Team Muddy Race ladies were out in force at last weekend’s Brutal 10 women only event. Team members Hayley and Gemma provide us with review.
Gemma’s Review
It’s cold, it’s icy, I find myself lacing up the inov-8’s again and heading to the start line in my ‘Muddy Race’ green team top, and some rather fetching (shin saving) green football socks (thanks Chris Boardman).
My first Brutal event, I wasn’t looking forward to this at all. The bonus of this one being it’s ‘just for girls’ (bigger queue for toilets, but far less stinky). After a decent warm up, us girls assembled at the start line- and wow, what a ‘Muddy Race Green’ line up. All I remember of the route was water, hills, ice, mud and some very welcome km markers along the way.
This was brutal by name and definitely by nature, with 5km and 10km options, I finished the first lap and couldn’t decide if knowing what was coming was a help or hindrance? I passed a few of the ‘canine cross’ runners on this lap, and the mud that had initially been orange and sticky was now brown and slippery, 2nd time round the hills hurt, but not as much as the large chunks of ice still floating in the water sections (poor Geri).
The only flaw with a 10km being two laps is inevitably the more ‘competitive’ runners will lap some slower runners which can be frustrating, and the canine cross with a few leads getting in the way…. But overall, challenging race, great atmosphere, I’ll definitely be back.
Hayley Glenister’s - Review
Brutal10 fell on the weekend of my birthday and I talked 8 friends who were new to mud runs into trying out Brutal10 with me, agreeing to do the 5k option, the cute bling was possibly what convinced us all! Everyone was rather apprehensive but after rounding the first corner and jumping straight into the nearest puddle drenching them all they soon got into the swing of things.
The course was well signposted and at no point was there any doubt over where we were going. The first stage wasn’t particularly muddy, then between about 2km onwards there was plenty of varying types of mud which brought on plenty of falls and lots of laughs as we had mud fights. The final kilometre seemed to have the most in the way of water with it being up to the waist at times and full of blocks of ice that had been broken up earlier in the day!
It was certainly one of the chilliest races I have done but everyone enjoyed themselves and pushed their personal limits. We crossed the finish line and were awarded with our cute medals. The only downside we found was the lack of changing area and being passed by some of the canine runners whose dogs were on long leads and had the potential to trip you up on narrow sections! Overall the perfect beginners race!