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Are LSC men and women 'tough mudders'?

By Nate Lucier

On May 6, 2011

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We may have some "Tough Mudders" at Lyndon State. LSC students will have a chance to prove their toughness by participating in the Tough Mudder competition in West Dover on May 8.

Eight students and two faculty members will be running the course from LSC. Those eight are Jason Clark, John Byrne, Aaron Cornell, William Myers, Brittany Rogers, Jonathan Dame, Denis Nunez, and Sara Swahn. The two faculty members that will participate are professors in the exercise science department, Anthony Sgherza and Greg Ledoux.

"The Tough Mudder series was created because there is not an event in America that tests toughness, fitness, strength, stamina and mental grit all in one place and all in one day," says the Tough Mudder website.

The course will be about 10 miles long with 22 unique and challenging obstacles. Participants will deal with things such as rope swings, scaling a 100-foot wall of ice, and running through tires and up steep hills. That is just a few of the intense obstacles that this course will feature.

The first few obstacles include running up steep hills and hill repeats. "I think it was designed that way to weed out the weak," Jonathan Dame says about the hills. "That may be the hardest for me because we have not had a lot of time training outside due to the weather."

British Special Forces designed the Tough Mudder competition. It is not marketed as a race, but rather an event. It encourages teamwork from everyone to help fellow "mudders" get over every obstacle in their path. "Tough Mudder is also about making sure no man is left behind, not worrying about your finish time," says the website.

This group at LSC has been training and preparing for this event and really look forward to testing themselves physically and mentally. They plan on getting outside to train more when the weather warms up, doing such things as swimming in Lake Willoughby, running up President's Hill on campus, and running the cross country trails.

It is up to the exercise science professors to help prepare their students for this grueling task. Two of the four professors will be participating along with their students.

"Professors Bouley, Ledoux, Sgherza, and Evans have the knowledge, skills, and ability to help with program design, nutrition, and event preparation," says Dame. "Utilizing their knowledge has been my biggest advantage."

It is estimated that 20 percent of the participants in the Tough Mudder don't finish the course. "I have not done anything this physically challenging in a long time, if ever. It ought to be interesting," says Dame.