Chris Frasier, left, and Logan Galarno lead a group of mostly dads from Columbus through a mud pit obstacle in the Tough Mudder at Ceraland in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, July 29, 2023.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
With most Tough Mudder competitions, the course — outside of the obstacles — usually is dry at the start and gets progressively muddier as the waves of athletes make their way through the course.
Thanks to a brief storm early Saturday morning, the Tough Mudder course at Ceraland already was a little slick before the first competitors went to the starting line. That made for a slightly more treacherous journey for the 2,500-plus athletes that were expected to compete on Saturday.
“It was just another day at the office,” said Jacob Bosecker of Columbus. “It was a good day, at least. The sun came out for us. I thought the course was great. A little storm came through this morning, and we had a few (tree) limbs down there in the back section, but not too bad.”
Bosecker and fellow Columbus resident Gabe Ocasio ran together for most of the 10K event and were among the top 10 finishers. Both are veterans of Tough Mudder events, including the ones at Ceraland that began in 2019.
“It was a beautiful course, a little soft,” said Ocasio, the winner of the 2021 event at Ceraland. “They changed the direction of the course, which made it even better. It was amazing.”
“I would say it was 80 percent the same, but just backwards,” Bosecker added. “But I thought it was good. The first mile is almost a flat-out run, so it makes it more spread out. It was kind of nice.”
Noah Bongtrager of Shipshewana held off a hard-charging Ethan Fehl of Fishers through the final obstacle, Electroshock Therapy, to become the first finisher.
“My dad suggested it as something to do besides a 5K,” Bontrager said. “Plus, it has obstacles in it. I was just doing it for fun, and then my friends told me I could just go (forward), and I just went.”
Bontrager, who finished 12th in last year’s state cross-country meet as a freshman at Westview, was competing in his first Tough Mudder.
“I think it’s really fun just because you have all the obstacles inbetween, and you can just have fun with it along the way. I ran with two other guys, and they helped me along through it. I just got lucky at the end that I didn’t get passed by Ethan.”
Fehl, a recent Fishers graduate who is headed to LIFT Academy in Indianapolis, was running for a mission organization called CMF, which sends missionaries around the world to spread the Gospel.
“My family were missionaries with them, so I decided to do this 10K and do my best for them,” Fehl said.
Luke Gordon of St. Louis was the third 10K finisher.
Elizabeth Lukancich of Searcy, Arkansas, was the first female to finish the 10K. Lukancich, who won the 45-49 women’s age group in last year’s 12-hour Tougher Mudder at Ceraland, was competing in her 47th Tough Mudder event.
Meanwhile, a group of 12 mostly dads from Columbus did the 10K together. The group, led by Nate Frasier, has been training since January at Frasier’s MVP gym.
“We were pushing each other,” Ricardo Damon said.
“It was fun doing it as a team with these guys,” Fred Bailey added. “The MVP training kept us in shape.”
Some of the group are considering running the Mill Race Marathon or half marathon together on Sept. 23.
“Now, we’re ready to run Boston,” Brandon Macy said.
The Tough Mudder wraps up today at Ceraland with more 10K and 5K competitors.
