You really have to be tough

It’s been a week since the “Nettle Warrior” aka “Tough Guy” summer edition, and I think that Jon is still feeling the strains of it. And it’s because that race, or whatever you want to call it, is not designed for the weak. Oh no. You really have to be tough to complete it.

This Mr Mouse guy who organise it must have lost the plot a few years ago when he decided to create this event. But, contrary to what I think of it, this thing gets more and more popular each year. I think there were more than 5,000 people who entered this year.  See their website for more details although be careful, as I believe it was hacked just a couple of weeks before the event.

These are Jon and his brother Steve, with some guys from work (Joel, Jason, Cameron, Steve Adams, Mark and Piotr). They all had decided to enter as a team but they all got separated in the first half an hour of the race. To be honest, there’s not much point waiting for each other, as you never know who is going to be slowing you down. But they all did very well in the end, as all of them managed to finish in one piece and without any injuries! (as you can see here for example). I only saw the paramedics going around a couple of times, so maybe it wasn’t that bad in the end.

What is true though, is that it seems that they’ve made the whole event a bit safer (even if it’s still bloody dangerous). If you compare pictures of the Tough Guy of a couple of years ago and this year’s, you can see that they’ve put some “safety measures” in some of the obstacles. Still, the whole thing is so dangerous that they make you sign a “death warrant” before entering in which you state that whatever happens you are not going to sue them.

It was a fun day out though. The sun was shining (which didn’t help the guys) and everybody around you was in a festive mood (probably because it wasn’t them doing the assault course).

I’ve heard rumours in the office that some of them may be doing the winter one next year. They are really tough guys, aren’t they.