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Mud challenge to benefit kids' hospital
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Chad Macek of Hubbard helps out Rick Courtney as he tries to climb “Da Wall,” a half-pipe on the Burner. The Burner, a 7-mile mud run with 30 natural and manmade obstacles, bills itself as “Ohio’s toughest seven miles.” Registration continues for the benefit for Akron Children’s Hospital.
By JEANNE STARMACK
starmack@vindy.com
Hubbard
Feel the Burner — a 7-mile mud run with 30 manmade and natural obstacles on a course that stretches across 200 acres.
Ouch, you’ll burn. Your feet will. Your muscles will.
But don’t worry, said Jim Marucci of Hubbard, one of the chief masterminds behind the run.
You’ll have plenty of opportunities to cool off — one slip of the grip and a plunge into a pit of muddy water might do it. If not, there will be a cool, refreshing swim available — in a dumpster full of ice water.
You can even take a ride down a 125-foot-long slip-and-slide — where thoughtful course designers John Madeline and Chad Macek, who have 40 mud runs between them, have decided to baby you with some actual baby oil mixed in with the water.
Otherwise?
“We’re responsible for the pain they endure,” said Macek on Wednesday, as he and Madeline were putting some finishing touches on the obstacles that are already set up for the Burner’s mud run Saturday at 2601 Elmwood Drive Extension.
Two hundred-twenty people are registered so far for the run, with its first heat at 10 a.m. Other start times are 11 a.m. and noon, and you can take all the time you want on the course, said Marucci, who runs the event with other family members through an entity called Winger Productions to benefit Akron Children’s Hospital. You don’t even have to complete it. That’s because no one is really holding your feet to the fire.
“The majority who do this thing aren’t Arnold Schwarzenegger or world-class fitness types. They just want to have fun,” said Marucci.
Five dollars of every $100 registration fee goes to the hospital, with the rest of the money going toward costs, he said. The family was able to present $2,000 to the hospital Wednesday.
The family, including Marucci’s wife, Becky, and his daughter, Dana, hold the race in memory of his son, Jim, who was 29 when he died two years ago of nonhodgkins lymphoma.
“This is his golf outing on steroids,” said Marucci as he looked out over the course, where many of the man-made obstacles are clustered within a few miles of each other with natural ones back on wooded trails.
“He was extremely fit and would do anything,” Marucci continued.
The Maruccis, who live on Schotten Road, rent the 200 acres across from the township police station for the Burner. It is the third Burner in two years, Marucci said. There was also one in June, but, he said, he believes there will only be one a year from now on.
The $100-per-person registration includes a T-shirt, dog tags, a beer at the end of the course and parking. Children from 8 to 14 must be accompanied by a parent. Children from 8 to 12 can run the course for free. Children under 8 are not permitted on the course. Vendors will be selling food and beverages.
There is still plenty of time to register, and the best way to do that is at www.theburner.us.