Fun in the mud and money towards a great cause

The 3rd Annual Big Bang Mud Run was held on Saturday, September 16. The popular event always draws in a big crowd of participants who want to challenge themselves on the course. With everything from inclines to forest paths and obstacles, the run tests the stamina and physical endurance of racers. It also gets them very, very dirty.

Dana Severson with Woodlands County, joined Mayor Jim Rennie at the finish line where she helped hand out medals and dish out praise to participants as they crossed the finish. “We have about 130 people running this year raising money for ALS. We have lots of new and returning runners,” said Dana.

Participants were given the option of running seven kilometres or 12 kilometres. “Most of the runners chose the seven-kilometre run and roughly two dozen did the longer stretch.” There were 15 obstacles this year and some of the returning setups were changed a bit. “We added a potato sack race with industrial size garbage bags, a weight line obstacle which required weaving through it, and the tires at the very beginning.”

Another difference from last year was the amount of the wet brown stuff on the ground.  “It’s so muddy,” laughed Dana. “Muddier than last year. It’s very slick out there and very organic.” The first person to cross the finish line this year was Jeff Payne who ran the seven-km race in under an hour.

The event allowed people to see the meteorite impact crater which was found on July 3, 2007 by Whitecourt resident, Sonny Stevens. “We always had a number of people wanting to go out to the meteorite site and we didn’t want to put the directions on our website because we were sure that people would get lost,” said Mayor Rennie. “So, we thought, why don’t we create an event and have one time of year where we take everybody out. You can either be a volunteer or you can actually do the run and get to see it.”

Jim greeted participants as they reached the final gate and said that it was his favourite part. “Getting to be at the finish line of something like this where we have people that are just so happy to have completed something so hard and the smiles on their faces are priceless. It’s been a real highlight today in my role as mayor.” With three races now in the books, Rennie said that close to 600 people have had the opportunity to see the meteorite location.

Christy Ravndahl-George, Manager for Fundraising and Events for the ALS Society of Alberta, was on hand to witness the event unfold. As runners completed the race, they could buy a $10 bucket filled with warm water to get cleaned up with. Those funds went towards the society and will help both ALS patients and their caregivers.

“ALS doesn’t affect as many people as cancer or heart disease, but it is very devastating. People live three to five years and it is fatal. Basically, your brain stops talking to its muscles. A lot of people describe that they feel like they are trapped inside their body. So, it makes events like this important to help raise awareness of ALS and to raise funds for the society,” said Christy.

Congratulations to all runners on a job well done.