This Week’s Feature of the Week is dedicated to Mike Nelson. He is the founder for The Strawberry Distance Challenge, the Creator and Race Director of MudTitan and MudSlayers and the COO of The Youth Alliance. (Websites are all below)
A Man with a Vision
Working for Winn Dixie for 21 years, Mike Nelson decided to do something that meant more to him with his life. He became a youth pastor. For 17 years, he has dedicated his life to the youth by becoming a youth pastor and then by becoming the COO of the Youth Alliance, a “non-profit organization that impacts the lives of youth, families and communities across the country,” (Youth Alliance) was one of Mike’s most impactful moments in his life. The Youth Alliance (TYA) brings customized programs across the globe with the purpose of uniting families, schools, agencies to empower and encourage youth.
For seven years, Mike has been organizing street races. The Strawberry Distance Challenge in Plant City is a 1 mile/5k/8k road race that has been growing every year since. Working with lifelong runner Brue Baerwalde, this race has become a very popular race in Plant City. Looking for bigger challenges in events, he began looking into the Mud Run world. Intrigued by the idea of Obstacle Races, he studied and formed ideas for well over a year.The names of the races, how to construct the obstacles and how to make his races unique to plenty of time and planning. 
He’s a Natural
Life experiences made the transition from road races to the OCR world go smooth. Building houses made the building of the obstacles easier.The good thing about the obstacles for MudSlayers and the MudTitan, is that participants have a guarantee that they are constructed well! Considering that Mike has been a high school football coach for years helped him understand some of the aspects of the obstacles and mass amount of people running through them
As an old boss used to say, “Teamwork Makes the Dream Work,” and forming Mud Runs and OCRs are no different! Mike and his friend Ken Winter do almost all of the buildin and Mike’s wife of 31 years ensures that registration goes smoothly. She also works out all o the details!
A Bit about the Races:
The goal for The MudTitan and MudSlayers is to stay within the 3-4 mile length with 30 well-diversified obstacles. The main focus is to perfect the brand and their
signature obstacles before anything else. Success for MudSlayers and The MudTitan is to ensure that everyone has a great time with a well-designed course, well-built obstacles and their awesome volunteers! These races are not only fun, but they support an amazing anti-bully program called The Youth Alliance. These races will continue to stand strong in hopes that not only racers and spectators having a good experience but also to keep The Youth Alliance going! Hoping to continue to expand, Mike and his team have six races on the books for 2014!
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For more information on the races and the charity please click these links!
MUDCRAZY 