In order to protect our good cameras, I bought a cheap refurbished digital camera to take with me on the course. I did my best to protect it from the mud (it was kept inside a second sealed bag when crawling through the muck), but if it died from sludge overdose, that would be ok. It did end up getting a good coating of mud in the last crawl, but seems to have survived.

Lonnie helps us nerd it up, using his artistic talents to make these blackboard boldface symbols out of duct tape.

Now we're all ready to go, including our two spectators.

Waiting in line for the waves ahead of us to go. We're in wave 26, so it'll be a while!

Finally, our wave reaches the starting line. We make sure to get to the front of the wave so nobody could impede our planned sprint start. Mike Tyson swings the #26 sign around to get the crowd pumped up.

Lonnie turns around to show everyone his impressive angular velocity.

Rich grabs the microphone to let everyone know which team will be winning this wave: There Will Be Mudd.

And they're off. There Will Be Mudd sprints out in front, leading all other teams for the first quarter mile or more!

The first part of the course is not really muddy, but there are still obstacles. Rich & Dmitry easily clear this one.

The first "whoop-dee-doo" gets the mud flying. That's what I'm talking about!

James surges ahead as usual.

Tom unexpectedly hits a deep spot in the mud and goes down. Rich is next to fall in. Then it's a slippery slide down this slick slope. Meanwhile, James is still ahead of the rest of the team (after he already waited several times for us to catch up). We should have just given him the timing chip and let him take off at full speed. We could have won this thing!

James and I are first to emerge from the car wash.

Then it's on to Orange County's Biggest Mud Pit. One of us is using proper technique, the other isn't!

Five out of six team members have reached the finish now. But where's Lonnie?

Ah, there he is. He stayed back to get some extra mud and do his best Braveheart impression.

Pretty good job, team! Though next time, James needs to get more muddy.

The professional photos didn't turn out too well this time. Most were severely overexposed, requiring significant adjustment just to get them to this level. Would have made some nice shots if the photographers knew how to work their equipment!