Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Phillip D. James Jr. | Command Master Chief Aaron Shipley, a member of the Navy Recruiting District Ohio...... read more read more
MANSFIELD, Ohio - Sailors from Navy Recruiting District Ohio participated in the Tough Mudder held at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacle course designed by British special forces. The Mansfield Tough Mudder was 11 miles long and consisted of 22 obstacles.
According to Ashley Pinakiewicz, director of Marketing Communications with Tough Mudder, Will Dean, a former counter-terrorism agent for the British government, founded Tough Mudder and the first event was held in 2010.
There are 53 scheduled events throughout 2013 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany. To date there have been more than 1 million participants worldwide and approximately 12,000 at the Ohio event.
Pinakiewicz said, “While getting his MBA at Harvard, Dean was inspired to start Tough Mudder out of frustration with unimaginative and repetitive marathons, triathlons, and other adventure runs.”
According to Pinakiewicz, the events were designed to be hardcore obstacle courses that test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.
“By running a Tough Mudder challenge, participants will unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover camaraderie with fellow participants that is experienced all too rarely these days,” said Pinakiewicz.
Pinakiewicz said, “We see military personnel running at almost every event - some with the Wounded Warrior Project team, some independently. The Tough Mudder challenge seems to appeal to members of all divisions of the military.”
Tough Mudder supports the Wounded Warrior Project and, according to the Tough Mudder website, has raised more than $5 million for the project so far.
According to NRD Ohio’s command fitness leader, Navy Counselor 1st Class Justin Smith, the command got involved when the Chief Petty Officers Association and the First Class Petty Officers Association heard about the event and then tried to recruit as many personnel that they could to participate.
Smith said, “In my opinion participating in the Tough Mudder does go above and beyond our navy fitness requirements, this is no ordinary race, tests your body, mind, and the spirit of teamwork.”
“I think it is great for NRD Ohio to have people participating in the Tough Mudder, it will show all the other participants what the Navy can do, and in turn, motivate those in the command to push themselves a bit harder next time they PT,” said Smith.
Engineering Aid 1st Class Edward Brock, a member of the NRD Ohio Tough Mudder team, the Salty Sandbaggers said, “I decided to participate in the Tough Mudder with my FCPOA for camaraderie, and 10-12 miles of running through the mud with my fellow first class petty officers sounded like a good idea.”
According to Brock, he prepared for Tough Mudder by keeping with his usual routine of P90X/TRX, running and took some tips from the Mudder Boot Camp website.
“The Tough Mudder was amazing, definitely more than what I expected,” said Brock. “I feel that I did better than I thought I was going to. I completed all 22 obstacles. I was very proud of myself and our team for completing the event with no major injuries.”
Brock said, “The Artic Enima was probably most people’s least favorite part, but I enjoyed it. Being from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I am familiar with the cold and I have also done a polar bear swim in the middle of January in a frozen lake.”
“When it was over, I thought to myself, ‘Thank you baby Jesus for giving me the strength to complete this,’ and I could not wait to get off of my feet and take a warm shower,” said Brock.
| Date Taken: | 04.28.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 05.15.2013 16:40 |
| Story ID: | 106955 |
| Location: | MANSFIELD, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 179 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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