Speyside children revelled in mud, mud, glorious mud while taking part in an adventure course at the weekend.
Thick brown water rose over some of the competitors’ knees in the Mortlach Mini Mudder event as the determined youngsters crawled through pipes and clambered over hay bales.
Diggers created ditches in a field in Dufftown as a prelude to the fun, with the fire service adding the water to make the course as slippery as possible.
Uneven ground caught out some of the keen mudders and they lost their footing and splashed into the muck.
Despite the mess, the children’s white teeth could still be seen through their dirty faces as they grinned while bounding over the myriad obstacles.
Candice Geddes organised the event after testing herself over similar endurance courses in the past.
She said: “The kids absolutely loved it. My daughter had been at the field helping all week and was desperate to get into the mud.
“You know what boys are like, they were absolutely covered. There was mud plastered everywhere. I think it took nearly half an hour in the shower to get my daughters clean.”
After the inaugural event last year, the amount of entrants for Saturday’s event had more than doubled to 250 children.
As well as mud to wade through, other obstacles were set up to test the kids’ stamina, including monkey bars, pipes and a spider’s web of cables.
Nursery children competed over a short course with adults, while senior entrants covered it twice with a mile run also added to the test. Local firms spent the week constructing the course at Tininver Park.
Once the racers had crossed the finish line, they got their filthy hands on a shiny medal. And, after watching the youngsters, Mrs Geddes was eager to try the track for herself.
She added: “It was hard going. At the beginning, I was fine jumping over the bales, but by the time I was going through the mud, it got very heavy.
“It’s all for the children really. And I’ve already had a lot of people asking if we’re doing it again.”
The fundraiser collected nearly £3000 towards playground improvements at Dufftown School.
