4 0 M A N S P A C E M A G A Z I N E I N S I D E T H E W O R L D ’ S B E S T G A R A G E S , S H E D S A N D M A N C A V E S

W e endeavour to use

the ‘events’ section of

ManSpace Magazine

to show off some activities and

experiences that are, perhaps, a little

outside the traditional day out. We

try to highlight some events you

might want to make an occasion of or

something outside the norm. And we

don’t just re-run press releases from

organisers – we get out there and take

part ourselves.

BELOW: The Mind Over

Mudder team at the

entrance point.

Note the clean outfi ts...

MIND OVER MUDDER

So far, our publisher Jeff Patchell has

gone out to Field Days, Steam Days

and spoken to a man who runs his

own relaxed tours of iconic Australian

pubs – all great events that take you

to a diff erent world and provide a real

experience outside your normal life.

This is exactly the same approach

we took to Tough Mudder. Well ... sort

of ... I mean it’s defi nitely a diff erent

world providing a unique experience.

Yet somehow, Jeff wasn’t available for

this one. Oh no, this was one for the

editor.

For those who have not seen

anything about it, Tough Mudder is a

20km running course with 28 obstacle

challenges scattered throughout.

As the name would suggest, there is

mud. Lots of mud. And hills, and ropes,

and tyres, and mud, and hay bales,

and a fi re pit, and water, and mud, and

ice baths ... and mud.

Those who fi nish it will end up

exhausted and most likely sore ...

probably for a few days after. You may

even come out of it a little bruised or

with a few minor abrasions. But those

who complete it always talk of an

extraordinary sense of achievement, a

bonding respect with their teammates

and an inexplicable desire to do it

again.

If the truth be known, I’d actually

had my eye on this event for a

few months – well before I even

considered writing about it for this

magazine. You see, I quite like to get

out and exercise; it’s part of my ‘space’

and an important thing I do to keep

happy and healthy.

The thing is, I’ve never really

enjoyed running – and I don’t think

I’m alone there. I’ll go out for a run

here and there, and I’m certainly not

A 20km obstacle course through mud may not sound like everyone’s

ideal Saturday afternoon, but it’s team-based structure and non-

competitive approach has attracted tens of thousands throughout the

world. Jonathan Green took on the challenge of Tough Mudder and

came out smiling.

EVENTS

I N S I D E T H E W O R L D ’ S B E S T G A R A G E S , S H E D S A N D M A N C A V E S M A N S P A C E M A G A Z I N E 4 1

ABOVE: Living up to its

name of Tough Mudder,

barbed wire ensures

that you genuinely crawl

through mud.

awful at it, but I seem to get bored

with it quite quickly. There are people

out there who can hit the road and

their head clears as they enter a zone.

I’m not one of them. When I run, I start

thinking about when I’m going to

finish. And the sheer number of group

training programs and boot camps

that adorn our parks, beaches and car

parks would suggest I’m not alone.

This is where Tough Mudder has

identified a big market, and presented

something very clever. Most people

who exercise like the idea of working

towards something – it gives you a

target and motivates you to keep

going. But if you don’t want to join a

marathon, or you think that a triathlon

is a bit serious, then there’s not a

lot out there. As such, an obstacle

course that mixes up endurance with

strength – all with great variety – has

a certain appeal.

However, the fundamental

beauty of this event is that it is

non-competitive and has no timing

aspect. The objective is to get a team

together who will be of a similar

fitness capability and help each other

get through the course. If you want

to charge through it like a possessed

demon, that’s your business, but you

certainly don’t have to – and the vast

majority don’t.

That’s not to suggest that you

should enter Tough Mudder without

doing any training at all. It is – after

all – 20km in total, and the obstacles

include crawling through mud under

barbed wire, jumping off a five metre

platform and swimming across 50m to

the end of the dam, plunging in pools

filled with ice, scaling walls, climbing

ropes and running the gauntlet of an

electrified wire zone ... to name just

a few.

It does sound a little on the extreme

side – perhaps even crazy – but when

you stand in the middle of the event,

you can’t help but get drawn in.

It is the brainchild of Will Dean, a

4 2 M A N S P A C E M A G A Z I N E I N S I D E T H E W O R L D ’ S B E S T G A R A G E S , S H E D S A N D M A N C A V E S

former counterterrorism officer with

the British Foreign Service. While

working in Pakistan, Will organised a

‘kabaddi’ league (a south-east Asian

sport that involves wrestling, chasing,

tackling and a ball...), and the success

of it clearly got his ideas running.

When he left the Foreign Service

to do an MBA at Harvard, he was

required to submit a comprehensive

business plan as part of his course.

