LEXINGTON, Ohio — Over 6,000 people were up for a challenge this weekend–the Tough Mudder challenge, that is.
That included Jordan Smith of Detroit, who finished the roughly 10-mile obstacle course on Saturday in one hour and 30 minutes.
“It was an awesome course,” he said, adding, “It was hillier than I expected.”
The 25-year-old has conquered the Tough Mudder 40 times. His sister, Jocelyn Smith, said that he once ran the course three times in one day.
He plans on running 235 miles across Michigan this September as part of the Shore 2 Shore Ultra Marathon that aims to benefit children of military service members. Through this fundraiser, he hopes to raise $10,000.
This is the third year that the Tough Mudder has been held in Richland County. The past two years, it was held at the Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport. This year, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course hosted the two-day event, which drew people from across the country, even some from Canada.
Tough Mudder is a team-oriented 10-12 mile obstacle course designed to test physical strength and mental grit, the Tough Mudder website says. To date, Tough Mudder has had 1.3 million participants.
Jodi Kovacs, Tough Mudder communications associate, said that Tough Mudder isn’t intended to be a race; rather, “It’s more about completing the course and having fun with it,” she said.
She said there were some new obstacles added this year, which makes it fun for the participants.
Kim Miers, Mansfield & Richland County Convention and Visitors Bureau marketing and meetings director, was excited that the local area was selected as one of the Tough Mudder locations.
“They do about 50 of these a year and we’re one of them, so we’re very fortunate to be on that stage for people to see what else is here,” she said.
She noted that a majority of the participants hailed from places outside the area. “Last year and the year before we would average that one or two percent [of the participants] were local. The rest of them were all from outside the county, which is awesome,” she said.
The influx of newcomers to the area is good news for local businesses, many of which offered “Mud Deals” over the weekend. Miers said local businesses were encouraged to offer a deal to customers during the weekend of Tough Mudder as a way to attract customers.
“Everybody from our wineries, breweries, restaurants and our attractions all got on board,” she said.
The Mud Deals are valid May 8-10. Participating businesses include Doc’s Deli, The Vault Wine Bar, The Blueberry Patch, Skyline Chili, Outback Steakhouse, The Phoenix Brewing Company, Two Cousins Pizza, and many more.
“It has a great economic impact when [Tough Mudder] is held here in town,” Miers said.
Tough Mudder will be held again tomorrow (Sunday) at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. For more information, visit the Tough Mudder website.
