Hoover teachers Jason Umansky and Edgar Stepanyan can call themselves Tough Mudders.

Stepanyan and Umansky both competed in a Tough Muddeer endurance event on Sunday in Lake Elsinore. The Tough Mudder is an obstacle course requiring both physical and mental strength that requires participants to run a 10K while facing the cold, mud, being shocked and having to use teamwork to be able to succeed throughout 20 obstacles.

The third-to-last obstacle was “Mudderhorn,” the tallest and most satisfying obstacle for Stepanyan and Umansky.

“My favorite obstacle was probably Mudderhorn, which is a three-story obstacle and I hate heights,” said Stepanyan, a history teacher at Hoover. “Once I got down I had this feeling of accomplishment and it felt good to overcome my fear of heights.”

There are usually multiple Tough Mudder events throughout the year with different lengths and obstacles. The tough mudder events are about physical strength and endurance but they really actually are all about teamwork and how well you can work with others. Tough Mudder even has ambassadors who have been through forty, fifty and even a hundred of these grueling events giving tips to people that need the help.

There is a giant team effort in these events. 

Other obstacles include the “Mud Mile,” the “Entrapment,” jumping over the “Berlin Walls,” and climbing the “Ladder to Hell.”

“I love just competing and making it through every obstacle,” said Umanky, who competed in a similiar event a month ago. 

Accomplishing it at the end and making it through the obstacles was both of the teachers’ favorite things about this experience.

Umansky, who finished first, and Stepanyan, who also finished in the top 10, both love to compete and stay fit.

Umanky and Stepanyan also completed the event with two Hoover graduates: Fred Arakelian and Arin Gregorian.

Gallery • 9 Photos

Edgar Stepanyan crawls under barbed wire during Sunday's Tough Muddder race.