A tougher Tough Guy!01 Feb
This years Tough Guy was a killer! The weather made the event more difficult then ever. 2 degrees Celsius in the water, and -5 in the air with the windchill factor took its toll on all competitors and I saw more people on the ground shaking uncontrollably then ever before.
This is what the race organisers have to say about closing down the course before all the late laggerds have completed:
“At 1 o’clock we shut off the Death Plunge diving boards because 2 caravan mobile relief were bursting with hypothermia victims, 18 bodies in one, 23 in the other shivering, shaking, awaiting transport to the Field Hospital. St John Ambulance were ferrying to the Field Hospital as quickly as possible.
To allow more to jump in the lake was a High Death Risk to competitors plus divers having to stand in neck high water were physically deteriorating their capabilities to dive under for incapables.”
To add to the weather the organisers had a new set of challenges in store for us. The start used to be a nice long country run, but this year they broke it up with A-frames and obstacles all ready from the start.
Good thing: I finished better then ever, in the end 96 of 2800 that completed the race.
Bad thing: I could not stop shaking for about 30 minutes after finishing and had to have help to be able to undress and bring clean clothes on.
I have not experienced such cold before during my races. To after the race not be able to hold a drink or even undress on my own was indeed a new experience.
Bad thing x2: The snow slowed us down on the way back and rather then being at home at 9pm, we arrived at 1am in the morning! The next day I found myself stuck in Croydon with no trains available to go to work. I had to walk 4h 15min to get home, get dressed and then off to work… At least I got a good work out on the Monday too! The glass is always half-full!
