Runners get down and dirty at Franklin Lions Club Tuff Run

Melanie Savage, Hartford Courant
·2 min read

The 7th Annual Franklin Lions Tuff Run offered runners a chance to enjoy a fun, 5K course presenting a number of obstacles, including a climbing wall, a tire course, a water slide, a mud crawl, a water pit, hurdles, a swinging bridge, and much more.

“Everybody who comes through the course loves it,” said Joanne Glidden, wife of Lions Club President Jeff Glidden.

“You can walk it you can run it you can take your time if you want to,” continued Glidden.

The course is designed to offer something for experienced runners and novices alike.

“There are volunteers at every obstacle making sure that everything is very safe,” said Glidden.

Families enjoy running the course together. Younger kids are free to skip obstacles that are too challenging.

“[The kids’] favorite would be that huge water slide over there,” said Glidden, gesturing toward a 100-foot water slide near the end of the course.

And indeed, a group of kids running with their parents enjoyed going down the slide again and again before heading on to the end of the course.

An average year brings 70 or more individual runners, with some pre-registering, and many just showing up.

It takes volunteers quite a while to get the course ready.

“We don’t really have access to the course until the last week, so we have to get most of it done within a week’s time,” said John McGuire, secretary of the Lions Club.

The Tuff Run is the biggest fundraiser for the Franklin Lions Club, taking the place of a horse show that the club held for many years. The club sponsors a number of charities, including CRIS Radio, Fidelco Eye Dogs, Camp Rising Sun, and Lions Eye Research.

“There’s probably half a dozen that we use the funds for,” said McGuire.

The Lions Club is assisted by the local Boy Scouts, the recreation department, and the Franklin Volunteer Fire Department in putting on the run. The groups try to keep the cost down so that everyone can enjoy the event.

“We’ve tried to make it reasonably-priced,” said McGuire.

Runners going through the course on Aug. 19 (the course was open on the 19th and 20th) really seemed to enjoy it.

“I’ve been to a lot of races, this is phenomenal” said Jaqui Wilson, who came from Wyoming, Rhode Island to run the course with Jeremy Brodeur.