No Ego Mud Challenge: A Runner’s Review

The No Ego Challenge is a 10k mud run where you will be tested across tough, muddy terrain along with demanding obstacles such as ‘The Mangle’ and ‘Tunnel of Mud’. The idea is to leave your ego at home as this is no ordinary mud run…. you will be tested to your limits!!

I take part in a lot of fitness events and really love Mud/Obstacle races. I saw this event a few times whilst looking for events to take part in, I liked the idea of it being a really tough event as I love a challenge, and with the motto ‘leave your ego behind’, I thought…Challenge accepted! Luckily enough, one my friends won a place in a Facebook competition so decided to invite anyone who fancied giving it a go. We ended up entering as a team of 6.

Training & Clothing

As I already do quite a lot of running this event fitted right in with my current training plan. I ran twice a week around my local area for around 30-60min (which was in my normal training plan), although I could run quite far I wanted to make sure I built up my strength for this event too. To do this I went to metafit classes at my local gym, did a few insanity workouts at home and then also did some extra spin and weight classes at the gym. All in all I wanted to be in great shape for this event so did as much training as I could.

As with most mud events I picked some clothes I didn’t mind getting destroyed! In previous mud runs things have got broken or torn so I picked up a cheap running top and pair shorts. Then I used a good pair of cross trainers, I feel you need to wear something good on your feet, the last thing you want in the middle of a race is getting a blister from poor quality shoes.

Time to test your ego

On arrival there were clear signs showing the way to the parking area, it only cost £3 for parking which was very reasonable but unfortunately it was painfully slow and it seemed to take us a long time to get parked whilst being directed by the marshals.

Everything was well laid out and visible such as the main tent, bag drop, toilets and start line. There was a great atmosphere with all the runners and event staff so I was having a laugh with all sorts of people before the race. It was really easy to pick up my race number, drop of my bag and get all camo’ed up! The people organising the pictures and videos made sure everyone got involved. We had lots of fun in the group warm up, probably the most fun I have ever had in a group warm up!

Originally the event was 6 miles but we were told on the start line it had been increased to 8ish as permission had been given to use the woods. What beautiful woods they were too, so very enchanting and really helped make it a great race! They had 20 plus obstacles with a good mix such as getting wet, muddy, climbing, carrying heavy objects and of course LOTS more mud! I have more cuts and scrapes of this course then any other due to thistles and slate/stone in crawling obstacles. I don’t know if the other courses I have done rake the area first or its just the natural area.

The marshals around the course were few and far between, it seemed like they were lacking a certain volunteer umph. The finish line was clear with some lovely ladies giving out water and space blankets, you can then pick up your t-shirt up in the registration tent. Two of the team needed medical assistance and were seen too straight away by lovely medics. There was no food at the finish, which is unusual, and something I would definitely hope the organisers add to future events.

Final thoughts

We all had a great day out, beautiful surroundings and the last minute addition of the woods was a great surprise. It’s a very challenging course and I would recommend it to anyone.

 


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