Tough Guy Mud Battles Review

Driving towards South Perton Farm Staffordshire, home of the infamous Tough Guy I begun to feel unsettled. There is something about this course that puts you on edge and although this was my fifth visit I could not settle my…

By cookie121
1st November 2014

Driving towards South Perton Farm Staffordshire, home of the infamous Tough Guy I begun to feel unsettled. There is something about this course that puts you on edge and although this was my fifth visit I could not settle my nerves. Knowing I would be challenging my fear of heights and pushing my mind and body to their limits was just cause for my apprehension.

There was many different distances to run including a gruelling full marathon, half marathon and a children’s 7k. My choice was the 10.5k race which still boasted a massive one hundred and eighty obstacles.

Car parking was quick and smooth followed by easy registration where you get the fun of signing your ‘death warrant’. The weather could not have been better as the early morning chill was replaced with bright sunshine. I bounced about impatiently then suddenly Boom!! The cannon fired and we was on our way. After stumbling down the hill I settled into a comfortable pace as the race begun with a steady jog.

As we ran downhill the first big obstacle was the dead leg slaloms. Twenty one hills, 2kilometers in distance, that followed one after the other which was typical of Tough Guy, pushing you to your limits straight away.

Once completing the hills I came to a lot of over and under wooden obstacles followed by a small climbing frame and then on to the electric nettle obstacle. Thankfully the electric was not on, possibly because of the childrens race, as it was difficult enough wading through the stinging nettles. Next was the mud pits and into big bear wood which began with running through muddy water and climbing over fallen logs. It is then onto the numerous cargo nets, wooden frames to climb and a spiders web.

Once exiting Big Bear wood there is a small run to the Gurkha grand national which has many scramble nets you have to negotiate while sliding into muddy water pools. In the middle of the Ghurka Grand National is the water slaloms which consisted of sliding down a muddy bank, wading through muddy water and climbing up the other side. Teamwork was required here by most competitiors as the banks were difficult to climb out of which built great camaraderie with the other runners all fighting to climb out of the muddy pools.

After around twenty water slaloms I completed the last of the Ghurka Grand National, fighting through endless nettles then climbed a large fence giving me a short run to the killing fields.

The Killing Fields

It began with the Tiger. A huge forty foot climbing frame which will push anybody with a fear of heights to their limits. On completing the first part of the tiger there are electric cables to run through and onto the second part of the massive climbing frame.

Once completed there is a log carry through waste deep water followed by numerous over and under wooden frames. Mercifully I reached the water station. Desperately in need of hydration, I drank plenty of water before heading to the next obstacle which was a trio of walls which I negotiated quickly. The behemoth was up next, another huge climbing frame with ropes you have to walk across at the top. pretty scary stuff but I noticed a couple of children crossing the ropes so I forced my fears aside and quickly crossed over.

It began with a tiger, through several swamps, over fire and ended with electric cables

Once off the Behemoth there are some water pools to cross followed by a tyre crawl and a short run to the muddy swamp which you have to wade through. half way through the swamp there is some solid ground and a fire obstacle you have to jump through which was great fun even though the flames were around five foot high.

I finished the second part of the swamp and approached a cargo net crawl, then into the torture chamber. This consisted of crawling in the dark, through mud and water, electric cables and other small obstacles. Once through the obstacles I climbed into a narrow concrete pipe which you have to pull yourself through before arriving once more in daylight. A short run uphill followed, before reaching the sky walk, another huge climbing frame which really challenged my nerves and I was pleased to be back on the ground once completing.

I now had faced my fears and was hoping that all the climbing was completed but in typical Tough Guy style the very next obstacle was another huge cargo net climb called the Brandenburg wall. There was a little queing at the top of this obstacle which didnt help me but I was soon back on the ground and heading to the welcome of a drinks station.

Next up was the Collosseum, a set of rafts on water that you had to somehow climb across without falling in. Between each raft was a different way across like ropes, cargo nets and planks. Once completed it was followed by a difficult barbwire crawl, over a huge mound of tyres and underneath the behemoth obstacle which was a slalom covered by nettles. Happy to be through the nettles I made my way to the sting which was electric wires that you had to crawl under. Happily I negotiated this sting free and headed to another large spiders web. Once through the web I headed up a small hill to a large pool which lead to the final obstacle, viagra.

Viagra is a hill climb covered in rubber, with electric cables dangling from wooden frames, and with the amount of screaming I could hear the electric was definitely on so I crossed the pool and began my climb lying as flat as possible.

The first electric shock made me yell in pain and I quickly realised this obstacle was going to hurt. Around ten minutes and numerous shocks later I was at the top. It was only then I realised that most people were avoiding this obstacle and taking an easier route which I could understand as this was the most challenging electric obstacle I had ever faced. I pulled myself together, dropped down a bank and crossed the finish line to have a young army cadet drape a cuddly toy donkey around my neck.

The Tough Guy course pushes you to your physical and mental boundaries. If you’ve got a fear, Tough Guy will challenge it throughout the course. The only negatives is that there is some queuing at obstacles but that doesn’t take away from the high quality course they have. The cuddly toy donkey instead of a medal was original and typical to the way the tough guy organisers think. In my opinion this is still the toughest and most satisfying course to complete and I will be back, and the nerves will be jangling again.

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