The Dirty Weekend, only in its second year, has been a much talked-about event hosted by one of the big names in OCR events - Rat Race. The largest obstacle race in the world at 20 miles and with a 200 strong obstacle course packed in - I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my weekend.
Preparations…
The event had the option to register the day before and to camp over to save time in the morning. I took up the offer to register the night before - this was available until 10pm and was as quick and painless as any Rat Race event I’ve attended - but did not take up the offer of camping, instead opting for the luxury of a nearby hotel/pub The Exeter Arms. By the look of the campsite, partying had already begun with loud music playing and beer being carried in I couldn ‘t help but wonder if some people had realised yet what they had got themselves in for. I hope they got a good night’s rest!
The atmosphere was electric, with plenty of nervous faces at the start line not sure what they signed up for ready for hours of mud, water and obstacles
Arriving again in the morning through the impressive entry gates to Burghley House, we were greeted by the sound of the MCs warming up the crowd and going through the safety briefing for the first wave (they would go on to repeat this 16 more times), like many Rat Race events the atmosphere was electric with plenty of nervous faces at the start line not sure what they signed up for. After the second wave’s warm up and briefing and a worrying number of raised hands when asked who hasn’t trained for this race, it was time to get going.
The Full Mucker
The race by itself could be a great cross-country course with room to easily make a marathon-distance trail run around the incredible grounds, but of course we had signed up for something a little different thrown in (but don ‘t get me wrong - there is a lot of running to be done! This will be a very long race for you if you are not keen on running with the longest stretches closer to the end where they would feel the hardest).
To break up the route were, of course, obstacle zones with some of the best including;
The mud run area - very muddy trenches mixed in with barbed wire crawls and tyre walls.
Plenty of wooden frames and structures to scramble over.
Inflatable structures followed by a friendly punch in the face or shoulder barge from rugby players with blocking pads and what felt like a never ending stretch of stinging nettle-covered forest.
The Construction Zone - a massively fun area filled with more muddy trenches, scaffolding towers and a large muddy anthill-like mound. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - why weren’t things like this around when I was a kid? Scrambling to the top of a muddy hill and sliding back down on my rear end were never encouraged as much back then.
The excellently and aptly named ’Logatron‘ - basically lots and lots of logs.
Men’s Health Zone - anybody who has taken part in a Survival of the Fittest event would have been familiar with the scaffolding structures, tunnel crawls, rope swings and the infamous Wall of Fame found here.
World’s Longest Monkey Bars - the clue ‘s in the name here, there were rest stops but the bars were placed right after a little river crossing so were incredibly slippery. Like many others I was resigned to the hurdles after making it only past the first rest stop, but by the state of the hands of one guy who managed the whole way, this may have been a preferable option!
Running! This was shattering, even as someone who enjoys his running, the long stretches towards the end were killer and I had to dig deep to keep up my pace. While I always feel like obstacles break up a run and make it seem shorter than it is - the ways my knees felt later that day surely reminded me of the distance we had really ran.
Water Zone - getting incredibly wet…
Wetter Than an Otter’s Pocket
For me, the water area was where Dirty Weekend really shined. Gentle swims through the lovely tepid lakes in the sun, trudging through marshlands and climbing in and out of the floating islands as well as a mega water jump.
The water area was where Dirty Weekend really shined, the 20 foot jump tested your fears and gave a supercharged adrenaline rush
I was a little apprehensive about the 20 foot jump into the lake, I’m not great with heights and when offered the high or low option, I went with the high option…
I mean, how many chances do I have to jump from a 20ft tower into a lake? After a few hesitations I jumped (then finished swearing) and I was absolutely buzzing with adrenaline. I really hope that nobody skipped this obstacle due to their fears. Before I had time to dry, the jump here was swiftly followed by a big slide back into the lake.
Dirty Weekend is really a showcase of all of Rat Race ‘s events, with the MH Survival Zone, Trailblazer Zone, Mighty Deerstalker Zone, Water Wipeout Zone all featuring and of course the 8 foot Wall of Fame which was taken to the extreme. To end a brutal long race by stacking up three on top of each other to get over was a great move.
The Finish
Although I was beyond starving for the last couple of miles with the smells of burger and pizza vans pulling me to the finish line I felt great coming into the end, neck and neck with another racer from my wave, I climbed up the three walls faster than him but he got down quicker and pipped me to the post to make for an exciting competitive finish.
Teamwork and spirit really shone through at the final wall obstacle, with exhausted runners coming to the finish and looking at these walls with dread. Luckily everybody stopped to help and assist someone else while the crowd cheered along to help with that final push.
Teamwork and spirit really shone through at the final wall obstacle, the Wall of Fame brutality was tripled which made everyone stand and look with dread after 20 miles…
I’m always glad to see obstacle racing demonstrating this kind of spirit in people - bringing out the best those who will stop help others, creating a great sense of community - I always enjoy the atmosphere at a finish line, sharing experiences with familiar faces from throughout this race or others.
The organisation of the whole event seemed to run very smoothly, which can’t have been easy stretching over three days and including a whole race with an afterparty. The marshals were all as friendly and encouraging as ever considering they had a very long day/weekend of work surrounding them, the course was well signposted and set out (although of course this never stops me from shooting off in completely the wrong direction at some point).
Assessing the Damage
I spent the rest of the day very bruised, scraped and sore. I didn’t end up as mud-covered as I have from other events but this is purely due to washing it off in the lake swims - there were some very muddy crawls in the race.
I spent the rest of the day very bruised, scraped and sore
Reflecting on the day, personally I am very glad that we can all be involved in events like this in this day of health and safety precautions. Climbing over stacked up hay bales and scaffolding towers, over suspended cargo nets and crawling through mud with barely enough breathing room is surely an insurance nightmare. Although precautions were clearly in place as proven by an exchange I had with a marshal as I climbed a tall ladder in the Construction Zone which was swaying in the wind:
Me: This doesn’t feel very safe
Marshall: I know, That’s why we’re wearing harnesses!
Cheers for that, very comforting. Also it was interesting to note that a tarpaulin water slide in a field wasn’t being used as it apparently wasn’t safe.. Surely it can ‘t have been less safe than jumping from 20 foot into water, jumping from slippery tyre walls onto mud and rocks or crawling under barbed wire in rocky water?
I’ve heard that later waves had to deal with queuing and bottlenecking which I hope didn’t lead to anyone skipping obstacles as that would really take away from their experience. We had very little of this in the early waves but it would be interesting to see if anything could be put in place to reduce this as it can be a problem in pretty much any obstacle race on the market.
I’m glad I took a marshal’s advice to stop and take in the view at the top of the stacked hay bales - we could see the whole ground from there and the surroundings really were breathtaking. Seeing how much we had done and how amazing the grounds were really made me appreciate the whole day (but then I ran off in the wrong direction and got annoyed again). I finished in 3 hours 13 minutes, so I suppose next year I’ll be aiming to break 3 hours!
Who knew 20 miles could actually be this much fun?
Special mention to the couple of guys who were apparently running the course twice for charity.. would be interested to hear how they got on..
Another special mention to the two ladies marshalling the sack race obstacle. They seemed to be having trouble convincing people that they weren’t joking and that yes, we had to get into a sack then hop to a tree and back. Definite prize for most ridiculous obstacle.