This is the second weekend in a row with my alarm clock set for 5am. Urgh. I was pretty much ready to wake up put clothes on a get in the camper. I had the genius plan of packing the van the night before. So it was wake, dress, drive, drive, drive, drive, stop for wee, drive drive. I got to the camp site for about 0815, picked up my camp pass and set up the camper.
It was a 20 minute walk to the event village so I got ready in to race gear and headed over. The village of Shap is beautiful and it felt like the whole village was behind the event, with local pubs putting out signs welcoming Total Warriors, even the local cafe had a 'Total Warrior special'. Once at the event village, the scale of this event started to become clear. Huge fields for cars to park in, lots of marshals giving directions and help. Once in the main barn, large impressive banners take your through the 4 step registration process. I went from standing in running kit with valuables and a bag, to a headband wearing, race numbered, temporary tattoo'd, bag stashed warrior in a total of 5 minutes. Total Warrior isn't just a well oiled machine, its a well oiled slick machine made of Teflon, lithium grease and baby oil.
Well I had given my self an hour to get through registration and now had 55 minutes to potter around the stalls check out the views and the parts of the course you could see from the event village. The views from here are stunning, and the obstacles looks very impressive too. I start doing a few stretches and warms up to keep my self busy. chatted to a few people around the start area too, which was great fun. With 20 minutes to go we were called into the starting pen for safety briefings and motivation.
3...2...1... GO! we all run off to the sounds of Blur's 'Song 2' which pumps out adrenalin and energy with every beat. I take a wide line so get around as many people as possible, and get up towards the front of the wave. The first km was brutal, running down a steep hill, then back up, then back down, up again with a clamber at the very top. This sapped the energy very quickly, and very quickly thinned the pack down, ready for the fire leap and 'human BBQ'. The heat was pretty impressive and a fun obstacle. The heat was pretty short lived as we were soon running through a shallow stream. and up another hill. Oh and then another hill with massive tree trunks to climb over.
Mud hills and water filled dips followed by, 3 foot, 4 foot and 5 foot walls to vault and climb over break up any running you tried to break into. A short run through the moorland and it was time for the first log carry of the day a short trip up a hill and back again. It was now time to stretch the legs and get in 1 maybe 2 kilometres of running through wet, marshy moorland, the running was energy sapping with hidden sink holes and the old boulder thrown in for good measure. After a quick water stop it was back on e our hands and knees crawling through thick mud underneath a web of barbed wire. I managed to snag my running vest hear, but luckily didn't snag any skin. the crawl was quickly followed by a great set of hurdles in 50 cm of thick muddy water, next up are uphill tunnels, balance beams, hay bales in water to climb over, and plunge pools.
Now came one of the best obstacles I've encountered in a long time, a boxed in spiders web of bailing string. pitch black once you entered the web. It was brutal and frustrating slow to navigate, a real way to mix it up and increase the fun factor. Once back into the day light it was the 7 foot walls that dominated the horizon, luckily their were a couple of foot holds near the base so I could take a step up and reach the top and drag myself over. This course is very tough and the spacing of the obstacles means there is never much of a run before another obstacle pops up. The next obstacle was a horrible tyre tunnel crawl, tight spaced and very uncomfortable, even though its only 5 or 6 meters long you come out battered and bruised. a few more semi submerged hurdles and a horrifying steep hill to climb aided with a cargo net carpet.
Once out into the open after the cargo climb we were inside the final mile and the obstacles become bigger and defiantly come under the category 'one for the crowds'. A long archway with dangling electric wires was next, my views on electric shock obstacles is always one of 'why bother' and they are just a gimmick. But. They are crowd pleasers, although this was was turned down pretty low so the crowd probably didn't get screams and induced epilepsy they came to see. It was then a hard hill climb to the top of the water slide. This was a pretty epic water slide with lots of water, washing up liquid. A healthy run up and leap suddenly seemed like a very stupid when I was gathering a scary amount of speed and had one leg stuck under the other. i lost control and ended up going head first on my back. Even when the tarpaulin ended I carried on at some speed on the soaked grass. It was only when the ground dried up and the extra drag factor caused by my shorts filling with grass and soil did I final stop. Is was an amazing rush and filled my body with adrenalin ready for the run and climb up the steep wooden wall.
Another log carry up, down,. back up and down another big hill was murder on the legs, but it was then a down hill run to the river. I nearly lost it on the uneven ground, locking out my leg when I should have been keeping them bent and ready for the rock and roll. I desperate leap stopped me from snapping my leg or taking a real bad tumble. This only happened over a couple of seconds but scared the crap out of me and the guy behind me who swore even louder than I did. It was soon forgotten with a swim across the river and rope climb to back back up to the bridge to cross the river the easy way. It was killer run up the final hill to the event village. The final wall climb at the end wasn't too tricky, but the monkey bars at the end were a nightmare. With huge crowds gathering to cheer the successful and jeer those that dropped into the water below. The pressure was enough to strengthen my shoulders and forearms to make it across drop down the final hay bail and cross the line.
What a great race, after I finished I say in the sun on the grass, relaxed, with the free beer, cliff bar, water and Kendal mint cake. I chatted with other finishers, and proudly got changed into my finishers t-shirt. I didn't hand around too much, but collected my kit and headed back to the camp site feeling super proud of myself. I chatted to those walking up to the event, about the course and they quizzed me tactics and details of the course. I got back, showered, changed and had a half hour snooze in the sun, before having some food, followed by another snooze. Read my book for a while then had another little snooze before heading back up to the site to check out the post race party.
Back up at the event village I ran into Peter from mudstacle and had a beer and good old chat. The party was great fun, but I could barely walk let alone dance, so I pottered about chatted to a few guys I recognised from the day's race including a local fell runner with some incredible tattoos and attitude. I stopped in at the Shap chippy for some more food. My God they server the greatest curry sauce I've ever had in a chippy! decent sized portion and cheeky battered sausage filled me up before heading back to get an early night ready for tomorrow.
