Duo Brings Bloomfield Brawn to Tough Mudder

Two Bloomfield diehards will put their physical ability and mental resolve to the ultimate test this weekend at the Tough Mudder, a worldwide athletic competition richly deserving of its name.

Anthony Vitella and John Volpe will be among thousands hitting the 12-mile obstacle course in Englishtown, diving under dangling wires to be zapped by 10,000 volts of electricity, scaling greased quarter-pipes and trudging through freezing, muddy waters.

"It's Tough Mudder for a reason," said Vitella. "They say it's just mentally challenging more than anything else. Hopefully I get through it in one piece and come out of it with dignity."

Some – including Patch editor Lia Eustachewich – participate for the sheer absurdity of it, while others consider it a fierce athletic competition, physically training and mentally preparing for months ahead of time.

Volpe, for instance, said he fell in love upon hearing about the Tough Mudder, and signed up immediately, while a curious Vitella danced around the idea until his wife, Maria, did the honors for him.

But both first-time Mudders are more determined than ever to complete the entire course – without skipping any of its 22 obstacles.

"It all depends on how much my body can take," said Vitella, 36, who works as a mechanic for New Jersey Transit. "I know I can do the obstacles but it depends on how fatigued my body will get."

An avid soccer player all his life, Vitella's training involved some cardio and weight lifting to build muscle. He'll be running the Mudder on Sunday with brother Franklin.

Volpe, on the other hand, will do Saturday's dash solo in hopes of completing the Mudder in as little as two hours. The average finishing time is around three hours, according to Tough Mudder's website.

"I told my wife I'm going to start it alone, I'm finishing it alone," Volpe said.

The 39-year-old didn't take training lightly, running three to four miles a day since February to "burn the calves out" and shedding 35 lbs.

"The biggest thing here was to have something to point your workout at," said Volpe, director of field operations for Core Technology Solutions.

Already, Volpe is looking to compete in June's Tough Mudder in the Poconos.

"Now, it's taken on a whole life of its own," he said about training.

Created in 2010 by the British Special Forces, the Tough Mudder now joins the ranks of other physical competitions like the Spartan Sprint, Warrior Dash, and arguably, the most hardcore of the bunch, the Ironman Triathlon.

Each Tough Mudder, hosted across the globe from the United States to Japan to South Africa, raises money to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project for injured servicemen. Mudders have helped raise more than $3 million for the project.

Both Vitella and Volpe, friends from town, agreed climbing Everest, a quarter-pipe covered in grease, would be the toughest of the Mudder. Volpe said he's glad the aptly named Arctic Enema is the first obstacle in Saturday's course. 

"The Arctic Enema is going to be miserable for everyone," he said. "It'll be nice to pull that Band-Aid and get it over with."

And then there's the Mudder's most notorious obstacle, Electroshock Therapy, which is as painful as it sounds. Mudders must sprint through a field of live wires, some carrying as much as 10,000 volts of electricity. That should be no sweat for Vitella, who said he's been zapped by an electric fence dog collar before.

"I'm sure it's gonna sting, but hopefully I miss a lot of them, only catch one or two," he said. "It's weird. It goes through your whole body."

Also participating in the Tough Mudder this weekend? Send your pictures to the editor at Lia@patch.com. And good luck!