Cape Town - The Discovery Tough Mudder is only a few days away, are you ready? Read on for a whirlwind tour of some of the obstacles you can expect to face when you join us on 15 September in Elgin – be warned, this isn't your ouma's obstacle course!
Let's start off by taking the plunge with Pitfall: Think of it as the minefield of all obstacles where you need to pick your way through a 4m wide x 6m long pit while trying to avoid the randomly placed deeper holes that’ll have you covered in mud head to toe.
If you're keen on cleaning up before adding a fresh layer of muddy awesomeness, then Creek Crusade is the obstacle for you: run along the shoreline of a dam before heading back onto course.
There's no way you're going home squeaky clean after taking on the magnificent Mud Mile: help fellow Mudders over 2m high mud mounds and through 1.5m deep mud pits. It's frequently voted "most fun" at Tough Mudders the world over.
Testing your upper body strength this week we have another firm favourite the world over: Kong. This is your chance to feel like the King of the Jungle as you make your way across this 3m high ring swing. While your grip is important, rhythm is the deciding factor here.
Finally the Balance Beams are bound to produce their fair share of fun: here you traverse a series of narrow wooden beams and tends to be something of an equalizer between the sexes. Pro tip: Don't look down, stay focused on the spot at the end of the beam and use your speed when you can.
The Devil's Beard might sound like an awesome pub but on our course it's a crawl under 60 square metres of thick rope netting. Pro tip: team up with other mudders to "raise the roof" and turn the devils beard into a far more manageable goatee.
Funky Monkey on the other hand is exactly what you wished they had on your playground growing up. Mudders take on a series of inclined monkey bars before descending down a long bar to the finish.
Or you could take some time to get Shawshanked because we offer the full DuFrayne experience: crawl into a 6m pipe climb ending with a 1,5m drop into icy waters of freedom. This is one that's not to be missed!
The only obstacle that is optional is Electroshock Therapy presented by Bosch. Here we invite you to take a 10m stroll through a field of electrified wires packing around 10 000 volts of electricity – it's one heck of a wake-up call.
On Everest you’ll need to sprint up a quarter-pipe obstacle and enlist the help of other Mudders to pull you up and over the beastly summit. No one climbs Everest alone.
A slightly more solo experience is Hold Your Wood where you carry a not-unimpressive log, solo, over a 100-metre course. It sounds easy, but don’t be deceived it's far and away the most fatiguing obstacle out there.
Hold Your Wood, where you carry a not-unimpressive log over a 100-metre course, sounds easy but don’t be deceived it's far and away the most fatiguing obstacle out there.
History buffs and OCR enthusiasts love our Berlin Walls. Modelled on the real thing you'll definitely need a boost from a passing Mudder to scale their sheer 3m tall faces. If you'd prefer a 4 000 litre mud wallow in a crater 2.5m deep then maybe the Quagmire is more up your alley? Be warned: the climb out can get more than a little slippery.
You'll feel on top of the world (and get a view to match) if you can tough it out up the Boulder Scramble but it's still not gonna feel as good as your first taste of freedom after you Escape from Alcatraz – sprint 150m down the barbed wire fence until you find your exit or the guards find you!
Come and meet theses obstacles in person at the Discovery Tough Mudder in Elgin on 15 September, who knows, you might even be tempted to take them on.
Go on - when was the last time you did something for the first time?