Women survive KC Timber Challenge’s obstacles

The Lumber Jackies went to the Wild Women Timber Challenge with one goal: survival.

After an hour and a half of grueling their way through obstacles and mud, they achieved it and say they gained even more: empowerment, self-confidence and teamwork.

And they were holding blunted axes the whole time.

“We’re clearing the path for others,” Lumber Jackie member Malinda Stein said.

The eight-woman team decided to dress in plaid to go along with the 5K obstacle course’s timber theme and try to win the costume competition.

It was the second obstacle course run by the KC Timber Challenge operation and the first open only to women, event coordinator Jeff Nuss said. On Sunday morning, the event, which did not keep times, drew more than 600 women, 40 volunteers and 100 spectators.

“There’s a certain camaraderie — woman power — that we want to promote,” Nuss said.

Nuss compared the obstacle course to the Tough Mudder, Spartan Race and Color Run events but said it was locally run. The course was hacked, dug and built into the forest surrounding Adventure Zip KC, a zip-lining company in Bonner Springs that helped found the organization.

“Instead of making you climb a plywood wall, we’re making you climb up a 15-foot cliff that you find naturally,” Nuss said.

Halfway through the course, shrieks and giggles could be heard at the highest point. Catwoman and Captain America of the Dirty Dolls waited with water guns while the rest of the team shot at them from the top of a 5-story tower. The Hulk put her hands up in an adrenaline rush and stuck her tongue out at the crowd below.

They were tired but determined to have fun, said Howard Jones, the Hulk’s boyfriend.

Thirty feet away, women sunk into a foamy pit, cooling off in the 90-degree weather. They crawled over a dirt mound covered in chicken wire, slid down a muddy water slide, zip-lined over a pond and waded through even more mud. Other features included a vertical bus to clamber up and colored chalk thrown at participants as they crossed the finish line.

The course offered a way for the teachers of Santa Fe Trail Middle School to bond and get hyped for the school year. Melissa Lunney, a teacher and team captain, said if they could finish the course, they would be ready for the kids come fall.

“We put our hearts and souls into teaching, so it means a lot to me to hang out outside of the office,” said Kelly Ralston, the school’s assistant principal. “I get to see another side of them.”

“The muddy side,” joked her co-worker, Vicki Brinkman.

This story was originally published July 27, 2014 at 3:11 PM with the headline "Women survive KC Timber Challenge’s obstacles."