Reprinted from The Sun Sentinel
Posted July 22 2002

DEERFIELD BEACH · Rich Mularski had all the added incentive he needed to master the heat and an obstacle course at Sunday's Toyota Tundra Adventure Team Challenge at Quiet Waters Park.

The 32-year-old Tamarac adventure racer, (and MBS member) inspired by helicopter pilot Stuart Contant of Boca Raton, won the men's solo title in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 50 seconds, more than five minutes ahead of former champion Billy Canavan.

Contant, 38, the brother-in-law of Mularski's personal trainer Andrea Contant, was one of two Army pilots injured when their Apache helicopter went down in Afghanistan in mid-April.

Contant, a Chief Warrant Officer 3, saved himself and the life of Chief Warrant Officer 2 Emanuel Pierre, both of the 101st Airborne Division, by landing on the side of a mountain.

They were flown to Landsthul Army Regional Medical Center in Germany for medical treatment. Contant is rehabilitating in Boca Raton. The prognosis is good, Mularski said.

"I just drew from what he is going through," Mularski said. "He's not a personal friend of mine, but he's one of our local boys here. His whole body is held together with steel rods and surgical pins. I drew from the pain he is living with right now.

"When you know people are suffering like that and you are able to get out here and run, bike and do the things with your able body, you have no right to complain. To go through the ordeal and amount of pain this man has suffered with skull, hip and vertebrae fractures, you realize how lucky you are to be able to come out here."

Mularski, despite losing his sponsor because of the faltering economy, decided to compete. He dominated the men's solo field. The adventure race featured mountain bike, trailing running, canoeing, mystery tests and an obstacle course. After Mularski finished, he went back and encouraged women's overall winner Carolyn Van Vurst, 32, of Fort Lauderdale, the series' first women's solo winner. She won her solo debut in 2:24:48.