Team BG Tough Mudder

Barr Group had the perfect combination – some brought agility, some strength, some offered strategic thinking and clever tactics, others camaraderie and team spirit – the sum of which was a TOTALLY BRILLIANT team! Now, only two days later (we are still aching!) we are all ready to book again for next year!

So, in case you want to relive the experience, or in case you are on the fence about whether or not to join in next year’s Tough Mudder antics – here is the official Team BG Tough Mudder report!

Having checked in for the event and figured out what to wear (and what not to wear), we gathered at the corporate meeting point. The team, in a communal state of adrenaline-fuelled nervous excitement, posed for a "clean" photo. Luckily we had brought PE teacher Em along for the ride – so we knew we were in safe hands should things fall apart along the way! Buoyed up by a quick pre-race shot of something mysterious, we headed for the starter pen, where we joined a stack of other happy Mudders for a hilarious MC-led communal warmup. 10 minutes later – with limbered up limbs and lungs (there was a bit of army-style chanting) – we were off!

The first hour of the race involved quite a lot of running and not many obstacles – a challenge not loved (but gracefully accepted) by the "strength over fitness" members of the team. The course broke us in gently, with a couple of up and overs and a low-key mud crawl. The sun was shining and we started to think that we were going to come through the morning fairly dry and pretty much unscathed...

But just then we rounded a corner and found Well Swung – an indisputable deep, wide and muddy pool, which (in theory) could be crossed by jumping for a T-bar, grabbing on and swinging to the other side. The reality was that we all got our first of many mud baths of the day... great for the skin they say?!

From there on in the "fun" obstacles came thick and fast, as the team worked together to get everyone through the mental and physical blocks they faced. For some of us the mental challenge was hydrophobia, where the only option was a complete, zero visibility dunking – trusting our teammates to pull us out from under thick submerged pipes (well done Charlie and Dawid!). For others it was taking a deep breath before slithering into a dark tunnel – with no choice but to climb up to the pivot point, only to be tipped headfirst into, guess what, yep, more muddy water!

Then came the combined power and agility test of Funky Monkey, where a combination of upper body strength, momentum and sheer grit would get you to the other side without another mud bath (Amy, Dawid and David N were amongst our star swingers!).

However, the overwhelming consensus, over a post event course dissection, was that the team challenges were the absolute winners. The ones where, without your buddies you simply wouldn’t get through! Our strong men – the two Big Scotts, Kickboxing Aaron, Tough-as-boots Lee, City Site James and Ballsy Baker – were (mostly) on hand at all the right moments, grabbing arms, lifting nets and pushing blocks to get the team up and over various water and mud obstacles. Take Everest: however big your run-up there is no way over the top unless a teammate (or complete stranger) grabbed your arms (and if possible a leg) and hauled you up. Of course more petit the stature, the higher the mountain seemed – so huge kudos to the feisty Crendon girls – Amy, Sam, Becky and Charlie B, for pure grit in the face of adversity!

One last must mention obstacle was the hilarious and totally tactical Pyramid Scheme. A long, steep slippery face with absolutely nothing to hold on to. After a quick team powwow, Joinery George and Director David lay flat to form a base, with Non-stop Stu and The Mighty Dawid clambering up to their shoulders to form a human ladder. One by one each team member then got a leg up from our hero basemen, and clambered up the others to reach for the top, where, as always, Trusty Tom was waiting with a safe pair of strong arms. The only issue then was that the fella stranded at the bottom, in this case Joinery George, was stuck. The solution? A human rope of course! Annie found herself hung by the wrists, with George holding her ankles and the rest of the team heaving them to the top (as a result Annie is now a couple of inches taller – think Mike Teavee from Charlie and the Chocolate factory!).

Basically there were two choices for the last obstacle Electric Shock Therapy – slither through the thick mud to get beneath the hanging electric wires, or just to make a run for it – OUCHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Tough Tom, who had carried us through the event, was taken down hard by the first big shock and reached the finish line both electrocuted and mud caked – a true Team BG hero Mudder!

We are delighted to announce that no man or woman was left behind, and we all made it to the finish line – wet, muddy, tired and, thanks to the very special finisher, a little bit wired! With happy faces and a big round of post-race beers – the Team BG consensus was definitely “let’s do another one”!