When Gabe Ocasio reached the penultimate obstacle of Saturday’s Tough Mudder Indiana, he had about a 30-second lead on Adam Joslin.
But with Ocasio struggling with sore shins and calves from the 10-mile, 25-obstacle, it took him a little more time to get through the Block-Ness Monster and the final obstacle, Electroshock Therapy.
Fortunately for Ocasio, the finish line was only a few meters from the end of Electroshock Therapy, and he held off a hard-charging Adam Joslin to win by one second.
“I knew these guys were breathing down my neck,” Ocasio said of Joslin and Jacob Bosecker, all Columbus residents. “I just pulled through. Thankfully, I was close enough to the finish line to be able to bring it in and be all right. But give them 100 more meters, and they both get me.”
Ocasio’s final time was 1 hour, 6 minutes, 29 seconds to Joslin’s 1:06:30.
“I don’t think I could have gone another 100 meters,” said Joslin, a 2010 Columbus East graduate. “I think I was about to come down coming out of that electric thing. It hit me right at the end and shocked me real bad. I just stumbled through it.”
Ocasio and Joslin both competed in the 2019 Tough Mudder Indiana, the first year it was held at Ceraland. Ceraland did not host a Tough Mudder event last year.
After finishing seventh in that 2019 race at Ceraland, Ocasio won a Tough Mudder event in Nashville, Tennessee that October. This was the first Tough Mudder competition since then for the former Columbus North cross-country and track standout and current North assistant cross-country coach.
“We train out here,” Ocasio said. “This is our home cross-country course, so I knew the terrain pretty well, especially back in the trails. That was really comfortable.”
Bosecker finished third in 1:07:04.
“This is my first race in two years after meningitis, and I’m just happy to be out here and be safe and healthy and running with all these young guys,” Bosecker said. “It’s a blast. It’s a good feeling to get back up here.”
Boescker actually provided Ocasio with a big assist. Ocasio split his running shoes last week at North’s team camp in Brown County, so Bosecker lent him the green trail shoes of Ben Hall, who died of cancer earlier this year.
Hall was an avid runner in the community, a good friend to a lot of people and part of the Tri-812 triathlon community.
“Guys are really close to their shoes,” Bosecker said. “It’s just something special. It was always one of those things growing up where we’d have an extra pair of shoes around so of somebody there needed a pair of shoes, we got a pair of shoes for them. They served their purpose today. Gabe got to wear his shoes today and win the race.”
For that, Ocasio was grateful.
“I’m very honored to wear these shoes,” Ocasio said. “I know a lot of miles have been put into these. They felt great during the race. It’s probably the reason my calves cramped up, but you’re always going to have some sort of a challenge, especially at these races, but I just embraced it instead of complaining about it.”
Meanwhile, Columbus athletes also took the top two spots in the women’s division. Kim Ellis finished 35th overall and first among females in 1:34:18, and Ashley Nicholls was 43rd overall and second among women in 1:38:32.
A total of 141 entrants took part in the competitive wave, and close to 5,000 others were expected for several subsequent waves on Saturday. Another 1,700 are expected today to try the 10-mile and 5K courses.
“There were great markings on the course,” Ocasio said. “The volunteers were solid. This is a great event.”
