Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 122, No. 234 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
September 29, 2013
www.rdrnews.com
Mud, Sweat and Tears:
SUNDAY
Competition and camaraderie make Roswell’ s first mud run a success
AMY VOGELSANG RECORD STAFF WRITER
Exhilaration and tension swept across Noon Optimist Park. The sun broke through, war ming the crisp air and shining upon neon colors, taffeta skirts and an overwhelming amount of team spirit. Some paced nervously. Some danced with excitement. For some, it would be challenging. For others, it would seem like nothing. Only one thing was certain: No person would emerge unscathed. There would be mud. Roswell’s first mud run, Roswell Mud, Sweat and Tears, had a great turnout Saturday mor ning. Although no finite number was determined on Saturday, Barbara Gomez, coordinator of the run, said there may have been more than 300 people, far exceeding the goal of 150. And many runners came from neighboring states like Arizona and Texas, as well as all over the state. “I had people tell me they were going to go out of town for another run, but decided to stay in Roswell for this run,” Gomez said. Whether runners were out for competition in a 5K or simply running for fun in the 1.5 mile, everyone was beaming. Some proceeds of the event went to Operation Wounded Warrior New Mexico, and the Wounded Warrior team started off
the races. Husband and wife Kenny and Brandie McMillon, Jennifer Tucker and Jessica Eastman helped make up the WW team. But their group was headed-up by Legion Rider Jimmy Montoya. “We work together and are pretty close knit,” Eastman said. “So when Jimmy mentioned running for Wounded Warriors, we all volunteered.” None of them had done a mud run before, but they didn’t seem the slightest bit worried. Mostly they just emitted excitement. “I wanted to rise to the challenge of leading by example,” Montoya said. And in their leadership, they were the first to run the course. A group of girls in matching Wonder Woman outfits, “The Dirty Girls” and “Women O Sweat” were just a few of the groups to follow. There also was a mother-daughter duo facing the extremes of the mud run. Heather Schmidt and daughter, Celina, dressed alike in curly white wigs streaked pink and purple and their faces peaked out behind masquerade masks. “We went to the costume store and threw on what we had,” Heather said. “You can be as crazy as you want because no one can recognize you!” Being incognito apparently has its advantages, even in a mud race. A lot of camaraderie was seen along every point of
Rey Berrones Photos
Top: Jimmy Montoya, team leader of the Wounded Warriors, crawls through the muddy obstacle course. “I wanted to rise to the challenge of leading by example,” Montoya said. Left: A member of the "Star Cadet Water Gun Brigade" shoots competitors with a water gun. The brigade was encouraged to shoot the runners and the Roswell Fire Department made sure that its guns were topped up. Right: Competitors scale one of the course’s tire obstacles. the course. As runners crawled through and slipped over pits and hills of mud, fought through a bog, crawled through pipes and climbed tire walls, there was constant cheering and team support all around. Although not everyone
was running competively, the elite teams did compete for best times, and coming out on top was New Mexico Youth Challenge, the group who also spent hours helping to set up the entire course. But even those who ran for fun, with no time or
limitless gover nment, bureaucratic arrogance and a disregard of a will of the people,” said Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind. Another Republican, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, reacted angrily when asked whether he would eventually support a standalone spending bill if needed to prevent a shutdown. “How dare you presume a failure? How dare you? How dare you?” he said. Apart from its impact on the health care law, the legislation that House Republicans decided to back would assure routine funding for government agencies through Dec. 15. Under House rules, the measure went to the Senate after lawmakers voted 248174 to repeal the medical tax, then 231-192 for the
one-year delay in Obamacare. A companion measure to assure U.S. troops are paid in the event of a shutdown passed unanimously. The government spending measure marked something of a reduction in demands by House Republicans, who passed legislation several days ago that would permanently strip the health care law of money while providing funding for the gover nment. It also contained significant concessions from a party that long has criticized the health care law for imposing numerous government mandates on industry, in some cases far exceeding what Republicans have been willing to support in the past.
prizes, enjoyed the event. “Everyone who crosses that finish line covered in mud looks tired, but they all have huge smiles on their faces,” observed onlooker Mike Walsh. As music kept playing and the Roswell Daily Record took victorious pic-
tures of teams so covered in mud that it was sometimes hard to know who each person was, there was no shortness of grinning. Ultimately, it was agreed that the happiness felt by everyone made the first mud run a success.
Shutdown nearing, GOP seeks health care delay noon on Monday, 10 hours before a shutdown would begin, and even some Republicans said privately they feared that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., held the advantage in the fast-approaching end game. If so, a House GOP rank and file that includes numerous tea party allies would soon have to choose between triggering the first partial shutdown in nearly two decades — or coming away empty-handed from their latest confrontation with Obama. Undeterred, House Republicans pressed ahead with their latest attempt to squeeze a concession from the White House in exchange for letting the government open for business normally on Tuesday. “Obamacare is based on a
NM could feel pinch of federal budget battle ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Thousands of federal employees in New Mexico are bracing for the possibility of furloughs and lost paychecks as the government scoots closer to the edge of a partial shutdown next week.
Unless Congress acts before Tuesday to fund federal spending, the gates to popular tourist destinations such as Carlsbad Caver ns National Monument and other parks around New Mexico could be closed. Passport applications
could be left unprocessed and work could be suspended at the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other agencies. U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said Friday that lurching from one potential shutdown to another is a dysfunctional way to govern. “It’s har mful to the economy and to middle class families,” he said. “It erodes our national security and hurts mili-
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Locked in a deepening struggle with President Barack Obama, the Republican-controlled House approved legislation early Sunday imposing a oneyear delay in key parts of the nation’s health care law and repealing a tax on medical devices as the price for avoiding a partial government shutdown in a few days’ time. Even before the House voted, Senate Democrats pledged to reject the measure and the White House issued a statement vowing a veto in any event. Republicans are pursuing “a narrow ideological agenda ... and pushing the government towards shutdown,” it said. The Senate is not scheduled to meet until mid-after-
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