NEWRY, Maine (AP) — One-thousand runners from across the country turned out for the second annual Tough Mountain Challenge in western Maine.

Saturday’s race at Sunday River ski resort in Newry was done in waves of 75 runners, with 20 minutes separating each wave.

The grueling competition quickly separated the athletes who were in shape from those who were reduced to walking after getting blasted by water from snow-making guns on the initial Hurricane Alley obstacle hill.

Jay Fletcher of Brunswick, who finished in 153rd place in the men’s race, tells the Sun Journal of Lewiston that the best part was the last obstacle — the Slip, Slide and Die. It features a long slide down a canola-oil-slicked tarp that emptied racers into Widowmaker Pit, a muddy waterhole under a log.