First-Ever Savage Mud Splash on Tap

BERLIN- The first-ever Savage Mud Splash, a three-plus mile race over, under and through mud-soaked obstacles on a course laid out on a farm in Berlin gets underway tomorrow.

The first annual Savage Mud Splash is the brainchild of OC Tri Running, the same fitness organization the promotes several other races in and around Worcester County, including the annual half marathon each spring. OC Tri Running officials have spent much of the summer developing the three-mile course with 14 different challenging obstacles on a farm off Shire Drive in Berlin and race day finally arrives tomorrow.

Participating racers will face numerous challenges along the course including a series of logs to hurdle over or crawl under, a cargo net, a corn maze and a tire run. From there, competitors will climb up and over a wall of hay, navigate a spider web of bungie cords, swing on monkey bars over a mud pit, slide down a muddy hill, navigate a floating plank bridge in a pond and crawl through a dark tunnel.

Finally, racers will have to jump across another mud pit and wade across a pond with a depth of one foot to four feet. After crawling across another pool of mud, competitors will have to scale a mountain of mud to the finish line. Competitors will be sent out on the course in waves of no more than 150 racers every 45 minutes starting at 12:30 p.m.

At 3:30 p.m., an awards ceremony, featuring honors in several categories such as muddiest, cleanest, best costume etc., will be held, followed by a bonfire party featuring the local band Gravitate. The event is open to spectators, who will be transported from the parking area to the Savage Mud Splash village.