5th annual Tuff Tornado Run attracts more than 500 participants
BUTLER TWP — Youths, parents, grandparents — all out for a rather unique stroll through the park.
The fifth annual Tuff Tornado Run — proceeds benefiting the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation — took place Saturday at Alameda Park. The nearly two-mile course consisted of 21 obstacles.
“Nothing too difficult,” event chairperson Audray Muscatello said. “We like this day to be family friendly.”
And families took advantage.
Rhonda Coyle, her husband, daughter and grandson were among those who took on the course.
“We’ve done it every year,” Coyle said. “It’s fun, it’s for a good cause, and it’s a beautiful day. Last year, it was rainy all day.”
The Tuff Tornado run had 300 participants last year. Late in this past Saturday’s event, there were 508 taking on the course, groups starting out at 15-minute intervals.
The obstacles included a maze, sack race, pipe crawl, army crawl, rope walk, fence climb, hay bale climb, mud run and foam, among others. There were also color runs, with runners having different colors of paint sprayed upon them at different points on the course.
“I got a little bit up my nose,” 7-year-old Isabelle Fesler said, smiling.
There were no winners. The day was all about having a good time for a good cause.
“This raises money for our Kids Weekend Backpack program, technology grants and various student needs,” Muscatello said. “It all falls under the umbrellas of the Golden Tornado Foundation.
“Last year, we raised $15,00 through this event. This year, we’re hoping for $20,000 or beyond. The turnout has been fantastic.”
Many student volunteers from the STAR program, Junior ROTC and National Honor Society were on hand to help out between Friday (setting up the course) and Saturday, the event used approximately 60 volunteers.
Butler Township Commissioners Dave Zarnick and Sam Zurzolo provided helping hands to the proceedings as well. Zurzolo set up many of the obstacles.
“I was here for 12 hours on Friday,” he said. “It’s all worth it. This is a true team effort to pull this off and everyone enjoys doing it.”
Most people completed the course in 30 to 45 minutes.
“It didn’t feel like two miles because of the obstacles,” said Jennifer Fesler of Butler, who completed the course with her 7-year-old daughter. “We finished in 30 minutes. I was surprised it didn’t take longer.
“We do other races, like the Turkey Trot, the Butler Road Race. We’ll add this one to the list. It’s family friendly, for sure.”
Tony and Sara Kuhns of Butler did the course with their children, ages 4 and 7.
“My wife talked me into trying it,” Tony said. “It looked like fun and it was something we could all do together.”
Sara Kuhns works out at a cross-fit gym.
“That’s how I found out about this,” she said. “A lot of people at the gym were involved. We were out here maybe an hour or so. We’ll definitely come back and do it again.”
