The muddier the better: Runners and the adventurous slog up and down Seven Springs mountain just for fun

Sep. 4—Miranda Veliky was caked in mud Saturday morning, and she didn't care a bit.

Veliky, 23, of New Stanton was one of about 1,000 athletes who jumped, swam, climbed and toppled through mud and water and along the wooded trails that traversed up, over and down the Laurel Mountains during the Mud on the Mountain run at Seven Springs Mountain Resort.

"I wouldn't be doing it if I couldn't get really muddy," Veliky said.

Back after a more than a year's hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, runners and the adventurous gathered at the resort for what has been an annual event since 2011 to see just how dirty one can get as they navigate through a 7.7-mile course that travels up and down the 1,000-foot mountain.

Participants slop through 30 mud-filled obstacles, over walls, under logs and and through water hazards.

"It's fun to get muddy," said Robin Albright, 37, of Mt. Pleasant.

Dustin Livengood, 43, of Somerset, was the first finisher on Saturday, having completed the course in an hour. Livengood is considered among the elite athletes on the obstacle racing circuit and the reigning North American champion.

"I ran this race, my first race eight years, back in 2013 just to get healthy. It kind of snowballed from that into a bunch of other racing; and I'm probably over 100 races," Livengood said. "Compared to a road race where you just get in a rhythm and go, a mountain like this, there is no rhythm. It's off-balance, it's punching you in the face and you're down in the mud. You start and stop. It's a completely different kind of running."

Sara Zambotti, 41, of Indiana was the first woman to finish.

"It just makes you feel like a kid again," Zambotti said. "You feel like you're playing."

For most, it took about two to three hours to finish the course that was a bit dirtier than usual this year.

The resort's snow-making equipment was used to spread the mud scattered throughout the course. And the remnants of Hurricane Ida, which dumped more than 2.5 inches of ran on the mountain earlier in the week, added to the challenge this year, said Seven Springs spokesman Alex Moser.

"This a great excuse to get out to the outdoors. This is a great excuse to get in shape, but the biggest thing is the camaraderie," Moser said. "Everyone is hanging out and it's a big party as they are running through 7.7 miles."

A new obstacle installed for this year's race required runners to carefully inch their way on a rope over a pond.

Matt Jardine, a member of Seven Springs' ski patrol, was stationed at the rope obstacle. He said most participants were surprised but good-natured as they slowly attempted to make it safely across the pond — although many still got wet.

"A lot of them said the water was cold and they couldn't feel their feet. Those were the PG-related comments," Jardine said.

Runners ended the race after moving through a car wash stall filled with spraying water and soapy suds to knock off some of the mud before they tackled the final obstacle that took them under a spraying fire hose and over spinning log wheels just ahead of finish line.

Megan Farrell, 24, of Greensburg and friend, Barb Moore, 45, of Ruffs Dale worked together to make it through the course.

The muddier the better.

"I'm clicking it off my bucket list," Farrell said.

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@triblive.com or via Twitter .