Daniel Barden, 7, was one of the first graders killed in the Sandy Hook, CT tragedy in December 2012. A niece of organizers of this event was inside the Sandy Hook Elementary School that day. She escaped physically unharmed. Her dear friend and next-door neighbor, Daniel, did not. The goal of the Daniel Barden Highland Mudfest is to raise money for The Barden Fund, a fund established for the family, including two remaining siblings. The first annual Daniel Barden Highland Mudfest took place on Saturday, April 13th, 2013 at MKJ Farms in Deansboro, NY. The event featured both a 1/2 mile kids run and a 5K mud run that climbs and falls over the hills of Deansboro.
Eric and Trevor did the 1/2 mile kid’s run, designed for ages 5-12, in about 10 minutes and declared it to be “too easy”.
The 5k run utilized existing trails designed for hunter pace courses. There was 900′ of elevation gain, deep ravines, natural stream crossings and man-made obstacles such as a wall, culvert crawl and mud pits. The course designers were concerned the course was too dry so they asked the Deansboro Fire Dept to water the course on Thursday; then it rained all day Friday.
There were 1,000 participants sent off in waves every 30 minutes starting at 9am. Kathryn and Beth went off at 10:30.
The last obstacle was carrying in firewood to the finish line.
Kathryn tries to warm up next to one of the natural log ‘torches’.