Students and Baton Rouge residents got down and dirty Saturday at the Play Dirty Adventure Trail Run at the Baton Rouge Fairgrounds.
The three-mile event included a mud crawl, various obstacles to climb and grease-covered plastic to struggle up and then slide down.
University students who ran the race were up for the challenge.
Stephanie Cavalier, civil engineering graduate student, said the event was something different compared to regular road races.
“It was fun. Crisco was a nice surprise,” Cavalier said, referring to the greasy plastic participants had to climb multiple times.
Construction management senior Michael Zertuche said he wasn’t sure of what to expect from the race because he hadn’t trained for it, but he still enjoyed the challenges the course offered.
Zertuche said he primarily attended the race to support the cause of fighting childhood obesity.
David Poleto, Play Dirty event director, said a portion of the entry fees from the event will go to the Rocket Kidz Foundation to battle childhood obesity. He said the event has raised roughly $5,000 for the organization so far.
Rocket Kidz Foundation was founded in 2007 as a non-profit fund to combat childhood obesity, said Patrick Fellows, the organization’s founder.
Fellows said the foundation uses donations to host its own marathons and triathlons for children or to finance other programs that actively promote childhood exercise. He said some money is used to send children to the YMCA’s fitness camp.
“There’s plenty of money out there going to the study of childhood obesity, but there’s not enough going to doing anything,” Fellows said.
In addition to the charitable cause, the fun of the race was another draw for students.
Mechanical engineering sophomore Morgan Pittman said she runs often, but she hasn’t competed in a 5K or any other type of road race before. She said she enjoyed the Play Dirty race because of its obstacles.
“I like crawling through the mud,” Pittman said. “It’s fun to get