Competitors navigate an obstacle during the annual Tough Mudder at Ceraland in Columbus, Ind., Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
Some unseasonably cool temperatures made for some cold water at some of the obstacles in Saturday’s Tough Mudder Indiana.
But that didn’t stop more than 4,000 competitors from taking part in the annual endurance event at Ceraland in the morning and afternoon.
“It’s a beautiful day out,” said race director Joseph Haas, who hails from Utah. “It’s not too hot. It’s not too cold. It’s just nice and muddy like they like it.”
Twelve men and one woman came from the Milwaukee area to participate. Most of them had done the Tough Mudder at Ceraland last year.
“We did it last year, and that was fun, so this year, we tried to find a sponsor, and that helped pay for us and they gave us these little random shirts,” Robbie Laughlin said.
“We just like running, getting muddy and getting shocked,” Matt Montengo added. “There’s not much more to it than that.”
Leann Scales, 51; Ron Bilbro, 52; and Camilla Lopez, 27, didn’t have nearly as far to drive, coming from Edinburgh. Scales, Bilbro and Lopez’ husband used to work together at Forvia in Columbus.
“I like it,” Scales said. “It’s very close for us, and it brings attention to Columbus.”
“It brings the community together, and it’s a lot of fun,” Bilbro added. “It’s like a family thing for us.”
A group of 18 from Whittier Lane Baptist Church in New Castle did the event while sporting shirts that read “Micah’s Mighty Men.” That was a play on David’s Mighty Men, a group of 30 of his toughest warriors in the Bible.
“That’s kind of the inspiration, and then our guy that kind of organized it all together, his name is Micah, so was made it ‘Micah’s Mighty Men,’” Frank Wood said. “We have the cross on our shield. Anything we do is to represent the Lord and and try to be a witness for Him.”
Haas said a total of 4,882 people, including spectators, were at Ceraland Saturday for the Tough Mudder. He said roughly 4,300-to-4,400 of those were competitors. There was no competitive wave this year, and no winners were crowned.
The Tough Mudder will continue Sunday at Ceraland, beginning at 9 a.m., with the last wave going off at 10:45 a.m. Haas is expecting about 1,100 competitors on Sunday. Walkup registration will be available.
Haas said Saturday’s action went off without any major injuries or problems.
“It actually ran really smooth,” Haas said. “Not many medicals, just some cramping where they were fine by the time people got there. Just nice and slick and people getting muddy.”
