The Eliminator Race - Sussex

Utilising natural obstacles including expect steep hills, cold water, sand, rocks and lots of mud, the Eliminator Race has been designed to push you to your limits and most of all out of your day to day comfort zone, the race…

2 reviews for “The Eliminator Race - Sussex”

1. Mud

   3

   Price

   8

   Fun

   10

   Obstacles

   1

   Eliminator Race
   So it’s November 2014 and I start training for my first OCR (ok, so Eliminator Race is not exactly an OCR but we’ll skip over that for the mean time). It’s cold, wet and generally what people would call miserable outside, so why the heck am I out there with a pair of shorts and jacket on? Because I have a race in February, that’s why!
   Skip to February 2015 and it’s just as cold and this time I’ve got nerves as well, I’m apprehensive of what is in store for the day, this is after all my first race, be it only 5 miles I’m still worried about what’s going to happen. Am I fit enough, will I injure myself, who’s laughing at me, will I die? (ok so that’s a little extreme but you get the idea).
   The warm up starts and I look to my running partner for reassurance that this is the right thing to do (he’s never done it either so he has no clue!), but before we could figure out what we were doing it was go time!
   We cross the start line at Pippingford Park and start heading downhill, the grass quickly turns to sloppy wet mud and I dig my new shoes into the mud desperately looking for dry ground to try and stop myself doing a superman impression. I manage to get to the bottom of the hill pretty well, I’m not too out of shape I think to myself as we continue across flat grassland into the woods. As I look to my left I see an earlier wave coming back, they don’t look too muddy I thought to myself, the course can’t be that bad surely?
   I go into the woods, not really sure what to expect but the ground is undulating, tree roots ready to try and trip me over, mild ups and downs but in the whole is pretty easy going. We get to our first hill climb in a relatively good pace, we’ve run this far and not come a cropper, so up we go. My legs are starting to feel the burn, my quads are working overtime to get up the hilly country side of Pippingford Park, but I eventually get to the top, taking in large gulps of fresh winter air that’s like ice on my lungs. It feels good.
   As I look up, I realise this is it, my first water section, no backing out now I say to myself, so I head over and diligently stand in line ready to get wet. I figure there is no point hanging about, so I get in and go for it, my first step I clobber what felt like a bulldozer under the water, but it turns out to be a tree branch. I lose my footing and I’m falling face first into the water, when, someone grabs me and keeps most of my body out of the icy chill (thank you!). I march on keeping my knees high so as to avoid any other nasty obstacles lurking in the water (this was something I did not expect, so if you’re heading to your first OCR, there’s stuff in the water people!).
   I climb out of the water and heck it is cold! I am starting to get a shiver on but my running partner is still in the water, so I hop on the spot keeping warm as he catches up, as he does I realise he’s knocked his knee in the water and we have our first injury, it’s a bit bloody and achy he says but not too bad so we trudge on. I’m cold and wet at this point but I figure all we can do is March on as no one is going to come and pick me up! We run down hill back into the woods, the wind cutting through like knives and my trainers now squelching every time I take another step in this race. We cover a few more water crossings, this time the water only up to our knees or so, mostly through streams so the water is clean, taking some of the mud on us with it. After 3 miles there is a water station, I am out of breath and needing a quick break so I grab a bottle and drink that, the icy chill lowering my bodies temperature further suddenly realising how much energy I don’t have I know that if I stop now I won’t continue, so I get my legs pumping again and head off. We come across an opening in the trees with thick, gloopy, sloopy mud. You know, the kind of stuff you think twice about if you have willies on even!
   I take off and instantly slip up, landing on my hip I start sliding down a small hill towards the stream, I desperately dig my feet and hands in trying to stop myself going into the water, my running partner can’t do much but point and laugh at me. Fortunately I didn’t get wet and managed to get back up and continue running.
   With every step comes more mud, more energy sapping mud, but, I am starting to enjoy myself, I’m thinking I’m cold, wet, tired but, I am loving this! It hits me like an epiphany, this, this is why people run, in the mud, the cold, the rain, I get it! It’s something you either get or you don’t, but when you do, you just realise how much fun you’re having no matter what physical condition you’re in, or what the weather is doing.
   We carry on, and I finish the race in just over an hour or so, which felt excellent to me! There were no obstacles for me to comment on, but I knew that when I signed up to it, and being my first race I was a little glad of this. When it comes to the rest of the event it’s a bit of a mixed bag really, the registration was painless, it was just a case of getting your number handed to you and you signing the waiver form, there was no bag drop, no changing areas but there was hot food if you wanted it and plenty of toilets. This was partly due to the weather, the night before there was high winds and it took the gazebos with it, so the staging area had been wrecked by the elements but Eliminator race managed to carry on with what they had, which was very little, but as a first experience I had nothing to compare it too. However, I didn’t find it too much of an inconvenience, so I’d say they did well with what they had.

   As a first race, I recommended it, as an experienced racer or someone looking for a new race challenge, I’d say it was only worth entering their endurance events or the marathon distance, but as an introduction into the world of OCR, it was excellent!

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