Scotland - Tough Mudder 17

A nice and early start to get myself up to Dumfries, I met Callum and Will on the platform and we jumped into the car and headed over to the event ground, compared to Dalkeith last year this was quite the journey between the station and the event ground. We stopped off so I could get a quick bite to eat and got there in plenty of time. I set up my tent and then quickly got changed. We waited in the main arena beside electroshock David was already there, then Marieke and Winter turned up, we were just waiting on Laura and Lydia, Stuart was there with his brother and Giles from TMHQ came over for a quick chat, I discovered why we haven't had beached whale in the UK, which was the number of injuries from participants being thrown from what is essentially a large inflatable when people are landing on it, a lot of broken limbs by all accounts, which is a shame as it looks a good obstacle. Once we were all together we headed into the warm up area and I did the usual pretend to warm up as it tends to wear me out.

We hit the start area for the pledge and safety stuff and we headed off, Winter started to have some problems so we walk/ran for a bit, hitting up kiss of mud, which wasn't very muddy, then onto skidmarked, we had already lost David, Laura and Lydia so we marched onwards to arctic enema, I had made a silly post on Facebook suggesting that I would tackle arctic enema twice in a row and when I slid down that ramp, I climbed out and got back up there and did it again, there wasn't much ice in them as the weather was warming up and melting it but the second time I climbed out, it felt a lot colder, which was odd, my guess was that I was already wet and a bit cold so the cold water sucked away even more heat, it wasn't as cold as the early morning Midlands event but it was still not pleasant. We hit killa gorilla which was several steep inclines which I walked up slowly, then onto cry baby which this time felt like I was being sprayed directly into the mouth and not the usual pleasant slightly sweet menthol taste to it.

Then we had a very cold stream to splodge through before hitting the hills and they were some lovely hills, the hero walls were split up due to the landscape not accomodating both in the space they had. A bit more wandering through the forest until we hit bale bonds, which were a proper challenge this time, it was stacked three bales high which was much better than even the Midlands version. Birth canal was uncomfortable as they had a bit too much water in the tarpaulin which made it really hard to get through, also the ground was quite uncomfortable to crawl over, a quick drink and then onto pyramid scheme. This was an interesting one and people were able to run up which was quite impressive, we helped quite a few people over this one. We got up to sewer rat which didn't drop directly into the water which was a little sad but there was a really big body of water to swim through, which was a little cold when you first get in and I'm not ashamed to say it was another body of water that caused me to have a pee.

There was a large bottleneck waiting for swamp stomp which really was a swamp with a lot a rather smelly mud to swim through, we finally made it through and they closed it off after us as it was causing such a bottleneck, I shouted mud fight but didn't actually start one, someone else did and there was mud flying everywhere, which was fun, aside from the clump in my ear, once everyone was through I helped some people through the mud and then fell backwards onto it and then had a bit of a swim which was great fun.

Then hero carry which was the usual thing, then Liberator, although Winter had avoided the other obstacles like skidmarked and hero walls, a pair of pegs was taken and with help, Winter managed to get over to a huge cheer from the crowd of people waiting to get over. Then hold your wood which was a lovely walk around a lake and some warming sunlight. Mudmile was muddy but more like large piles of mud and large puddles, fun but not when you get the muddy water in your eye, which I managed to thanks to someone landing heavy, onto Funky monkey where I managed to get three rungs done before ending in the water, Callum and Will managed faired better almost making it over.

Back over mud mile and onto Devils beard which was pinned down quite well, and then the second hero wall. Then balls to the wall which I've started to do a reverse abseiling move on, reaching for the knot and then pushing out and pulling myself up, with a little cheer from the other entrants at the top and a cheeky shout of "that's how you do it". Quagmire was two large mounds of earth and waist high water which was a bit dull. Then I found a blanket someone had discarded and as we were climbing an incline Winter had a funny turn and the medical staff were called, after a short break we continued on and ended up at what was meant to be cliffhanger but was some balance beams which I used two die by side as it was a bit easier. Then a short incline and everest which I managed quite easily, then we helped people to get over and headed for King of the swingers, I heard the mc saying to not hold onto the handle and swing back, I thought that'll never be me, except I'd found some better gloves and I couldn't seem to let go and swung back towards the platform before swinging out again and getting no where near the bell. I retrieved the blanket, which I put around Marieke, which I should have done a bit sooner. Electroshock was the final obstacle which I decided I would skip. We got our photos taken and collected our new headbands before I headed back to the tent to get changed.