They came by the thousands on Saturday to the ski slopes of Glenwood, where they ran, walked and crawled their way through the mud, as part of a 5K run that had little to do with competition and everything to do with girl power.
Some 8,000 women of all ages participated in Saturday's Dirty Girl Mud Run at Kissing Bridge, while another 3,000 are scheduled to take part in the women-only run and obstacle course today.
"It's really a lot of fun," said Kara Bilot, the race director. "It's not about finishing first; it's about camaraderie and doing the course with friends."
Bilot pointed to a group of participants as they made their way down a steep hill to the finish line. They were covered in mud and walked hand in hand.
"How often do you see that in an event?" Bilot said. "That's why it's so awesome."
Dirty Girl is also for a good cause.
At least 2.5 percent of the registration fees go the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Buffalo, Denver, and Waukesha, Wis., were the only three venues for the 5K last year, organizers said.
This year, the event grew to 16 locations around the U.S. In Buffalo - where the 5K was moved from Emery Park to Kissing Bridge - the number of women participating soared from 3,000 last year to more than 11,000 this year.
They went through the course together in teams dressed in uniforms, some of the participants as young as 14.
They were mothers and daughters.
Sisters.
Grandmothers.
Coworkers.
Best friends.
Some, like Kelly Vacco, were cancer survivors. Vacco's team of 12 ranged in age from 16 to 54.
"The mud itself was probably the biggest obstacle of the course," said Vacco, 47, of Boston. "It was so wet."
Saturday's rain made it worse - or better, depending on how you looked at it.
"When you get our age," Vacco said, "when can you ever get this dirty?"
Thirty-two groups of 250 women were sent through the circular course in waves throughout the day Saturday.
The course began with a trek of a mile and a half up the ski slopes.
From there, the participants faced a series of obstacles along the way.
"It was intense," said Tina Zimmerman, 36, of Niagara Falls.
"I finished my half-marathon in less time than it took me to finish this," said Zimmerman's friend, Catherine Dunstan, 36, of Niagara Falls.
There was a 15-foot-high inflatable wall to get over. They had to run and crawl through mud pits. They made their way over a 14-foot-high cargo net.
While there were no serious injuries, organizers reported some cuts and bruises and quite a few sprained ankles.
But 45 minutes to an hour and a half after starting, the participants made their way down the hill and into the last mud pit before reaching the finish line.
There, the men - boyfriends, husbands, fathers, brothers - waited for their return.
Adam DeVincentis, from the Rochester area, wished he could have participated with his wife, Kristy, and her friend Heather Kennedy. It looked like fun.
Instead, Adam held their purses.
"Now that we're watching, we'll probably do it next year," said Shennen Colburn, 32, of Syracuse, as she and Stephanie Reilly waited for friends to finish the course.
"I just liked the fact that it was an all-women race," said Kathy Wihlen, 44, of Pittsford. "It was like a sisterly bond."
Wihlen participated with softball teammates Debbie Nelson, Laura Colvin and Christine Aroesty under the team name the "Homerunners."
They made it through the course unscathed, except for a broken fingernail or two.
"We'll totally do it next year," Wihlen said. "But next year, we'll have a better name - and better outfits."

email: jrey@buffnews.com