Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.- More than 6,000 service members and civilians splashed, trudged, and waded through 6.2-miles of mud and muck here as the base marked the 20th anniversary of its World Famous Mud Run June 1. 

The day began with a simple instruction given by the base commanding general and regional authority for five Marine Corps installations in the southwestern United States.

“I’m going to give you all an order. You have to have fun today,” said Brig. Gen. Vincent A. Coglianese as the sea of people erupted with cheers, laughter and applause.

Costumes and home-made team T-shirts peppered the crowd as the competitors moved from the grassy staging area to the starting line.

“This year we have a few additional obstacles on the course,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Anthony Cisneros, the director of Business Operations for Marine Corps Community Services.

“We added cargo netting and a couple of obstructions to challenge our runners,” said Cisneros. “They want the experience and we want to challenge them.”

New obstacles weren’t the only addition to this year’s competition.

“You’ll see we’ve modified many of the same things we’ve done previously,” Cisneros continued. “We also added a Mud Run apparel store that sells Mud Run specific items and consumables.”

“Semper Fit has done a great job of building on a foundation of athletics to make (the run) enticing and exciting for competitors of all genres,” said Cisneros, who has worked the event the past two years.

Competitor, Erik Bye, said it was his fifth year participating.

“I thought I knew what to expect, but it was nice to see the extra obstacles,” said Bye after the run, while wearing a horned helmet and a long red beard. “We do costumes every year and this year we did Scottish Vikings with kilts.”

Registration is now closed for all 2013 runs. Sign up for next year’s race Jan. 1, 2014.

“We have web sites for more information where you can also track pictures of yourself by your bib number,” said Cisneros.

For more information on the mud run, visit worldfamousmudrun.com. For race results, visit worldfamousmudrun.com/raceresults.

Contact Cpl. Sarah Wolff-Diaz at sarah.wolff@usmc.mil