Drawing on his experience from

the kabaddi league, and his natural

skills in business, Will put forward

an idea for a company that would

run adventure races – with the key

difference being that they would be

harder and tougher than anything else

on offer. His submission was a finalist

at the annual business plan contest,

but was ultimately knocked out by

the Harvard Professors on the basis

that they did not think the event could

attract the required 500 participants

as required in the brief.

Will was confident it would work,

so asked his friend Guy Livingstone to

come on board as the chief operating

officer for his company. Working on a

measly $8,000 marketing budget, they

used Facebook to generate interest,

amassing more than 4,500 willing

participants for the first official Tough

Mudder event at Bear Creek Resort

in Allentown, PA in 2010. Since then,

the number of Tough Mudder events

has increased exponentially with

14 events in 2011, and 28 scheduled

throughout 2012

Only three years since that initial

rejection, the Melbourne staging of

Tough Mudder attracted a staggering

21,000 participants over a single

weekend. They are serious numbers

by any business plan!

EVENT DAYI had actually done a reasonable

amount of training for Tough Mudder

and so felt fairly confident, but

nothing can truly prepare you for what

awaits when you drive into the car

park.

The sheer size of the event is

intimidating and exciting all in

one. People are sent off at different

times – and because we have a mid-

morning start the day is well and truly

underway by the time we arrive.

Music is thumping out from

speakers all round the place and large

banners direct where to go. There are

obstacles in plain view of the start

line and hordes of people are lining

up to complete their registration or

stretching on lawns in preparation.

Some people are dressed up; I can see

a couple Power Rangers, a Japanese

Schoolgirl, Mario & Luigi and a

disconcerting number of Borats in

‘mankinis’. Others, more traditionally

dressed, are pacing in anticipation.

It all adds up to create a genuine

sense of occasion for the day. You

know you’re here to experience

something a bit different. The energy

is infectious, and the atmosphere

electric – though that might just be

the 10,000V electrical wire obstacle at

the finish line...

At registration, I receive my

‘participant’ wristband and get an

individual number written on my

arm and my forehead in permanent

marker.

“Why on my forehead?” I ask

meekly.

A man in the queue behind me

jumps in before the attendant can

answer.

“If by chance you pass out or get

knocked out, they can roll you on your

back and see who you are by your

number,” he says flatly.

EVENTS

TOP: Massive hay stacks

form one of the more

simple obstacles.

BELOW LEFT: Positioned

just before the finish line,

the Electroshock Therapy

obstacle is a collection of

dangling wires, some of

which are live...

BELOW RIGHT: A wooden

beam at the half way

mark ensures you need

to dive into the ice-filled

water at the Arctic Enema

obstacle.

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I N S I D E T H E W O R L D ’ S B E S T G A R A G E S , S H E D S A N D M A N C A V E S M A N S P A C E M A G A Z I N E 4 5

“Oh, I suppose that ... makes sense.”

With more than an hour to go

before our allotted start time, my

team – largely made up of people I

train with – decide to wander around

the course and check out some of

the obstacles. We discuss strategies

for the best way to get through each

challenge – these strategies would

turn out to be completely useless and

largely forgotten in the heat of battle.

As we walk by the finish line, some

of the first participants are making

their way through the final obstacles.

They look completely exhausted ...

and yet logic says that they must be

some of the better participants ... I’m

suddenly not so confident.

Our time arrives, and we move

to the start point. With a sense of

theatre, they make us scale a timber

wall into a small waiting area and talk

us through what lies ahead. They yell

questions, we yell answers. There’s

shouting, hollering and whooping. It’s

as manufactured as American cheese,

but in this setting ... well, it makes

sense.

The MC asks us to kneel and recite

the Tough Mudder oath:

I understand that Tough Mudder is

not a race but a challenge.

I put teamwork and camaraderie

before my course time.

I do not whine – kids whine.

I help my fellow Mudders complete

the course.

I overcome all fears.

I had heard that in America they

play Star Spangled Banner at this point.

I wait.

They play AC/DC here ... that also

makes sense.

The event starts well. The Mind Over

Mudder team (a very deliberate and

bad pun) is working together well. We

keep a steady pace and ensure we’re

all in good shape.

At this early stage, the ethos of

Tough Mudder is very much intact –

I’m lifting complete strangers over 4

metre walls, and complete strangers

are pulling me up to the next one.

I’ve never met these people and, by

the looks, we would probably barely

exchange pleasant nods standing at a

bar together, but in this environment

we’re all mates.

