Pochi giorni fa si è corsa la Tough Guy, il paziente zero delle MudRun.
La più tosta (dice di esserlo) e la prima (dal 1987) della MudRun ha incoronato il suo re, Jonathan Albon, un ragazzo inglese che si era già tolto lo sfizio di vincere i campionati OCR e i campionati della Spartan Race. Difficoltà? freddo, acqua, salite e discese, fango come se non ci fosse un domani. Dei quattromila partecipanti oltre mille nemmeno sono arrivati.
Ma allora è veramente dura? Leggiamolo dalle sue parole (qui il suo blog)
It was 5 years ago that I took part in my first ever obstacle race, Tough Guy. I‘ve completed many races since but had never returned to what is the original obstacle race – until now. Not only was I coming back to complete this iconic race (which is an achievement in itself) but also to compete and hopefully get the fastest time around the course.
Being the first race of the season I was unsure as to how I would fare and whether I could continue from the form I had found in 2014. It was also reported that the field assembled would be the strongest Tough Guy had ever seen. As well as competing against my fellow countrymen, Tough Guy attracts people from all over the world, particularly from Germany. The fastest finishers for the past three years running have been from Germany and it was clear they were back in force this year.
Tough Guy is described in two parts, the first – a cross-country run, the second – the obstacle heavy Killing Fields. As it turns out the ‘cross-country run’ has as many obstacles (if not more) than the majority of other obstacle races. You then have to conquer the Killing Fields which is unlike anything else around.
Before you can even think about any obstacles at Tough Guy the first battle is answering the golden question: what should I wear? Inevitably if dressed for the water heavy Killing Fields you will be too warm on the more running based first half and if dressed for the running section you would suffer with the cold in the Killing Fields. It is a fine art and made difficult by specific weather conditions or for each person by different running speeds, body fat or resilience to the cold. I left it until the morning of the race to finally decide what I would wear but had a fair idea what works having dunked myself in a lake a few times in the weeks before. It didn’t look cold on the day as there was no ice around but it was only 1 degree celsius and there was a wicked wind that would chill everyone to the bone.
Having been given meticulous instructions on how to complete certain obstacles and which line to follow through the course to make it the toughest it could be we were all lined up at the start ready to face one of the toughest obstacle courses in the world.
Qui invece il video di uno dei corridori che è in preda a ipotermia, tanto per dare un’idea… Il tizio che gli da una mano a spogliarsi e riscaldarsi sotto la doccia è proprio Jonathan Albon, il vincitore…
