Playing Dirty : Contestants Become One With the Mud in Tustin Race

As he prepared to compete in the 13th annual Volkslauf Mud Run on Friday afternoon, 36-year-old Brian Hopp announced to his incredulous teammates: “I just want to finish without getting dirty.”

Hopp, a Santa Ana firefighter, came to the wrong place. Most of the 2,000 competitors who braved this treacherous 6.2-mile race crossed the finish line covered in mud from head to toe.

And no wonder. After running through two blimp hangars, being sprayed by fire hoses and scaling a series of walls, participants had the privilege of trudging through the quarter-mile-long “Rambo Death Ditch,” which was filled with three feet of thick mud.

“It makes you feel like a kid, getting all caked with mud,” said John Gilpin, 34, of Trabuco Canyon. “You get to go out and get dirty and it’s OK!”

More than 300 teams, with names like “Mudweisers,” “Dirt Hounds” and “The Half Dirty Dozen,” took part in the run at the Marine Corps Helicopter Air Station here. The order of finish was determined by the first five team members who crossed the finish line together.

“We made the course a little tougher this year because we had complaints that it was a little too easy last year,” said Capt. Dave Heronmeur, race director.

No such complaints this time.

“This was a survival course,” said Joe Gilboy, 35, of Irvine, who added that it was necessary “to become one with the mud” in order to be successful at the event.

Jim Garfield, a 30-year-old physical trainer from Los Angeles, said, “It was like rolling around in a pigpen. I’ve never seen so much mud. It was like a bad dream where you are running through quicksand with a monster chasing you.”

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The race drew a wide range of athletes, from serious triathletes to weekend warriors with beer bellies.

The winning team was a group of friends who called themselves “Temecula Mud Hens.” They unexpectedly bested highly touted military teams with a time of 51 minutes, 49 seconds.

“We had never run this before and had no idea what this course was like,” said Mud Hen John Wagner, 27, of Temecula. “We are the Cinderella story.”

In contrast, coming in near last were the struggling Mudweisers, who ran the course carrying a five-gallon beer ball. The team of six Marines finished in well over two hours. “Our goal was to empty this beer ball before the finish line,” said Cpl. Kenneth Poppy. “I was able to run a lot faster once this thing was half-empty.”

The muddy ditch at the 4.8-mile mark became a physical and psychological battle for many.

“Mud is my friend,” 31-year-old Matt Rautt said repeatedly as he slowly trudged forward. “Mud is my friend.”

After emerging triumphantly from the ditch, 23-year-old Christopher Parks let out a loud, Tarzan-like yell, then smiled broadly, revealing the mud caked on his teeth and gums.

“Other than having a 7-Eleven Slurpee, this was the most exciting experience I’ve ever had,” Parks said.

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Chris Haggerty, 27, simply swam the length of the ditch instead of wading through it like most of his competitors.

“Some people were running up along the sides, but I thought that was kind of cheesy,” said Haggerty, a member of the Navy SEALS team from Coronado, which took top military team honors and placed second overall.

After braving the ditch, weary racers had to climb a hill, then get down on their stomachs for the “low mud crawl.”

“I feel like a wet lizard,” Marine Sgt. Donald Finn said as he slithered and crawled in the mud.

The race drew hundreds of spectators, most of whom carried cameras to record the painful progress of their friends or loved ones.

“Sucking up that muddy water looks pretty gross to me,” 22-year-old Nicole Pandolfe of Costa Mesa said as she stood on the edge of the ditch. “I might try it next year, but just for fun. I’ll be the one carrying the beer and the ice chest who comes in last.”

Some competitors flatly refused to mug for their friends with cameras.

“I’m dying!” yelled Gigi Mitchell, as she neared the end of the ditch. “If you were in a bucket of mud, would you want your picture taken?”

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Before the start of the race, some first-time participants admitted experiencing some butterflies.

“I’m not really an iron man,” said Costa Mesa resident Mike Gilligan, 35. “I’m more like a tin man.”

Gilligan’s teammate, 44-year-old Gary Draudt of Dove Canyon, decided to take part in the event over his wife’s objections. The couple were planning to leave on a 20-year wedding anniversary trip to Polynesia today.

“My wife said, ‘If you break your leg in the mud, just stay there because I’m getting on that plane without you,’ ” Draudt said.

Participant Erica Hawes’ goal was “just to finish.”

“I work out, but I wasn’t training for this,” said Hawes, a 21-year-old college student from Rancho Santa Margarita. “I do the Stairmaster at the gym. My friend conned me into this. I don’t know if I’m going to be speaking to him when this is all over.”

Steve Buchanan, 25, of Irvine tried to remain calm as he waited to start the race. He had carefully applied silver duct tape around his waist and legs “to keep things from falling apart and filling up with mud.”

After starting out strong and with a smile on his face, a mud-covered Buchanan had clearly lost his enthusiasm miles before the finish line.

“I think,” he said, “that I’ve stopped having fun.”