm, a makeshift front-end loader was on hand to take buckets of ice from the back of an 18-wheeler and refill the pool, sending mudders squealing and cursing with each dump.

Just through the woods, mudders were shouldering logs up and down a grassy ski slope at the Hold Your Wood obstacle.

Elsewhere on the course, a shirtless runner in a black skullcap disappeared into a cloud of smoke at the Firewalker obstacle, where mudders pushed through a field filled with burning straw and leaped over a propane-fueled wall of flames on the other side.

As mudders entered the home stretch, they grimaced their way through Electroshock Therapy, a field of dangling yellow wires, some of which carried a 10,000-volt shock.

Wexler, who was doing a Tough Mudder for the first time, said it was the shocks he was most worried about.

“Supposedly, one of those is enough to knock you down,” he said.

Triumphant mudders were greeted at the finish line with an orange headband, a cup of beer and a carnival-like atmosphere. One event involved tossing a keg shell at wooden figures set up about 20 feet away, and a likeness of tween-pop star Justin Bieber seemed to be taking the most abuse. Another tent offered tattoos of the Tough Mudder logo, which came with the added bonus of free entry to another Tough Mudder event.

Mandy Baskin, a 36-year-old hot-air balloon pilot from Charlottesville, showed off her battle scars after crossing the finish line. The toughest obstacle, said Baskin, was Everest, a slippery quarter-pipe that mudders could only climb with the help of their colleagues.

“Everybody doesn’t make it on the first try,” Baskin said, pointed to her bloodied knee.

Larry Lippincott, a firefighter from Northern Virginia who wore a mud-caked chicken suit as he stood in line to retrieve his bag after the finish, said he was introduced to the Tough Mudder by his firefighter friends.

“They talked me into it,” Lippincott said. “I’ll do it again as long as they want to do it again.”

Hey may get the chance. According to the Tough Mudder website, organizers are planning to hold another event in Virginia in 2012.

Founded by Britons Will Dean and Guy Livingstone, who came up with the idea while at Harvard Business School, Tough Mudder appears to be a growing phenomenon.

The first event was held in Pennsylvania in May of 2010, but the Wintergreen Tough Mudder was one of 14 to be held nationwide in 2011. According to the website, there are 28 Tough Mudders scheduled for next year.

The tentative dates for next year’s Virginia Tough Mudder are Oct. 6-7, but the location has not been determined.

Tough Mudder also advocates for the Wounded Warrior Project, a support organization for injured military veterans, by encouraging participants to raise money for the group. According to the Tough Mudder website, mudders have raised more than $2 million on the group’s behalf.