Brennan Todd, from left, Zach Purtlebaugh, Alex Cowan, Ricardo Damon, Nate Frasier, Tyler Purtlebaugh, Carson Dibble, Fred Bailey and JR Honeas will compete as a group in the upcoming Tough Mudder. They are pictured at Maximum Velocity Performance in Columbus, Ind., Monday, July 17, 2023. Group members not pictured are Logan Galarno, Brandon Macy and Ethan Smith.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
When the Tough Mudder first came to Columbus in 2019, local chiropractor and trainer Nate Frasier got together a group of six men and women to do the 8-mile course at Ceraland.
Then last year, when Ceraland hosted the 12-hour Tougher Mudder event, Frasier got together a group of five men and women, some of whom completed 31 miles in the 12 hours.
So in January, with an eye on this year’s Tough Mudder Indiana 10K event, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, Frasier began leading a group of 12 men through training at his MVP (Maximum Velocity Performance) gym. Ten of the 12 are fathers.
“Last winter, we decided we wanted to put a dads group to keep each other held accountable, to keep working out and stay healthy and get healthy for some of us who weren’t healthy,” Frasier said. “As a steppingstone along the way, we kind of wanted to do something together, and this is Step 1. We’re all getting in shape, and this is a fun thing to do. We have this one on the calendar, and then we may go and do the (Mill Race) half marathon here later on in the year.”
Dan Burt, who did the inaugural Tough Mudder Indiana with Frasier in 2019, talked to Frasier over the winter about getting the group started.
“The dads group came about because I had a friend reach out to me that wanted to get back in shape,” Frasier said. “Instead of just us doing it one-on-one, I thought maybe a group idea would be more beneficial. So I kind of marketed it last winter, and I had a group of about 18 reach out and now there’s a group of about 10 to 12 that are pretty consistent in continuing to do it.
Although Burt isn’t planning to compete this weekend, two others from that 2019 group, brothers Tyler and Zach Purtlebaugh, have been working out with Frasier and are among the 12 who will compete.
“As you grow older, you tend to get out of shape a little bit, and you need all the help you can get,” Tyler Purtlebaugh said. “Nate holds everybody accountable, and I just think it really benefits everybody in the long run. We want to live to be as old as we can to stay with our kids.”
Ricardo Damon, who just moved from South Africa about a year-and-a-half ago, was eager to participate.
“Coming out of South Africa, we used to do some obstacle courses called Black Ops, really to push us to the next level, do something a little bit more as a group and just keep us fit, keep us going,” Damon said. “I was bugging Nate last year about getting into the gym. So there were a couple of us that started the group and motivating each other. I think the biggest motivation for all of us is being consistent. We’re feeling healthy, feeling strong again to keep up with our kids in school who are active in sports.”
Damon has lost 30 pounds since starting the training. Fred Bailey has lost a total of 57 pounds.
At 54, Bailey is the oldest of the group.
“I thought it would be fun,” Bailey said. “Half of these guys are older than my kids, or I have kids older than some of them. I have four kids, four grandkids, so I’m kind of the old guy. I think it’s great.”
The youngest is 19-year-old Carson Dibble. The former Columbus North football and basketball player is going into his sophomore football season at DePauw University.
“I lift before we do the dads workout, and then this is more cardio for me, so it helps me stay in shape,” Dibble said.
Two of the younger members and newest dads are Alex Cowan and Logan Galarno. Cowan was the starting quarterback, and Galarno was a starting linebacker on Columbus East’s 2013 state championship football team.
“I definitely got roped into it at the beginning of the year,” Alex Cowan said. “I took a couple months off. My wife and I just had a baby, so I had to do a lot of things with them. I’m back at it now and looking forward to the Tough Mudder.”
Another one of the group’s younger members is Ethan Smith, who played soccer at North and Thomas More. Dibble and Smith are the only non-dads in the group.
Also planning to compete Saturday are J.R. Honeus, Brandon Macy and Brennan Todd. They are looking forward to the challenge.
“They talked about putting a team together, and it’s definitely a big challenge, especially for some of us where we came from not being in as good a shape as we should be,” Todd said. “So this is definitely going to be a good challenge for us.”
“I like to do stuff to challenge myself,” Honeus added. “So looking into the Tough Mudder and some of the things that we’re going to be doing, it looked physically challenging, and mentally, as well, just to be able to push yourself and be together as a group and have that accountability and kind of have that just bonding basically.”
About 6,000 competitors are expected to compete between Saturday and Sunday’s 5K and 10K events. The 5K features 13 obstacles, and the 10K has 20 obstacles.
Frasier’s group will start their 10K at 9 a.m. Saturday.
“We’ll stay together the whole time,” Frasier said. “We’re not worried about our time. We’re worried about doing it together, having some fun and getting everyone through the obstacles.”
And in the end, he figures all the training has been a big benefit to the group.
“We’re losing weight, we’re getting in shape,” Frasier said. “It was more about changing our lives. Now, this is now going to be the fun part, to benefit from all the hard work we’ve been doing.”
