Hundreds get down and dirty

7K Down & Dirty Mud Run kicks off day long Fort Lewis Freedom Fest celebration; nearly 300 runners participate

Matt Smith

Northwest Guardian

This one was a little bit longer, but just as muddy as the first.

Nearly 300 runners showed up for the second Down & Dirty Mud Run of the year. The 7K run was a bit longer than its predecessor, the 5K mud run, and kicked off a day full of events on Fort Lewis for the Fourth of July.

“It was good. It was a challenging course,” said 2nd place overall finisher Michael Verdonk who clocked a time of 30:01.

This course was a bit more challenging than the 5K run, as competitors had to jump over a series of logs while running through water, climb through a cargo net, run up the punishing Semper Fi Hill and crawl Rambo-style through a cold mud pit.

“(The obstacles) were good, they were tough,” Verdonk said, “especially the mud pit at the end. It was nice to get dirty and really push yourself. It’s challenging, but that makes it fun. This course was ideal for me. The tougher the better.”

Verdonk is an avid runner who not only ran cross country and track in high school, he continues to run above and beyond what is required of him in the Army. A staff sergeant with 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, Verdonk said he enjoys running even while on vacation.

He said it was nice to be able to get out and run a race, and to get back to a somewhat normal life, as he is only three weeks back from Iraq.

“I guess you can say it helps getting back into the normal swing of things,” he said, “doing the things I enjoy doing in environments like this.”

Verdonk said this race is just a small step toward getting prepared for a much larger one called the 135-mile Bad Water Ultra Marathon, which has a time limit of 60 hours. Last year’s winner, Valmir Nunez of Brazil, finished in under 23 hours.

“I can’t compete this year because you have to qualify for it,” he said, “but I’m going to go down and pace someone. You run along side (someone) and give them encouragement because when you run that long it’s easy to get depressed.”

Sixteen-year-old Braden Timpe (28:55) was the first to cross the finish line and Michelle Hector nabbed third with a time of 33:08.

Timpe’s finish helped lead his team, “Rainier Crossfit 1,” to a first place team finish with a time of 1:47.46. Miles (35:17) and Phil Timpe (43:33) made up the other two-thirds of the winning squad.

Todd Darling (34:36), Tate Page (36:02) and Christopher Macias (40:45), the trio who made up “6 Pack Abs,” finished second with a combined time of 1:51.24.

“C 2-1 Team 2,” a team composed of Robert Rodriguez, Gabriel Becker and Brian Merman, nabbed third place with a combined time of 2:02.06.