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Josephine Dickinson (front left) and Frances Dickinson (far right) fight for positioning as they make their way through the mud pit of the Ultimook course.

It was a mud-filled run on Saturday during the Ultimook Race, an annual cross country event held at the Hydrangea Ranch in Tillamook.

With over 100 schools (high school and middle school) in attendance, the competition was intense and, well, filthy. Runners trudged their way across the course, their legs caking with mud through certain sections and their hands scrambling for the rope rail that outlined the raceway. The course includes a 20-meter mud pit, two river crossings and a dash through a Hydrangea forest.