Saturday found more than 1,100 people running jumping and sliding their way through the 5k course of the first Chattanooga Mud Run at Greenway Farms in Chattanooga. The event, to support Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga’s work of creating home ownership opportunities for economically disadvantaged families, featured a 5K run through a military-style obstacle course with most of the obstacles surrounded by (or consisting entirely of) mud.
“Thanks to the generous support of our title sponsors Capital Toyota and Toyota of Cleveland, as well as WDEF-TV, Regions Bank, Big River Grille, Strauss Company, Outdoor Chattanooga, Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union, Greenlife Grocery, Coke, and East Chattanooga Lumber, and all of those who participated, this event raised over $22,000 to support Habitat’s work,” sid Tina Shaw-Cox, one of the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga staff members who helped plan the event. “This effort was a first for us, and we are already looking ahead to next year’s Chattanooga Mud Run. We hope to be able to accommodate even more teams. We were pleasantly surprised that this year’s event reached its full capacity so quickly.”
Ms. Shaw-Cox said thanks are due as well to Dawn Sawyer, UTC’s ROTC Department, students from the McCallie School, and all of the volunteers and board members.
She said, “This event would not have happened without their generous contributions of time, ideas and sweat in helping us develop, plan, conduct and cleanup after this event.”
“Raising more funds and awareness through efforts like this is crucial for Habitat," said John Lamb, Habitat’s director of development. “At any given moment, we have 10 to 15 families waiting beyond our current build schedule. Changing a family’s life through our home ownership program requires ongoing support financial support from the community in addition to the volunteer building experiences that are such a familiar part of Habitat’s work. We have families waiting their turn, we have volunteers ready to build, but it takes funding to get more construction rolling.”
For those who participated, and would like to see their times, and photos of the event, visit www.habichatt.org. Results are also available at www.transformchattanooga.org.