Cross Country Xtreme
Josh Hulen, 36, of Columbia, takes a splash in one of several mud pits along the course of the Cross Country Xtreme race near the Midway Sandbar west of Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. Participants are encouraged to dress in costume for the four-mile race, which featured obstacles, water crossings, smoke bombs and more.
Three years ago I shot the Off Track Events Bike Ride to Rocheport and had a blast. I’ve known about the XCX since then, but have missed it the past few years and was never able to check it out. This Saturday, by chance, I had a Saturday morning photo shift at the Missourian, and pitched the idea to my editors, knowing for sure there would be opportunities for some killer photos. We ran a brief gallery online, but I wanted to add some more of my favorites here.
The course was amazing, I was completely blown away by the difficulty and awesomeness of some of the obstacles. Waist-deep mud and 10-foot dirt walls with rope climbs? Seriously, you guys are nuts, but in the best way possible. I did my best to stay out of the way of participants on the course, and when possible tried to find alternative routes around the muddiest parts. If I didn’t have two more assignments scheduled immediately after the race, I probably would have been less worried about getting completely muddied.
This is my last planned year to be in Columbia, but if I’m ever back when an XCX is going on, you can bet I’ll be back, as a racer.
Josh Hulen re-applies a wig that fell off in the mud onto his costume during the XCX race.
Dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lindsay Tworek, right, leads the way on a rope climb up a muddy creek bed, followed by Nikki Erickson.
Colored smoke bombs along the course added to the atmosphere of the XCX race.
A racer completely covered in gold spray paint with a matching bicycle makes his way to the starting line of the XCX race at the Midway Sandbar.
A pack of costumed participants stumble through a steep section of the wooded course.
Runners trek through the woods past a pond near the Midway Sandbar during XCX race.
The first obstacle on the course was a body crawl under a twine webbing.
After signaling the beginning of the race, a man dressed as Elmo with a trumpet sprawls out on the ground near the starting gate.
Killer job dude,
absolutely rockin.
[...] so I was looking forward to it. I also had seen a lot of photos from this event before, such as Jeff Lautenberger‘s always spot-on work and Parker Eshelman’s surreal photos. I definitely didn’t [...]