Ten local men journeyed to the Poconos to participate in Tough Mudder May 13, 2012. Their presence in Tough Mudder was in memory of a friend, Sean McDonald.
The Tough Mudder competition is a hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $2 million dollars raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world, according to the Tough Mudder website, as reported by a previous Gant story.
Photo provided by Eric Cummings.
“Sean’s family came to support us and also had their own shirts,” said Eric Cummings, team leader. “From the beginning the tone was set and was awesome! We knelt at the starting line, the announcer, in front of nearly 1,000 people asked me about our shirts. I stood, turned around, and over the loud speakers, he read Sean’s name and the 1 John 4:8 ‘God Is Love’ verse out loud and the crowd erupted with cheers, claps and tears! That was even before the race began.”
Praetorian Legio (the team’s name), Cummings’ and his nine teammates, all finished the race. Cummings said even when members slowed down, the other members waited at the next obstacle. He said they completed everything together.
“We also, while waiting, helped hundreds of other people get through,” Cummings said. “We were quite a force to be reckoned with and we are planning on doing it again next year in Pittsburgh.”