Adam DeRoode and his wedding ring.

Ghent’s ‘Miracle in the Mud’

If you think finding a needle in a haystack is a one in a million chance, try finding a wedding ring that was lost somewhere in the mud during last year's challenge of the Lions Mud Run during Belgian-American Days in Ghent.

Adam DeRoode of Ghent was participating in the Mud Run last August with his wife Chassidy. Sometime during the run, Adam's wedding ring, unbeknownst to him, slipped off his finger.

“I had no idea the ring was gone until later that night,” said Adam, who opted not to run the course this year and instead watched Chassidy and their son Colton, 5, participate.

Once Adam discovered his finger was bare, he began to think about the possible places it might be. “I figured it was at the course somewhere,” he said.

“A group of about eight family members came out the next day to help us look for it. But I was pretty sure we wouldn't find it.” The group searched around each of the many obstacles along the half-mile course.

“We had looked about 45 minutes when I decided to look by that hill,” Adam said, pointing to a hill behind him.

The hill he was pointing to consists of a mud pit between two slippery and steep hills of mud. Competitors struggle to climb up the hills and generally come down the other side running or sliding down.

“I remember Chassidy grabbing my hand to help pull me up the hill,” Adam said.

“I figured that must have been when the ring slipped off, so I looked around that area.”

The chance of finding something as small as a ring in a large area of mud that had been run through by many people is, well, almost harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

“I happened to see a footprint in the mud and a little circle in the footprint,” said Adam.

“So I reached down into the mud too see if that could really be the ring in there.”

Miraculously, that small circle in the footprint was indeed his wedding ring.

“It's really pretty hard to believe that I found it,” he said. After that, Adam was told that he should play the lottery because of his luck.

“I do play the lottery, but I never win,” he said, flashing a wide smile.

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