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SOLDIER HOLLOW -- Hundreds of runners got to spend the day playing in the mud for a good cause Saturday.
The runners willingly got messy at Soldier Hollow for the first-annual "Dirty Dash" for charity. Race organizers set up an obstacle course which required competitors to run, climb, jump and get squirted by high-powered water hoses.
In this case, the more mud, the more fun.
"A lot of people are used to a 10k or a 5k or even marathons. But I think the main thing is that it's just something fun and different that you can do with your friends, and not very often since you were a kid that you jump into a mud pit," said John Malfatto, the race's organizer.
In addition to the obstacles, the race included a slip and slide, tubes to crawl through, a cannonball into Deer Creek Reservoir and a section where spectators can pelt runners with water balloons.
This race was so popular, it sold out quickly. Organizers added a second run in the afternoon.
All proceeds went to charity. Registration is already underway for the 2011 "Dirty Dash."
