The Strongman Run

What a weekend?! This weekend whilst many chose to do jobs around the house or visit aging relatives (both admirable...) a small team of British adventurers set off to conquer Germany. Armed with a couple really cool PR girls, a case full of Fisherman’s Friend and a photographer this team touched down in Cologne on Friday evening with a job to do. After surviving a somewhat hairy taxi ride they arrived at a small town in the middle of nowhere called Nurburg. You might of heard of it... It is world-renowned for hosting the German Grand Prix, but this weekend there was a far more epic battle to be fought...

The Strongman Run is fast becoming known as ‘the’ race to do. During the 13-mile (ish), hilly muddy adventure race, the 13,000 competitors are pushed to there limits by various water obstacles, electric fences and muddy swamps.

Starting on the iconic race track the course leaves the comfort and safety of the tarmac and pretty soon it all gets a bit messy...

I feel a bit of a muppet. When I was posted a quote by the girls for an article they had written for my local newspaper I scoffed. It said something along the lines of ‘having competed the six-marathon in six-day Trans Britain Race, Ironman France, various London Marathons and Tough Guy this I know will be one of my hardest challenges to date...’ Perhaps I should given the quote the respect it deserved. To be fair The Fisherman's Friend Strongman Run was a bit of a bitch.

Made even more challenging by weather conditions which nearly saw it cancelled twenty-minutes before the start this race The Strongman Run is in my opinion a must-do for anyone who wants the ultimate in trail run/ adventure race.

The race for me was even more special given that we were racing on behalf of Team GB. This meant I had a fantastic team of people to share this experience with. Arriving on Friday evening and leaving on Sunday afternoon and being catered for by the brand was amazing. Ordinarily I pay to do stuff like this for fun, being sponsored to do something I love and hanging around with cool people is a bit of a dream come true. The weekend was made even better by the HUGE party on the Saturday night. Given it is a small town in the middle of nowhere this made it even better. People came in there droves and hung around. I’m please to report not only did Team GB do the business on the run, we also were the last man standing at the party in the evening too! I have a couple of people to thank... Firstly, massive thanks to Fisherman’s Friend for putting on an fantastic race and hosting us all weekend. We didn’t want for anything. It was brilliant. Secondly, to Nicky and Nicola from the PR agency for co-ordinating the team. It can’t be easy organising a group like this especially when one of the racers thinks it’ll be funny to pretend he was left behind... Thirdly, to Steph our photographer. What a legend. She ended up as muddy as us! Went to every effort to get the best shots which invariably involved laying in the mud. If you’re doing a race/ event and you want the shots you NEED her. And finally, to my Team GB teammates. Pitching up in Germany with a group of people like this was genuinely inspiring. To share this experience with others was awesome. With six-weeks to go until my 69-mile Hadrian’s Wall run, I now feel in a good position to knuckle down and get the high-miles in my legs. Epic.