Photos: Rainy day makes for a perfect mud race

Mud race + rain = even muddier mud race!

The Long Island Adventure Race held at EPCAL Saturday featured runners braving the rain and 50-degree weather to run a 5K with numerous obstacles like a water slide, a dumpster filled with water, a pool filled with soapy water — in which they had to find two golf balls — as well as other, more traditional obstacles, like a wall climb.

About 800 runners participated, according to Bill Borges, who co-coordinated the race with Chris Witt. It was held on Riverhead Town land just south of the new dog park.

The race raised money for the Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, North Fork Breast Health Coalition, Heidi Behr Scholarship Fund, Timothy Hill Children’s Ranch, the Riverhead Youth Bureau and the Cancer Research Foundation.

“It was a lot of fund,” said Carolyn Maluai, who said she and her friends also did the Survivor Race at the 4H Camp in Baiting Hollow last month.

“It was pretty insane,” said Karen Goodale of Riverhead, who ran the race with her husband, Kevin.

Both Ms. Maluai and Ms. Goodale said the same thing when asked about the cold.

“Once you start running, you’re good,” Ms. Goodale said.

“You don’t even feel the cold once you get started,” Ms. Maluai said.

Racers will get the change to do the Adventure Race in nicer weather on Aug. 10, when another Adventure Race is scheduled for EPCAL.

Ms. Goodale said they are already planning to run in it.