When I bought the season pass I thought that completing a Tough Mudder every two weeks for two months was a brilliant idea, I now have discovered that this is not quite the case. Just two weeks after completing Scotland, I was down in Skipton for my next event, though this time I had a friend spectating, so I was looking forward to it.
After arriving at Skipton station we jumped in a taxi to Broughton Hall, which had to be the most spectacular house I've seen at a tough Mudder event, a really gorgeous house and grounds. I got myself registered and changed and I decided to get the mowhawk haircut that they offer competitors.
I left my friend to go to the warm up area and did the jumping and screaming before we headed to the start, the compere did the usual safety message and this is the toughest course spiel, in hindsight this was actually the toughest course that I've completed.
It started with a hill climb and it got harder from there, I was making good time and just after the glory blades got chatting to another competitor called Lucy, who had signed up with a friend who later dropped out, we just drifted along chatting and helping each other, with me giving advice for each obstacle and her keeping a very good pace.
We passed over the Dirty Ballerinas and I noticed the hill that people were running down and thought oh goody, that looks like fun. I managed to run/walk up to the water station before we started running down hill and on towards a few more obstacles and a lot of hill climbing.
I've started to not look forward to doing the electrified obstacles, which is odd since I know what is coming but Electric Eel was fairly easy this time, it was amusing seeing someone on their knees refusing to move past the middle of the obstacle, which is the worst way to complete it, for the amount or shocks you would get. There was a nice mud slide just after the obstacle where I almost wrenched my knee going back for an extra slide down.
After a bit more climbing and a water station, there was a wait at the Island Hopping for some reason but opened it soon after, a lot of people were skipping part but I wanted to see if I could get further than the first island this time, again I fell at the first one, hopefully one of these events I'll get over the whole thing.
They seemed to have left the Human Gecko off the course for this event, which is a shame as it is a great obstacle to do but not wait for. I as so happy to see that they brought Underwater Tunnels back to the course and the body of water was really deep, which I discovered when I went to get out and couldn't touch the bottom.
One of my favourite obstacles is Walk the Plank and I said to myself that after finding the water of the Scotland event being quite warm, I would cannon ball into the phone pool but on getting up to the fifteen foot drop makes it enough for me to just drop into the water, hopefully I'll overcome my fear and actually jump and tuck screaming CANNONBALL.
We got up to Everest and I had faith that since I'd completed it three times before I would have no problems this time, well pride comes before a fall and I fell four times, just missing the outstretched hands and landing with a great thud onto the surface, on the fourth failed attempt I'd decided that I didn't need a severe injury so admitted defeat and headed off for Electroshock Therapy.
In not sure if it was tiredness or landing heavily and skipping Everest but I just couldn't face going through, so for the first time I skipped the obstacle, I reasoned that I'd done it four times previously, looking back I wish I had done it but I've got other events I'll take part in.
Aside from the lack of water for filling up bottles and the awful portaloos, it was one of the best events I've done.
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