Are You A Tough Mudder? Show Us Your Stuff

Pictured below are two Avon Lakers, member Ron Jantz and Hillery Nelson competing in the Tough Mudder 12-mile obstacle course in the South Amherst version of the international competitions.

Billed as “probably the toughest event on the planet,” the Tough Mudder competitions are held at different times around the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The South Amherst event, held at the Amherst Quarries on April 15 and 16 featured 24 obstacles with names such as “Arctic Enema,” a vat of ice water that contestants swam though; the Electric Eel, which required contestants to craw through a course with exposed electric wires that would shock you; and the Funky Monkey, monkey bars with a that went uphill, then downhill. 

The race isn’t for the squeamish…or for those who cannot swim. “Walk the Plank,” requires Mudders to jumps 20 feet down into 35-feet of cold water in a quarry.

Weather conditions on Saturday made the course difficult: It was 50 degrees, cloudy, rainy and generally miserable for the 13,000 people who signed up for the event.

Contestants track their own time. The competition isn’t about who comes in first as much as it is who finishes the course and proves themselves a “tough mudder.”

Both Jantz and Nelson proved to be Tough Mudders. Jantz's wife, Stacy, was on hand to snap some photos of the two. We’re looking for other Avon Lakers who dared to brave the course this year. If you were there, upload your pictures.