By Betsy Allen

Athletes from Putnam County and surrounding areas participated in grueling challenges at the Battle Run Fitness Games, held last Saturday, March 20. The event featured a series of twelve fitness contests, including carrying 45-pound containers of water, flipping enormous tires end on end, endurance planking, weighted rope pulls, stair climbing, log carrying, and dragging weights ranging between 100 and 190 pounds across a distance of forty yards. While many participants were local, some came from as far away as Ohio to compete in the games, which were held at Camp Appalachia in Scott Depot.

The Battle Run Fitness Games were organized by Rebekah Withrow of Eleanor. Withrow, a personal trainer, was without employment during the pandemic. “I’m not one who likes to sit around,” she said, “so when I didn’t have a lot of work, my business partner and I decided to build an obstacle course.” She wanted to give people a healthy alternative than just sitting around and waiting for things to reopen and events to resume. By creating Battle Run, Withrow and her partner turned an unhealthy situation caused by the virus into a positive, healthy one.

The first event that Withrow helped organize was the Battle Run Obstacle Course, which was a small obstacle course held on private property located in Hometown. The obstacle course is being moved to Camp Appalachia, where there will be more space. All Battle Run events, such as fitness games and the obstacle course, will help fund the camp, which is owned by Church at the Depot. The camp helps promote healthy and positive choices for at risk children in the community.

A Battle Run obstacle course event is planned for this summer.

A list of winners for the Battle Run Fitness Games is below.

Solo Male:
1st – Ryan Longenette
2nd – Cameron James
3rd – Robert Crank
4th – Caleb Maddux
5th – Brent Hartman
6th – Logan Nelson

Solo Female:
1st – Ali Burdette
2nd – Maribel Mesina
3rd – Chloe Amich
4th – Jackie Moore
5th – Beth Bennett
6th – Amy Salters

Teams:
1st – Michael Staley/David Webb
2nd – Jason Asbury/Jeremy Mitchell
3rd – Alex Smith/Karrie Lowe
4th – Val Thompson/Ashley Sodosky
5th – Tom Smith/Heather Brent
6th – Ryan Wolf/Kayla Sullivan
7th – Kate/Travis Williams
8th – Phyliss Brown/Courtney Givens
9th – Candy Bailey/Resa Vavra
10th – Mike Brown/Stephen