America’s Toughest Mudder – Northeast is the third in a series of Toughest Mudder regional events. At the event, competitors hope to win an elite spot at the 2017 World’s Toughest Mudder in Las Vegas, NV later this year. The Northeast event was held just outside of Philadelphia, in Coatesville, PA at the lovely Plantation Field. As with the other America’s Toughest Mudder, the first place men’s and women’s finisher will each get $5,000. And the first person to do 50 miles during the event will also earn an additional $5,000.
After Los Angeles and Atlanta, it appears competitors are in for a flatter course and a cooler 57 degrees here just outside of Philadelphia. But that does not make this course any easier. At the LA event, competitors had a 5 mile course until 4am then the course expanded to 10 miles. In Atlanta, competitors faced a 5 mile course until 4am. Then they switched over to a different 5 mile course for the rest of the race. But here in Philly, competitors face a 5 mile course packed with the 17 of the best obstacles Tough Mudder has to offer for all 8 hours of th event.
Ryan Atkins, and his wife Lindsay Webster, top male and female finishers in both Los Angeles and Atlanta, sat out this event. This opened up the field for a few surprises in regards to top 5 finishers.
The biggest factor here though was the temperature. It was 57 degrees at the start of the race and by 4am it had it dropped to 50 degrees. It was here that experience at Tough Mudder’s paid off as wetsuits became the norm for seasoned elite competitors. Some competitors did not have wetsuits and this set them up for loss of feeling in their hands, which made grasping difficult, and with the water obstacles an increased chance of hypothermia.
Overall, there were a total of 717 competitors that completed the course in Philadelphia. And a first for this years America’s Toughest Mudders event, no competitor completed 50+ miles and earned the additional $5,000 bonus. The top 5 finishers were;
WOMEN’S
- Allison Tai * finishing with 39 miles completed
- Zoe Chazen
- Alex Roudayna *
- Morgan McKay
- Adriane Alvord
MEN’S
- Trevor Cichosz (2016 Worlds Toughest Mudder Mens Champion) finishing with 41 miles
- Jordan Mcdougal
- Austin Azar
- Mark Jones
- Jesse Bruce
* Previous Qualifier
There was a total of eight new competitors qualifying at this event for elite status at the Worlds Toughest Mudder 2017. Mens 2016 Worlds Toughest Mudder champion, Trevor Cichosz, qualified and will defend his title. But Stefani Bishop, the 2016 Worlds Toughest Mudder Women’s Champion, has yet to make it into the top 5 and qualify. This brings the total up to 23 athletes who have qualified. There are 10 remaining elite slots up for grabs at the final America’s Toughest Mudder outside of Chicago.
I want to give my usual shout out to the oldest racers at the event. Congrats to Heidi Williams, the oldest female finisher at the age of 58 completing 15 miles. And to Harold Cavallaro, the oldest male finisher at the age of 63 completing 15 miles. These competitors show us all that age is just a number.
Photos Courtesy of CBS Sports, Tough Mudder 2017, and Gameface Media, Inc. All rights reserved
John Tackett
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