Instead of turning up to rugby Pete, Giles, Mike (me) and Giles’s mate Simon headed off to the other side of Wolverhampton to complete the 2010 Tough Guy.

Arriving on site at 8am we discovered that the conditions were “frozen solid” and that it had started to snow.  We walked around the site to have a look at some of the course and the obstacles.  This basically a farm which has some obstacles built into it. 

Yes, this is a frozen lake

The race was due to start at 11am and Pete, Giles and Simon were in the “Front Squad”, that group of competitors who start first and have a clean run at the course.  I was in the “Late Buggers” right at the back of the field of 5000 competitors.

As the guys pointed out to me afterwards, we had two completely different races.  They had a clear run at every obstacle with the competitors spaced out 10m apart for most of the time.  I had queues of people ahead of me who slowed to walking pace at the obstacles and pinch points along the course.

I can’t tell you about their race, other than it was a lot quicker than mine, however I will describe a bit of my race.

The race starts with a run of about 6 miles with a number of obstacles, the first being a series of trenches filled with water and slabs of ice about an inch thick.  This is designed to get you wet and muddy within the first mile.  Needless to say your feet get COLD. 

Inch thick ice welcomed the front squad – the late buggers just got lots of sharp bits.

The next major obstacle is 2/3rds of the way into the run and is called the slalom.  Typically they understate this on the map.  But imagine standing on Winter Hill overlooking “The Bounty” on the Thames.  The run took us up and down that slope 10 times, before sending us on to other obstacles.  I was lucky as there was a very attractive young lady with a very pert bottom in front of me who I pursued through this section, it took my mind off the pain!

  The Slalom

The course then sets you up for a really horrible experience, crisscrossing a stream where the water is at least knee deep and the bank on the other side up to 5 feet high.  This both freezes you and saps your strength as you work on keeping moving.  At this point I had lost the feeling in both legs below the knees! and we had not reached the killing fields yet. 

  The Tiger – first climb followed by an electrified set of wires before the next tower

Up and over The Tiger, made difficult by the lack of feeling in your legs and then into the killing fields. Lots of water and mud awaited, oh yes and ice.  Over the Coldiz walls where I got cramp halfway up and fell off.  Through the tyre tunnel into water and then over burning bails of hay and on to the swamp and the vietcong tunnels which are too narrow to crawl through unless you are slight in stature.

Then it is on to the real wet bits…. The water tunnel, the Brandenberg Wall and the Death Plunge seen below (walk off the plank into the frozen water and swim out of the lake…

Death Plunge – 15ft drop into the lake

At this point in the race I cannot remember that much as I was SO COLD, I do remember stumbling along over some burning hay, across some duck boards covered in mud, under some barbed wire and into lots more water.

A view over the course 

The end of the race couldn’t come soon enough for me. 2 hours and 20 minutes after the first person started I crossed the line, almost in tears and was presented with the most incredible medal.

For Giles, Pete and Simon showers beaconed, however I changed straight into dry clothes and shivered violently for the next hour.

Would I do this again?  Well we are all signing up for next year and look forward to setting better times…………