It was with great honour on Sunday 30th September, our 11 strong female team completed Tough Mudder London South for local Neuroblastoma charity, Niamhs Next Step. Our courageous team consisted of six first timers and five legionnaires, of all ages and abilities. The aim was to turn up, try our best and get to the finish line in one piece.
Our early start wave of 9:15am meant we could fire straight into the course without too much procrastinating or waiting around… and less chance of anyone changing their mind!
As we headed off into the woods of a picturesque Holmbush Farm, the adrenaline had dispersed and we were ready to tackle the first few climbing obstacles. Sadly it was here one of our team members took a fall off the hero wall and became injured. Her abscence for the rest of the event was greatly noticed so it made us more determined to get back to her as soon as we could.
There were a couple of new obstacles including hydrophobia. As the name suggests, water based and something unpleasant. Sure enough you had to fully submerge in muddy water and swim under a sewer pipe, three times! Thank goodness for the GoPro as I spent most of the evening crying with laughter at the footage!
Next we went on to tackle Everest and Blockness Monster, then took a small rest after the electroptherapy took me off my feet with a temporary loss of conciousness. The benefit of this was I can’t remember getting to the end and just waking up in the mud, thankful it was over.
For the rest of the run I felt a bit like Marv, one of the wet bandits from Home Alone, after Kevin electrocuted him (minus the frizzy hair!)
In all seriousness I skipped Arctic Enerma as I felt this would’ve been compromising, so instead I opted to watch and support the team come through. I was so proud of them.
We still had about 4 miles to go at this point, which entailed more water, colder temperatures and the dreaded Walk The Plank. Again I bypassed and supported the jumpers, feeling overwhelmed we had made it to the end. We just had one obstacle to go which consisted of making a human pyramid on a slipperly board and climing over a each other to get to the top. It was quite extraordinary spotting our injured team mate in the medical tent and waving with joy from the scaffolding of the pyramid.
Finally we could blast through the finish line and be reunted with our team mate and receive our headbands, finisher t-shirts and cider!
We dedicated this event to supporting Neuroblastoma charity Niamhs Next Step to mark the end of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
If you would like to find out how you can support this charity by holding an event or donating please click here.
