The A-State Red Wolf Battalion hosted the 11th annual Howler obstacle course and mud run Saturday.

This event raised money for the student-led Howl’s Heroes organization, a campus organization made up of ROTC cadets that benefits veterans throughout the larger Jonesboro community. During the event, teams are put through a grueling 7-mile obstacle course around the Arkansas State University campus.  

This year’s event saw teams competing for time while facing obstacles that tested their strength, endurance and teamwork to the limit. Obstacles included plodding through a mud pit, working as a team to do exercises with a log and pushing a HUMVEE across the parking lot; all while competing to get the best time possible.

 While many who participated in the event came from backgrounds in either Crossfit or athletic groups, the majority were high school students from JROTC programs throughout the state; with some coming from as far as Fort Smith to compete. Of the 62 registered teams who ran, 47 teams were registered through JROTC programs affiliated with Arkansas school districts.

To some competitors, putting their physical fitness to the test alongside their friends and colleagues is the main draw of the event.

“It’s kind of fun,” said Jason Arnold, a runner with one of the teams from the Crossfit division of the competition. “Comradery, I guess that’s why I do it.”

This event was entirely student led, organized and run.  The students who organized the event built around the plans that had come before them in previous years, smoothing out the process. 

Madison Morris, a junior health studies major from Arkadelphia, who is currently serving as the student leader for Howl’s Heroes, said that this event was made possible due to the hard work, support and cooperation of the members of A-State’s Red Wolf Battalion. 

“Every cadet in this program was willing to help and volunteer today. We don’t really have any incentive to do this, so it was really just out of the kindness of their hearts, them being here today,” Morris said. 

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