Muddy Mayhem
CLAY TWP — The Muddy Princess 5k obstacle course was non-competitive — except from within.
It was also muddy, messy and mesmerizing.
The Switchback MX facility hosted the event — which originated in South Africa two years ago — Sunday. The course was run — or walked — by 1,850 women, a new group starting every 20 minutes from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“This is something unique for women, a day they can have fun with,” Muddy Princess general manager Sandra Loosen said. “It was a huge success back home where we started it and we noticed there was nothing like this in the states.
“So we decided to bring it here.”
Switchback owner Scott Roskovski didn't go looking for the event. The Muddy Princess organizers found him. Switchback is one of 11 U.S. sites hosting a Muddy Princess run this year.
“We researched potential sites and found Switchback,” Loosen said. “Ideal locations are near cities, but we need a lot of room to do what we do. We use a lot of motocross tracks and with Switchback having so much room and being only an hour from Pittsburgh, it was a perfect spot.”
The motocross track was closed from Tuesday through the rest of the week as the course was prepared.
“We put in 14 hours every day since Tuesday getting ready,” Roskovski said. “We dug a lot of holes to fill with water. We helped where we were needed, but the obstacles, the design of the course itself, that was all them (Muddy Princess crew).
“With the hills we have here, that 5k distance probably felt like 8k.”
Participants had to fight their way through a deep muddy pond, scale walls with no handles, climb 15 feet up a rope, climb over tires, crawl through muddy pipes and beneath woven rope in muddy water, among other things.
Most of the women were finishing the course between one and two hours.
“It was tougher than I thought it'd be,” said Courtney Curtis of Wooster, Ohio. “That rope climb was on a sharp incline and it was slippery ... Everything was slippery.”
Many women participated as teams. One team called itself the Dirty Divas, other teams were dressed like ballerinas. Others donned team t-shirts or princess-like garb.Charis Stolis and her daughter, Teresa, of Bethel Park took on the course by themselves.“Take a day and go be a dirty girl,” Charis Stolis said. “Just go do something crazy together. It was fun.“We were out there as individuals, but we weren't alone. We were on the girls team.”No prizes or trophies were awarded. Each female received a medal around her neck as she finished the course. Some crossed the line holding hands as a team. Others came across alone.All had smiles on their faces.“You're out on that course and women you don't even know are helping you, encouraging you,” Emily Oravitz of Beaver Falls said. “This was a very empowering experience.”Shelly Ellis of Rayland, Ohio, was in town visiting friends and wasn't expecting to be running the Muddy Princess Course.“Somebody on their team dropped out, so there was an opening,” she said. “I was an unexpected fill-in.“I loved it. Go out, get muddy and bond with friends. I never did get over those tires, though — too slippery.”Loosen said the majority of participants came from no farther than an hour or 90 minutes away. She added that 1,800 is a typical field for a Muddy Princess event.“A lot of expense goes into this. We couldn't just do it for 500 women or so,” she said.“It's a fun day of exercise in the mud and people go at their own pace. Some run, some walk. And it's not so strenuous that the average person can't do it.”The Muddy Princess is billed as a “Girls Dirty Day Out.”Other Muddy Princess events this year have been in Texas, Washington D.C,. and Boston. Denver will host one Aug. 12, Virginia Beach Sept. 16 and Charlotte Sept. 22.Roskovski won't rule out Switchback hosting similar events down the road.“We'd love for this (Muddy Princess) to come back,” he said. “The community seems to want it and we're here for the community.“We may even put together something like this on our own or partner up with somebody. It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun.”
