A muddy good time in Pelham
Pelham Mudfest organizers got what they wanted for the fifth annual challenge this weekend.
“We wanted to have a mudfest — and we’ve got a real big mudfest,” said Rotary Club of Fonthill member Paul Snack Saturday morning from the soggy grounds at Bissell’s Hideway Resort in Pelham.
“The elements have been a little more extreme than we expected.”
Rain, at times heavy, throughout the past week created very muddy conditions on the resort grounds, and across the six-kilometre adult course that wound its way through hills and valleys and through streams and creeks.
“The most challenging part is down in the valleys with the creeks and streams. The water is flowing everywhere, it will be wet and slippery. We didn’t have to add anything this year, the elements have made the course treacherous,” said Snack, adding the streams and creek were safe for mudfest participants crossing them.
With more extreme conditions, Snack said, people taking part would probably take longer to complete the course, which had 26 natural and manmade obstacles.
“It usually takes 45 minutes to complete it, but today it will probably take an hour to an hour-anda-half. We’re sending groups of 20 to 25 people out every 20 minutes to spread things out.”
Snack said there was well more than 300 participants who signed up for the challenge.
Included in that were a number of ‘bigs’ and ‘littles’ from Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Niagara. The organization, said Snack, was to receive the majority of proceeds raised by the event.
New to event this year was the addition of a one-kilometre, kidfriendly obstacle course for six- to 12-year-olds.
“There was a big demand for it. We’ve had children come to the event and stand around while their mothers and fathers ran the course. They said, ‘Hey, what about us?’”
Snack said the child’s course was in an open field area, so no one would get lost in the woods, and there were inflatables from Niagara Inflatables set up. The inflatables were also part of the adult course.
Another change this year was having competitors go through a pond at the end of the course, instead of at the beginning as in years past.
“We found people got a little bit too cold going through the pond first, so we put it at the end. They don’t have to go through the pond if they don’t want to,” Snack said.
He said the event wouldn’t be possible without support from Pen Financial, the main sponsor, all of the participants and the “wonderful team of volunteers” that put it together.