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Hubbard men to take on Toughest Mudder
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Chad Macek of Hubbard will go to Las Vegas with his friend John Madeline, also of Hubbard, to compete in the World’s Toughest Mudder, a 24-hour mud run/obstacle course.
NILES
Chad Macek and John Madeline are hitting Las Vegas this weekend.
Once there, the two 24-year-old Hubbard men don’t plan on sleeping for 24 hours. They might eat, but only on the run. And they plan to run the same 5 miles as many times as they can in that 24 hours.
Other men their age in Vegas will be running around the Strip.
Macek and Madeline, however, will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday 35 miles away from the Strip at Lake Las Vegas to run — and fall, and crawl — in mud. They’ll be hoisting themselves over walls and climbing ropes. They’ll be doing a lot of swimming, they’re told, but so far, the course of the World’s Toughest Mudder — the Tough Mudder organization’s world competition — is mostly a secret.
There will be a 750-foot elevation drop, and temperatures in the desert will dive from daytime high in the 70s to nighttime low in the 40s. That won’t be too comfortable after a swim, they’re thinking.
But they’re not new to Tough Mudder competitions, which include obstacles with names like Arctic Enema and Electric Shock Therapy. They are 10 to 12-mile obstacle courses designed to test all-around strength, stamina, teamwork, and mental grit, according to the organization’s website.
“I work weekends, he doesn’t,” Macek said Thursday at Complete Kettlebell and Fitness in Niles, where he works and where he and Madeline train.
“I’ve done 15; he’s done 28.”
“We’ve traveled all over,” said Madeline. “But this is our first time out West.”
They’ve also designed three mud run/obstacle courses for The Burner — a local organization that raises money for Akron Children’s Hospital.
They’ve used the Hubbard Township property where The Burner takes place to prepare them for Nevada.
“We’ve walked the trails at one or two in the morning with headlights, trying to get used to being out at night,” Macek said.
The biggest issue at night when your mind starts playing tricks on you, he said, is mental focus.
In Nevada, they’ll be allowed to set up tents for rests in a pit area, but they aren’t planning to use them much. They plan to stay on their feet, hoping to complete the same 5 miles in 24 hours until they’ve done at least 75 miles. Last year’s winner, Ryan Atkins of Canada, did 100 miles, Macek said.
Resting, they said, is not a good idea.
“The moment we sit down and relax, we’re done,” Macek said.
They’ll compete with 1,500 to 2,000 other people in what is Tough Mudder’s only competition that awards prizes — the competitions are not about winning so much as they are about teamwork and helping others through the course.
There are prizes for men, women and teams. Macek and Madeline are going for individual prizes, of which the top one is $10,000.
“Even though this is their only paid event, they still preach teamwork,” Madeline said. “It’s not every man for himself.”