Will Mitchell of Madison County emerged from the water, ran down the embankment, crossed the finish line and went to the tent to get his time.

“It was beautiful. I liked it,” he said. “The best part was the stations, the hardest part was the pond, because you had to swim it when your legs were tired.”

Mitchell was the first of about 200 participants to complete Tara Wildlife’s second Tomahawk Tromp Saturday at the preserve, a trail run covering 5 to 6 kilometers (3.1 to 3.7 miles) through a section of the preserve that included obstacles and stations along the way to test different skills, and finished with a swim across a pond. Participants received points for successfully completing the skill stations, with each point subtracting a minute off their final time.

Zane Flaherty of Vicksburg, 14, who finished not far behind Mitchell, agreed the swim was the toughest challenge, “It was hard.”

“We’ve got stations for knife throwing, spear throwing, shooting a .22, using a sling shot and a tomahawk throw,” Tromp organizer Mark Bowen said. “We’ve even got some water hazards, and we’ve put some obstacles on the course along the way. We’re using a staggered start, so we don’t crowd the course with people. We have 23 Boy Scouts and volunteers helping us today.

“We have a good turnout and the weather is great,” he said of the clear skies and 76-degree temperature at the run’s start. The $30 and $40 entry fees from the race went to benefit children of Mississippi National Guardsmen.

Besides the pond at the finish, other water hazards included a muddy ditch and a swamp. Other obstacles included monkey bars, crawling through a barrel and crossing a log.

Many of the participants chose to run in family groups or as teams.

A group of about 10 people wearing shirts with the legend, “Mrs. Worrell’s Best Deer Processing,” were gathered just near the start.

“She asked me to do it and then talked me into it,” Teresa Renfroe said as she pointed to April Turnage.

“I told her we were either going to finish together or die together,” Turnage, a Clinton dentist, said. She added she and her husband Mike are runners, and the trip to Tara was their first.

Renfroe said she was worried about one aspect of the run.

“They’re hoping this will help me overcome my fear of water. I’m afraid of water.”

“We told her she was going to make it through that pond if we had to drag her by her ponytail,” said Stacie Worrell of Utica, the owner of Mrs. Worrell’s. A hunter, Worrell said she was looking forward to the Tromp.

“I’ve never hunted here,” she said. “I thought this be a good chance to get out and see the place.”

Not too far away, Richard Miller of Jackson and his running companions, son Ricky, 11, and daughter Nilah, 12, were waiting their turn to start.

“We ought to have an interesting race,” he said.

Tony Loper, his wife Holly and sons Hayes and Whitt, were at the Tromp for the first time. All four wore Mississippi State T-shirts

“My wife runs a good bit,” said Loper, who described himself as an occasional runner. “This is the boys’ first race. We’re looking for something the family can do together, and my wife thought of this.”

After Mitchell and Flaherty crossed the finish line, other runners began appearing on the small levee on the north side of the pond and began to swim to the opposite side using a variety of swimming strokes, with parents waiting in the water and watching their children as they went across.

“The mud pits were hard, because you had to step up, and I had to swim through the swamp,” said 9-year-old Sarah Steevens of Clinton, who finished with her father, Jeff Steevens. “I had a good score shooting a .22, but the spears were hard. They were long and heavy and fell to the ground.

“It (the race) was fun. It was great!”