Marine claims mud-run title - Military Health, military health and wellness, military physical fitness - Military Times

Marine claims mud-run title

Send more than 2,300 people on a recreational run through hip-deep mud pits and punishing obstacles and who comes out on top?

If you said a Marine, you guessed right.

Marine Maj. Jason Kut finished first in this year’s Run Amuck mud run at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., beating out a three-time winner of the annual muck fest.

“The low crawl was the most difficult obstacle for me, and I saw the second-place runner passing me by during that part of the course,” said Kut, 33, just after he finished.

The logistics operations officer at Quantico completed the 3.5-mile race in 23 minutes, 9 seconds — 44 seconds faster than 24-year-old defending champion William Mikolajczak of Triangle, Va., according to a news release.

The June 11 event drew 2,369 runners. In addition to running, competitors faced a tire dash, a hay bale maze, a barbed-wire low crawl, a 20-foot pipe slither and a gantlet of inflatable rings hanging off trees.

Then there was the mud. The first mud pit measured 60 feet wide, 180 feet long and 18 inches deep. The second and third mud pits were 3 feet deep, 60 feet wide and 100 feet long.

The final test put competitors through a forceful fire-truck spray.

“Getting dirty was never so much fun,” said Quantico commander Marine Col. Daniel J. Choike.