Photos: Thousands turn out for world's toughest race
PERTON, England - Thousands of participants turned out Sunday for the yearly Tough Guy Challenge, which claims to be the world's most demanding one-day survival ordeal.
First staged in 1986, the Tough Guy Challenge is held on a 600-acre farm in Perton, Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, England, and is organised by Billy Wilson (using the pseudonym "Mr Mouse"), according to Wikipedia.
It has been widely described as "the toughest race in the world", with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year.
Taking place at the end of January, often in freezing winter conditions, the Tough Guy race is staged over a course of about 7 1/2 miles.
It consists of a cross-country run and obstacle course. Organizers claim that running the course involves risking barbed wire, cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, hypothermia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, electric shocks, sprains, twists, joint dislocation and broken bones.
Although the course is adjusted each year, its features usually include a 40-foot crawl through flooded underground tunnels, balancing planks across a fire pit, and a half-mile wade through chest-deep muddy water. Flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs are exploded over the heads of competitors as they crawl under a 70-meter section of barbed wire.
The event regularly attracts fields of up to 6,000 competitors, many from the United States and more than 20 countries around the world.
First staged in 1986, the Tough Guy Challenge is held on a 600-acre farm in Perton, Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, England, and is organised by Billy Wilson (using the pseudonym "Mr Mouse"), according to Wikipedia.
It has been widely described as "the toughest race in the world", with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year.
Taking place at the end of January, often in freezing winter conditions, the Tough Guy race is staged over a course of about 7 1/2 miles.
It consists of a cross-country run and obstacle course. Organizers claim that running the course involves risking barbed wire, cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, hypothermia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, electric shocks, sprains, twists, joint dislocation and broken bones.
Although the course is adjusted each year, its features usually include a 40-foot crawl through flooded underground tunnels, balancing planks across a fire pit, and a half-mile wade through chest-deep muddy water. Flash-bang grenades and smoke bombs are exploded over the heads of competitors as they crawl under a 70-meter section of barbed wire.
The event regularly attracts fields of up to 6,000 competitors, many from the United States and more than 20 countries around the world.
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