Amy Palmiero-Winters finished first in the women’s 40-44 age division of the World’s Toughest Mudder 2014, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 15. Palmiero-Winters, who has a left transtibial amputation, was the only leg amputee competing as an individual in the race.
Palmiero-Winters during the competition. Photograph courtesy of Tough Mudder.
The World’s Toughest Mudder is a 24-hour obstacle course where competitors race to complete as many laps around the course as they can within the time frame. The course consists of more than thirty obstacles that must be completed in order to continue. According to a press release from A Step Ahead Prosthetics, headquartered in Hicksville, New York, where Palmiero-Winters is the director of operations, she finished eleven laps (55 miles) in 24:59:20, which, in addition to giving her first place in her age division, put her 11th among women competitors, and 93rd out of 1019 total competitors.
“The conditions were beyond brutal,” said Palmiero-Winters. “It was extremely windy, like we were inside a tornado. The Cliff Jump obstacle was by far the hardest on the course-we had to climb up the side of a cliff and jump off a thirty-eight foot drop into a pit of water. Then we had to climb out, except there were sheer walls around the sides. This was easily one of the toughest races I’ve ever been in, but as always I love proving that having a disability doesn’t mean you’re disabled.”
