Runners with dirty minds, this race is for you.

The 10th annual Slippery Rock University "Let's Get Dirty" event -- a 5K European-style cross country adventure -- is at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 12. The course, a 1-mile loop beginning near the school's ski lodge, features more than just hills. We're talking creek beds, logs to jump over and, of course, more mud than a presidential campaign.

"We wanted to have a cross country race, but knowing that a lot of people flat-out don't think cross country is a lot of fun, we changed it to add jumping over logs, going through 'cricks' and so forth," said race director John Papa, who heads the Slippery Rock cross country program.

And mud! Don't forget the mud ...

"One year, kind of like this fall until recently, it was just dry as a bone, and I called my friend at the fire department. They hosed off a few spots to make it interesting," Papa said.

This is not the race to try out your new shoes. Yet among the regulars in the event -- "We get the same crazies every year, pretty much," said Papa -- is a guy who wears a tuxedo.

At the height of its grimy popularity, the event drew about 650 runners; Papa said he expects between 350 and 450 this year. The run is actually two separate races. First, there's a 5K Awards Race with about 200 more serious participants. The rest run the same route after that's done, and the time clock is shut off.

"What happened in the past was, you had people running to win and then there were people who were just goofing around, lying in the mud. The serious runners had to jump over them."

Many of those in the Awards Race stick around and wallow through the second event, Papa added.

For more information, go to www.rockathletics.com or contact Papa at 724-738-2798.

Oh, brother

"Dr. Odd and Dr. Even" sounds like a B-movie, but it got plenty of applause for Mark and Alex Fedkin.

The Russian-born brothers were a team unto themselves in the Oct. 15 Tussey Mountainback 50-mile ultra and relay in Boalsburg. Most teams took advantage of the eight-runner maximum, but the Fedkins -- Mark, 36, and Alex, 31 -- took turns and placed 12th among 50 teams in roughly 6 hours, 15 minutes.

"I did all the even legs, and Alex did the odd," said Mark, a researcher with Penn State University's Energy Institute. Alex, a researcher at the University of Chicago, also has his Ph.D, hence, "Drs. Odd and Even."

The Tussey Mountainback race is a challenge, traversing wooded trails and gravel fire roads in Rothrock State Forest. Spectators quickly realized the Fedkins were a two-man team.

"As we competed, we got to know the other teams, and they got to know you," Mark Fedkin said. "The emotional support [from the crowd] was great, too."

Since the relay's 12 legs varied in length, starting points varied. Mark's wife and children were along for the ride, driving the runners to their marks.

"A lot of things came together in a great way," race director Mark Casper said. "We had several drizzly days before the race, which served to knock down the dust a little bit on the trails."

Andrew McDowell of Downingtown was the winner in 6:28.40, followed by Mark Godale of Aurora, Ohio (6:34.13). Nikki Kimball of Bozeman, Mont., was fourth overall and the first woman (6:44.2). She trimmed 23 minutes off the course record set last year by 2005 runner-up Laura Nelson of Woodstock, Va. (7:21.22).

There were 39 finishers in the race, but even more encouraging was the reception for a "training for the ultra" series of runs arranged by event organizers this summer.

"We're starting a fall/winter session that will take us year-round into the spring," Casper said. "People just love running in Rothrock State Forest."