The first real shock comes when

we reach obstacle four – the aptly

named, Arctic Enema. In short, it is a

plunge pool that you need to jump

into and wade your way across to the

other end. As we approach it, I see

an attendant breaking open plastic

bags of ice and tipping the contents

into the pool. There is, in fact, a full

layer of floating ice cubes on the

surface. I jump in (there’s a crossbar

of wood topped with barbed wire at

the half way mark to make sure you

go completely under) and get out as

quick as I can to find my team. Our

faces are stunned, we’re soaking wet,

my legs are bright pink from the cold

shock, our shoes are squelching and

we are beginning to understand what

really lies ahead ... yet we’re laughing

like it’s the time of our lives. Go figure.

As we work through the course the

fatigue kicks in, but the good humour

remains. We crawl through mud on

our bellies (not soft mud I might

add) – jump off a 5 metre platform

into a dam and swim across – slide

down a giant plastic covered slope

with trickling water (heed my advice

... don’t go head first) – scale ropes –

crawl through trenches and semi-

submerged pipes – run through a fire

pit – and too many more for me to go

into detail here.

Unfortunately, as the afternoon

goes on, the sheer number of

people on the course starts to cause

problems. Queues form at obstacles

TOP: Jumping off the 5

metre platform into the

dam, participants swim

to the end and move onto

the next obstacle.

BELOW LEFT: The mud

wall requires genuine

teamwork to get

everyone up the slippery

slope.

BELOW RIGHT: Running

through smouldering hay

bails requires a seriously

deep breath.

4 6 M A N S P A C E M A G A Z I N E I N S I D E T H E W O R L D ’ S B E S T G A R A G E S , S H E D S A N D M A N C A V E S

and people become impatient. Some

start taking the help of others but

are no longer reciprocating – others

simply push by or skip challenges. It’s

frustrating and, perhaps worst of all,

the camaraderie on the course begins

to wane. People are still supporting

their own team, but there’s less

looking out for others.

The event may not be a race against

time – and that is one of the great

positives about it – but for those

who’ve trained to test themselves,

it is a major negative to be standing

around for more than 90 minutes

throughout the course.

Pleasingly, my team remains

positive and generally in good

spirits. Though the frustrations are

obvious, they manage to block out

the negatives and we stay together,

supporting each other to the end.

The last obstacle is a dash through

live wires. Long tentacles hang from

a canopy and hay bales scatter the

ground to complicate the path. These

tentacles have a combined total

of 10,000V running through them,

though not every wire is live – adding

a certain drama when you get the

inevitable shock from one half way

through. It is an obscure fi nish to

any event (one that you’ve paid to

enter I may add...), but once again, it

somehow makes sense.

We cross the line and are handed

the customary, and offi cial, Tough

Mudder fi nisher items; a t-shirt, an

orange head band and a can of cold

beer. And I can tell you – a beer has

never tasted so good.

This is not your traditional 20km

run in the park, but dare I say it, a

traditional 20km run wouldn’t be this

enjoyable. Our mud-soaked clothes

and bruised limbs are as much a

trophy as the orange headband, and

promote nodding approval from

fellow participants.

I take my shoes off and throw them

on a massive pile that they say will be

washed and given to charity ... I feel

bad at that thought – I’m not sure

anyone should have to try and make

something from those shoes. There is

a large open shower area with bottles

of shower gel at your disposal. It

doesn’t surprise me that the water is

cold, but when I realise that the best

pressure is coming from an attendant

with something that resembles a

fi re hose, things seem to take on a

prison feel – and by the end I’m pretty

much waiting for someone to throw a

handful of delousing powder at me.

I’m shivering with cold, only partly

clean, my muscles are tightening and

bruises are coming through – I have

every reason to be a bit fed-up with

the day; yet I’m walking around pretty

damn happy.

There may have been far too many

people for the course to handle – I

hope we can put that down to a ‘fi rst

staging’ mistake – but every other

part of Tough Mudder exceeded

my expectations. The course is

the challenge, but the structure of

camaraderie in a non-timed event

makes it an experience that is

extraordinarily enjoyable.

I’m not suggesting it is for everyone,

but if you like to exercise and want a

challenge, then it might be one to put

in the diary for next year – it’s already

in mine! Just make sure you get a

good group of people who will stick

together and approach it with the

right spirit. And for that, I need to pay

respect and off er complete gratitude

to Talei, Dani and Claire – Team Mind

Over Mudder.

Contact:Tough Mudder Australiawww.toughmudder.com.au

EVENTS

ABOVE LEFT: Early in the

course I emerge from

under the netting with

the help of my team

looking fairly clean and

full of energy.

ABOVE RIGHT: At the

fi nish line with my orange

headband - my clothes

proudly displaying the

eff orts of the day. I threw

the shoes out.

m

ind�o

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mudd

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