My brother did it, and so did Darren Fittler of Coffs Harbor in New South Wales.
The word is going around about “Tough Mudder,” not Mother, Mudder. Yes it is the “Tough Mudder” obstacle course.
There must have been something wrong with my second oldest brother because he came back from taking part in Tough Mudder with a big smile. People are usually looking tired and exhausted and feeling sore and achy after a 21 km push-to-the-limit.
Well my brother got all the Tough Mudder memorabilia with t-shirt and head band, yes even a John McEnroe-style (Tennis legend and champion) orange head band. I wondered where I would wear the head band as my days of local sports for the local sporting teams were almost over. The head band stood out quite well. People would be asking where I got the cool head band from and what Tough Mudder was all about. Well wouldn’t they like to know?
But the only way to truly understand Tough Mudder, is to do it yourself. Now I know what you are saying, better them than me, but it is worth an attempt.
One thing about Tough Mudder, it takes Boot Camp to another level and actually ‘gives you the boot,’ especially with a 22 per cent failure rate. The closest to it would be the CrossFit Games in America minus all the dirt and muck.
You want failure rates, have a read of Bear Grylls’ (from Man vs Wild television series) book “Mud, Sweat and Tears” and his years trying to make the grade at grueling try-outs for the Special Army Services (SAS) elite army in Britain. Now that was one big Tough Mudder (Grylls, B. May 1, 2012).
Tough Mudder is similar to the Australian Army hard-core training base at Kapooka in Western Australia (Australian Army Reserve advertisements).
Tough Mudder has your standard and not so standard exercises, with the standard being the mud, cold water, vertical walls, monkey bars and crawling through pipes and crawling under electric shock wires at 10,000 volts. Darren Fittler was used to having electric wires back on his farm in Coffs Harbor. Then there is your not-so-standard with bales of burning hay and skip bins with ice and water.
Can you believe 1 million people have passed through Tough Mudder with participants like my brother and Darren Fittler becoming honorary Tough (and surely smiling) Mudders for the day.
Bibliography
- · Australian Army Reserve advertisements
- · CrossFit Games web-site – www.crossfitgames.com.au
- · Grylls, Bear (May 1, 2012) Mud, Sweat and Tears, Channel 4 Books: Transworld Publishers
- · Murphy, Damien (October 6, 2013), ‘Electric fence obstacles from the past’, Sun Herald
- · Personal Experiences:
– My second brother took part in Tough Mudder.
