Tough Mudder? What’s that? It’s like a sort of obstacle race, right? “Yeah sort of “, says Bob, “I’ve always wanted to do one of these, who’s up for it then? Another beer everyone?” This is how we were introduced in to the Tough Mudder family. We all shook hands on the deal and went our separate ways back home after a session in the gym. The moment we got home we were on the internet searching for what we’d let ourselves in for. I first found this definition.

Tough Mudder is an endurance event series in which participants attempt 10–12-mile-long (16–19 km) military-style obstacle courses. Designed and created by British Special Forces to test mental as well as physical strength, obstacles often play on common human fears, such as fire, water, electricity and heights.Wikipedia

It got worse because then I found this picture and Tracey found all sorts of videos and, with what became her classic phrase, told us all that, “people die doing this!” However a deal is a deal and in the end there were 9 of us. We called ourselves “Team Tough Butter” and together we organized logos and designed T shirts so we all looked the part. Bob organised a magnificent multi-million dollar pad in Whistler at a very good rate, so we had an incredible base.

After many hours of exhaustive training over the following weeks, to get our bodies into peak physical condition, (hey that sounded good, always knew I could write fiction) the Tough Mudder weekend had arrived. We looked the part, we we’re up for it, the only question was, would our bodies be up for the challenge. Jen was the mental and physical guru of the team. She could run round this thing twice with her eyes closed. Surly if we just held onto her shirt she could pull us round, right?

Saturday morning 9am start time, it was a blisteringly hot day, great for views of the mountains and the glacier but not ideal for running 20km and climbing 2500ft. That all changed with our very first obstacle. The Arctic Enema! Need I say more, you had to jump into a tank full of freezing ice covered water, duck underneath a central plank and get yourself to the other end before everything and I mean everything, ceased up. Welcome to Tough Mudder.

There were many highlights over the next 4 hours of the event and indeed the whole weekend. Many fears conquered, many ‘ouch’ moments, many unselfish moments and many hilarious moments, but I must just highlight a few here.

• Claudette’s epic scaling of the ‘Balls to the Wall’ obstacle and the earth shattering applause she got from the whole crowd watching.
• Tracey’s face plant into the earth as she cranked up the speed to get over the ‘Everest’ obstacle, and the almost orchestrated “oooooh” from the crowd as she hit the dirt.
• Roger’s true grit as he hobbled downhill for the last few km, who ever thought going downhill was going to be so tough? 
• Dave showing his British stiff-upper-lip by taking on that banana at the halfway mark.
• Dean, the heavy lifter, doing what he does best and pulling everyone over the obstacles like they were rag dolls.
• Jen, always first there and up the top or through the obstacle then telling us all the best way to attack it, and I mean attack! 
• Fran for her ‘Walk the Plank’ jump and who can forget her ‘diplomatic core’ style negotiating skills to convince the neighbours that they just had to lend us their BBQ! 
• Bob with his windmill like arms and legs being able to catapult people up or catch them on the way down every obstacle.
• Jacinta, who unselfishly volunteered to help at the event and was the first one up on Saturday morning to be ready to welcome the 10,000 or so participants.

Take a peek at the photos from the weekend on the gallery page, there’s some epic ones.

What a great weekend people and as the speaker said at the start of the event….

“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”Sean 'Hoo-rah' Corvelle

Well this was certainly one of those times!

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