Tough Mudder is a team-oriented 18-20km obstacle course designed by the British Special Forces to test your mettle and all-around physical fitness. The untimed event focuses on camaraderie over finisher rankings with no winner, no finisher medal and no clock to race against.
The 2017 Tough Mudder season will kick off with a brand new location, new course and new challenges on 20 & 21 May 2017 in South East Queensland. Located at the home of the Woodford Folk Festival – Woodfordia, the 18-20km race course will bring participants on an exhilarating day out amidst rolling hills, epic valleys and thick back-forests.
Tough Times Don’t Last, but Tough Mudders Do
Tough Mudder is a challenge that emphasises teamwork and camaraderie because legend has it that no man can conquer all obstacles without help.
Participants often enter Tough Mudder as a team and most teams have gone to the effort of customising and donning matching shirts jazzed up with motivational quotes such as “Tough times don’t last, but Tough Mudders do”.
The 18-20km world-class course punctuated with over 20 challenging obstacles is designed to push the boundaries of your comfort zone and will be sure to unleash daunting demons to instigate your inner fears.
Be prepared to get down in the muck right from the start of the course as you wriggle forth through less than 18” of clearance between tangled barbed wire and a floor of slushy cold mud in Kiss of Mud 2.0.
Feel claustrophobia creep in at Cage Crawl as you lay on your back and pull your way through the long, watery trench under 20m of steel fence with only a few inches of air.
Funky Monkey 2.0 starts with a pair of your favourite childhood monkey bars, angled upward to meet a trapeze, which, if you can keep your momentum, will send you swinging into an iron pipe descent. Else, lose your nerve and drop 6ft to take the swim of shame.
Electroshock Therapy will round off your adventures by allowing you to perform your victory sashay through a field of dangling live wires that deliver electroshocks at 10,000 volts, just before the finish line.
The aforementioned are only 4 signature obstacles out of the array of challenges that will test your ultimate strength, stamina and mental grit.
Nevertheless, whether you arrive solo or in a team, you will be sure to cross the finish line with more friends than you started with. Fellow Mudders will be there for you every step of the way, be it through a helping hand or an extra vote of confidence. Simply find the courage to sign up and turn up!
The Mudder Pledge conveys:
- I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge.
- I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time.
- I do not whine – kids whine.
- I help my fellow mudders complete the course.
- I overcome all fears.
Tough Mudder Legion
Completing your first Tough Mudder brings about automatic qualification into the Tough Mudder Legion. Legionnaires are viewed as leaders, who will do what is necessary to get themselves and others to the finish line, through a demonstration of teamwork and camaraderie.
Mudders who return for their subsequent Tough Mudders as legionnaires will enjoy great privileges such as an exclusive finisher obstacle, legionnaire-only lanes, where they can try unique twists on the popular obstacles, including Cage Crawl and Liberator, and an option to bypass the Electroshock Therapy.
Headbands also serve as bragging rights for legionnaires. While everyone gets a headband at the finish line, each event day completed earns legionnaires the next level headband. Similar to the Karate’s coloured belt system, the different coloured headbands represent the number of courses a Mudder had conquered. Mudders wear their headbands proudly to represent their status in the Tough Mudder Legion.
Pricing and Entitlements
Prices start from AU$119 for a Saturday race and AU$109 for a Sunday race at Tough Mudder South East Queensland.
Tough Mudders are entitled to an orange headband and a finisher tee upon completion of the course to mark their achievement. Additional perks include an ice cold finisher drink to refresh and amazing photos which will be taken throughout the whole course.
Don’t be afraid of tough times because it gets you real friends and real friends get you through tough times. Rally your best buddies and sign up now for an experience of a lifetime!
Still not convinced? Find out if obstacle races are really suitable for you.
