NEWRY — Brandishing a Jolly Rogers temporary pirate tattoo on his forehead, Matt Senecal said he had a good time on the Tough Mountain Course at Sunday River on Saturday but that it wasn’t all that tough.
“It was nice, you know, a family course, something you could bring your newborn on,” Senecal, of Brunswick, said jokingly.
Part of a four-person team including his wife, Nancy Senecal, and another couple, Matt Senecal said he’s been in tougher races. He may have been one of the few who thought that, but most competitors and spectators were smiling at the end of Sunday River’s rugged, 5-kilometer, alpine obstacle course.
Racers ran up ski trails, through culverts and across snow-making pipes. They crawled through mud pits and even swam on occasion.
Hallie Tyler of Bangor said she was as charged by the event as she was last year. The former amateur body builder was running as part of a family team with her brother, Eric Tyler of Gilmanton, N.H. She called the race invigorating.
“The energy all around you is so electrifying,” Hallie Tyler said.
Jason Glazer of Madison, Conn., said there was little doubt in his mind he would be back next year. He and friend Bill McCollum, of Burlington, Mass., completed the course on a team of runners, as well.
“I loved the part in the woods,” McCollom said of a portion of the course that descended into a ravine. Racers climbed out on a long rope.
Others said the pond obstacle, where racers had to jump onto floating platforms, was their favorite.
The worse? By far, racers agreed it was the steep climb up a two-tenths-of-a-mile section of chairlift line on the Northern Exposure Trail. It was dubbed “WTF” by race officials, after the popular text-message expletive.
Sunday River’s Caroline Ochetra, who dreamed up the race three years ago, said nobody thought it would become so popular. Some resort officials thought it would be unlikely to field 100 racers, she said. The first year of the race in 2010 drew 200 racers; in 2011 it grew to more than 1,000. And Saturday’s race featured 2,500 participants and spectators. Most, about 70 percent, were from Maine but many came from other parts of New England, Ochetra said.
She said a number of people were experiencing Sunday River for the first time and a surprising number were not skiers or snowboard riders.
“We are actually reaching a whole new group of people,” Ochetra said. “These are fit, healthy people who are outside and like to be there, so many of them may also want to become skiers.”
While some racers were serious Saturday and wanted the fastest times, others like, Stefanie Moore and Cassi Reid, members of team 4Q from Lewiston, got in a mud war. Running with their friends Kyle Lukeski and Nick Meserve, the big thing was to have fun.
Staying fit is a priority for Lukeski and his friends, so the race seemed like a natural, he said. “We like to stay fit and this was really fun.”
GoPro helmet cam footage from the Tough Mountain Challenge
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- A pair of unidentified racers from Team Dirty Girls slide into the pool at the bottom of the Slip, Slide and Die obstacle on the 5-kilometer course at Sunday River in Newry on Saturday. The Tough Mountain Challenge race is in its third year and has grown from 200 to 2,500 participants.
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- Competitors in Saturday’s Tough Mountain Challenge at Sunday River in Newry navigate the Lily Pads obstacle on Barker Pond. For a video of the race, visit:sunjournal.com/tough072112.
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- A team of competitors slip and slide out of one of 16 obstacles that challenged 2,500 adventurers to a 5K race up the mountain, through the woods and over and under 16 obstacles. For a video of the race, visit: sunjournal.com/tough072112.
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- A competitor gets a face full of water at the end of the slip and slide, the final of the 16 obstacles in Saturday’s Tough Mountain Challenge at Sunday River in Newry. For a video of the race, visit: sunjournal.com/tough072112.
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