Tough Guy Race

Leading a team in taking on the original obstacle race

"What will be the next challenge?" I wondered.  "How can I push myself further?"

I decided the best course of action was to sign up for the Tough Guy™ race once again.  Around a decade before I had completed it with with fellow students in the Officer Training Corps.

It is the muddiest race with the biggest obstacles imaginable.  And it is a lot of fun.  Cold, but still a lot of fun.

After a Project Awesome session I asked a couple of friends if they wanted to join me.  One of them thought I was crazy.  The other joined me.  We asked more and a team started.  Then it grew.  And grew some more.

On a cold January Sunday morning I led a team of 29 fellow runners from the car park up to the start line.  At 1100hrs the cannon was fired and we set off on a 15km race across the farmland.   The obstacles were plentiful; over 200 in number.  The course included fire pits, mud baths, electric shocks, steep hills, huge cargo nets, barbed wire, and icy waters.

Some of us raced with friends, others as individuals.  Theo finished first out of the 30 of us in 2hrs 13mins.  Less than a minute later I managed to cross the line.

The rest of the team all finished successfully apart from one of our team who had to pull out because of an injury from a fall.  Apart from that the feeling of success amongst the team was immense.  We had taken on a phenomenally hard race, many of us for the first time to be doing a 'mudstacle' event of any kind, and we had managed to finish it, with some fast times.

It was a terrific dirty weekend.

* Not as original, but regular events near you