By Richard McGuire

The hardest part of the Freak’n Farmer obstacle race last Saturday for James Rutledge was getting up in the morning to go to it.

The course itself? Nothing but fun.

Rutledge, from Penticton, participated in a group that included his wife Megan. They chose the 10-kilometre option, but other participants took five- or 20-km courses.

Megan’s favourite part?

“Getting dirty,” she said. “Just doing it as a team was fun. It’s something different than just running.”

The sixth annual Freak’n Farmer at Covert Farms Family Estate just north of Oliver drew about 400 adult participants and 160 children, said Mike Hill, marketing manager with Hoodoo Adventures, the company that worked with Covert Farms to organize the event.

Participants race through fields, orchards, vineyards and grasslands, facing obstacles that are inspired by some of the jobs done on a farm. Many of the obstacles involved being dunked in pools of muddy water.

Children do shorter courses of 1.5 and three kilometres.

Craig Cote from Kelowna did the 10-km course by himself. Like most contestants, he was out of breath when he slid down the waterslide at the finish.

The hardest part for him was going under hay bales because they triggered his allergies. He also struggled with the monkey bars. “I have no upper arms,” he said. “So it was a foregone conclusion I wasn’t going to be able to get all the way across. I was walking in mud.”

This, said Cote, was his first obstacle race ever. “It’s one of those things you’ve got to do to test yourself and find your limits,” he said. Despite the tough spots, Cote had fun and plans to do it again. “I think I’ll try and do the 20K next year,” he said.

Lee Ann Wilhelm, of Vernon, was out of breath when she landed at the bottom of the waterslide at the finish.

She did the five-kilometre course by herself. She also found the monkey bars to be the most challenging part of the course. She made it across one set, but the second set, which rolls, was too much for her. This was the third time Wilhelm has participated in Freak’n Farmer. She had to watch from the sidelines last year because of an injury. She hopes to return next year.

Many of the participants wore costumes as they slithered through mud under barbed wire and climbed over walls.

Kenton and Sarah Gilchrist were dressed as superheroes.

James Bernique, one of the first to hit the mud pits, played a nerd, complete with taped glasses, shirt pocket penholder and bow tie.