some months ago my son signed up for the first-ever 'Tough Mudder' to be held in Australia.
....have you heard of it? I hadn't...
click here for a taster..... it's trumpeted as the premier 'challenge event' on the planet...a 20km "challenge" course with commando-class obstacles.
but it wasn't until he said 'hey mum, I have to sign a "Death Waiver' that I began to really worry!
( I'm an artist....not an adrenaline junkie!)
the event looked tough, exhausting, terrifyingly challenging....but surely not.....?
I couldn't even voice my questions....say anything aloud.....
it wasn't until my daughter, going as 'support crew'/ designated driver/ chauffeur/ spectator ....said "Hey ,I've got to sign one too ' that I began to relax!
hey....if the spectators are at risk of death too, how bad can it be? !!
the Tough Mudder pledge |
mud...mud...did someone mention mud? |
anyway, of course it was all fine!
the clean team 'Just Wing It' photo: ac |
22,000 crazy, enthusiastic superfit, switched-on people of all ages and shapes and sizes paid $90-$150 to put themselves through 20km of hell.
the start line Phillip Island, Sat 31 March 2012 hundreds sent off in 'waves' every 15 minutes photo: ac |
why?
the Tough Mudder aim:
to test all-round strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie....to unlock a true sense of accomplishment.....and just because you can!
does this look like fun to you?
finding your way through a smoke-filled fire pit
a ten-metre leap into a dam followed by a 50 metre swim
photo: Noah Schultz-Byard ABC Broken Hill |
slithering through claustrophobic, small , mud-filled pipes on your belly,
rolling under razor wire
photo: Noah Schultz-Byard ABC Broken Hill |
hauling yourself over umpteen high, skin-scraping walls...
photo: Noah Schultz-Byard ABC Broken Hill |
and being hauled up more walls....
photo:Quin Rooney |
slippery half-pipes strewn with other 'competitors' selflessly allowing themselves to be used as 'footholds' to be scrambled over....
photo: Noah Schultz-Byard ABC Broken Hill |
and being hosed down before running through 400 dangling wires pulsing with electric current for a dose of electroshock therapy on your wet clammy mud-caked skin!
photo: Noah Schultz-Byard ABC Broken Hill |
do I have your attention?
more tomorrow!
Jo x
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