FORT DRUM, N.Y. (Aug. 11, 2023) — Ready, set, mud! More than 1,000 Fort Drum community members walked, ran, crawled and had a downright dirty time at the annual Mountain Mudder.

This is Fort Drum Morale, Welfare and Recreation’s 10th year hosting the event, which spans a 5.5-mile course and features 23 obstacles along the way.

“It’s our 10th year, and we keep trying to add something new every year to keep it fresh,” said Rebecca Morgia, FMWR Community Recreation Division chief. “We find that a lot of Soldiers use this as a great opportunity for their morning physical training. The first wave of runners is always the largest one, with more than 500 registered, and that is mostly Soldiers.”

Morgia said that the Mudder also garners a lot of interest from family members and civilian employees as well.

“We’re pretty excited because all the participants show a lot of teamwork and camaraderie every, and that always fun to see,” she said.

A group of Company B Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team were among the first teams finishing the Mudder.

“This was just a little team-bonding exercise for us,” said Staff Sgt. Peyton Primack. “We wanted to get after it this morning, and what better way than this mud run.”

Spc. Michael Johnson said this was a break from normal physical training.

“It’s a fun way for us to get together and get some exercise – we ran the whole thing, didn’t stop,” he said.

Bill Van Orman, Suicide Prevention Program manager in the Soldier and Family Readiness Division, has participated in at least five of the Mudders. First as a Soldier, and now as an Army civilian employee, he said it is a good physical challenge.

“I love mud runs and I love obstacle courses,” he said. “Sometimes I’ve run as an individual, sometimes I’ve met up with people at the starting line and we run together.”

This year, he ran with a team of garrison employees who paced each other through the course, keeping motivation high throughout.

“It doesn’t always have to be competitive,” Van Orman said. “Sometimes it’s nice to just slow down and have fun with it. And this is a great group to be with.”

Angela VanPutte, Lauren Kearney, Katrina Turner and Amy Schardt represented the “Warrior Spouses” of 1st Brigade Combat Team, and demonstrated a no-quit attitude as they ran through obstacle after obstacle until they reached the warped wall at the finish line.

“It pushes you, and you kind of create your own goals out of it,” said Turner. “So achieving those goals now feels pretty good.”

They met through their unit’s Soldier and Family Readiness Group and said the Mudder was a good team-building exercise.

“It was awesome,” said Schardt. “FMWR did a great job.”

“And the Soldiers are super supportive out there, cheering us on,” said Kearney. It makes you feel strong.”

It’s been a busy summer schedule for FMWR, with the Mudder following on the heels of other big events on post such Riverfest, Mountainfest and the Lt. Dan Band concert.

“We really load a lot of our community events in the summer, so our Soldiers and families can enjoy the season,” Morgia said. “We’ve had a lot of back-to-back-to-back events, and we have our Volksmarch event coming up in a couple of weeks, and that’s another big one. We have a great team that makes everything happen.”