by Caitlin Conner
Staff Writer

Warrior dash. The name says it all. It is a 3.51 mile race through some of the roughest terrain possible. Essentially, it’s a glorified obstacle course complete with every muddy, water-logged obstruction you could imagine.

Junior Tanner Rice, sophomore Weston Sandfort and freshman Hunter Heaton and many other CHS students competed in the Warrior Dash on April 1st and 2nd in Forney.

There was a group from the CHS cross country team traveling to Forney together led by Heaton’s parents.

“[Senior] John Frnka found the race and he rounded up the team,” Heaton said. “It was kind of a conflict because regionals were the same weekend but we got eight people together and all drove down together.”

Warrior Dash was held on both Saturday and Sunday to accommodate the large crowd. There were 500 participants per heat with a total of around 9,000 runners each day. The Texas chapter of the race is held at Cousin’s Paintball in Forney.

The course includes several obstacles such as running through rivers, jumping over fire and crawling through mud under barbed wire.

“The hardest part for me I think was the fire pits just because it was at the very end,” Heaton said. “I was already pretty worn out and it just seems much further than you think. But once I got over the first fire pit, the second one was fine.”

                For Rice, the hardest part had nothing to do with the obstacle course.

                “It was knowing that I had spring football the next day,” Rice said. “By the end of the course, I was exhausted.”

Rice participated alongside his entire family including his dad, step-mother, two step-brothers and his younger brother sophomore Sam Rice. 

                “I loved competing with my dad because we both are really competitive and took it seriously,” Rice said. “I get to compete with Sam every day but it’s rare when I get to challenge the whole family.”

                The cross country team swept its heat for the 14-19 age group with senior Seth Rodgers placing first, Frnka second, Sandfort third and Heaton fourth. Rodgers also received third in his entire age group. 

“It was a ton of fun because we did really well,” Sandfort said. “It was really chill and no one was taking it super seriously. People wanted to do well but you could also tell everyone just wanted to have a good time.”

Everyone who is running receives a chip at the beginning of the race that will record their start and finish times. Though many people compete just for the fun of it, prizes are rewarded for the top times in different categories.  

Warrior Dash encourages people to come dressed in the most outlandish costumes possible and has the crowd vote on the craziest costume. The participant with the best costume receives a gift card prize. The top three times in each age division for males and females win a steel warrior helmet trophy. The top three overall times for both males and females will win a custom engraved steel warrior helmet.

The Warrior Dash is held by Red Frog Events who also hosts the Great Urban Race. Each race is done by age categories, although anyone can sign up for any age group if they want a certain time. The Warrior Dash was inspired by several competitions including Navy SEALs training, American Gladiators, Eco-Challenge and Ironman.