Staff writer
When former Marion resident Mitch Enos, 26, heard about the Warrior Dash 5-kilometer (3.1-miles) obstacle course in Kansas City, he decided it sounded like a lot of fun.
Enos, now living in Topeka, entered the race July 30 in Kansas City with some friends. The race was more grueling than any of them expected.
“It’s pretty brutal,” Enos said.
Enos said he sometimes runs 5- and 10-kilometer races, but nothing like the Warrior Dash.
The course included 11 obstacles for runners to overcome:
- Hurdle over a barricade, then crawl under barbed wire.
- Climb over giant straw bales.
- Climb over and through scrap cars.
- Climb over a vertical wall.
- Traverse a narrow, elevated walkway.
- Run through waist-deep water.
- Run down a stream.
- Crawl across a giant cargo net.
- Climb up and down a cargo net.
- Hurdle fires.
- And crawl through mud under barbed wire.
Enos finished the race with a time of 32 minutes, 29.45 seconds. That was good enough to place 53rd of 6,600 runners overall, and 10th of more than 800 in his age group.
He said a lot of runners competed in costume. Enos may not have been in costume, exactly, but he was in character, with half his face painted blue and his hair in a Mohawk.