Mud Runner – Icebreaker Duathlon 17/2/13
Myself and my Bro Mike h entered his a represented Bigfoot MBC hoping to have some fun and hopefully finish the course! I’ve heard reports from previous years and it sounded brutal! I’m afraid this year was the worse yet for conditions, so just getting through it was our aim!
The race was held at Eastnor, starting off next to the castle, we ran up through the castle grounds and into the woodland beyond for a 10k mud feast through the Landrover test tracks, up there we found every type of mud you can think of, sticky, wet, goopy, stinky (you get what I mean) progress was hampered by my calf cramping up at the first hill and my off road trainers not being as off road as i’d of liked! Still I had Mikey pushing me on (sometime pulling me up some very steep climbs with a stick as well!) As we approached the end of the run we we’re made to run through and along a waist deep stream, which didn’t help my cramped up calf much! We finished the run in1hr 16mins
So into Transition and onto the Bike’s! 20km on mtb’s, this bit should of been much more fun, but like it’s been for most of our summer and all of the winter, it was just a mud fest! We crossed the road and headed for the Dear park, the first field we came to set the tone, even with our Wet Scream’s on! It was get off and push for the first couple of miles on off, we’d lost all movement of the mech’s and the bikes had doubled in weight! After a climb on some harder ground the Obelisk came to view and gave us all of 20 secs of downhill before the mud again! This didn’t last too long though and at last we had some steady riding to do, with a few very large puddles to ride through to clean some mud off! After crossing the road again and Mikey almost causing a pile up when he stopped to find a 10er on the floor (this bought us a Burger at the end!) we pushed on for what felt like ages back down some tracks that we’d ran earlier and then finally we had to ride our bikes through the stream, Mikey attacked hard and with a big splash pushed up the other bank with a large crowd cheering him on, so not to be out done I too powered through as hard as I could and made it up the bank with a big cheer from the crowd, which was nice! We made it round without any mechanical problems, other than the normal mud issues! There was alot of guys with puncture, broken chains and a few missing rear mech’s! So it was great that the bikes had survived along with us! The Bike took us 2hrs 16mins
Back in Transitions our family had finally turned up, which gave us a much needed boost for our final 3km run, so after a few high 5′s with the kids and some gels we set off, I knew what was coming as I’d ran this bit before, a big smelly pit of mud! But as I hit the cold water dip before the mud my left leg locked up, not nice, but not too suprising, but as always Mikey was there to help me along and after a bit of walking I was hobbling a jog, it wasn’t long before we got back to the stream and after 1 more cold wade through we got to the finish! The last run took 21 mins and we finished overall in 4 hrs 5 mins in 246/247th place out of 450 odd entry’s. This was my 3rd Mud Runner and I’ve now earned myself the title of Mud Master complete with free Hoodie! 
We had a great day, My fantastic bro could’ve got a faster time, but stayed with his fat little bro and I can’t thank him enough for that! We met some great people and had a great laugh. A few people we’re interested our Bigfoot tops and asked about the club, so hopefully we put on a good show for the club and maybe we can get a few more members join from them, you never know 
Excellent job there chaps, representing the club in fine style! But blimey it sounded like a right slog – you certainly got your money’s worth there
Do you know what you’re next challenge is going to be?
Brilliant, H brothers. The pictures show that men in tights can look, hum, good
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You done us proud you crazy people! Guess you won’t forget that in a hurry. Don’t forget to ask our treasurer for your £5 for representing the club, ha ha
Good effort guys, particulary with cramp – “he stopped to find a 10er on the floor”!! What the heck was he doing looking at the floor?? Sounds like a mudfest though – has Eastnor ever been dry…?
Andrew – Thanks mate, it was by far the hardest thing i’ve ever done! But I would do it again, it’s one of those things that’s fun once you’ve finished! (does that make any sense!) We’re signed up to the Goshawk and then the Forrest Half Marathon on the 24th, after that I’m sure we can find something to do
Susanne – I’m glad our pic’s entertained!
Dan – I think this one will stay in the mind for a while mate.
Mike – It was back on the main road, he was bored waiting for his slow arse brother to stop being a wus and hurry up I think? Trouble was there was a chap right behind him! lol I’ve never been up Eastnor when it’s dry, but I’ve never seen it as wet and boggy as that!!
Well done to you both, fantastic job.
If anyone fancied seeing what it was like on the course, here’s a link to the offical pic’s, do a search for our numbers at the top, i’m 245 and Mikey’s 500
http://icebreaker-2013.peachysnaps.com/
Are you sure you took the right equipment? Did it really say ‘bike’, not ‘boat’?
It was a difficult but rewarding event. I think Ad summed it up very well. We paced the run well but we suffered on the ride trying to pick off the inexperienced riders who were walking as there was so many of them ! And once we were on the faster sections we surprised a lot of people with how fast we could go down hill, as they were on the brakes at walking pace. Goshawk next, then the FOD half Marathon.
Sounds messy but awesome. Well done both of ya.
So cool, good on you guys and i have competed in an off road 4×4 winch challenge at Eastnor in the past and know how deep those land rover eating mud holes are so a very big well done tuff guys.
@MikeH – the off road skills of the average Duathlete are very entertaining, you’ve just got to be careful not to collect too many on the downhills
I know you were going round together – what happened at the end, was it still brotherly support or every man for himself in the last 50 yards?
You should get on well with the Forest half, it’s a good course, little bit up and downy but that just keeps it interesting. The couple of times I’ve done it we’ve had nice weather too
We stayed together right to the end Andrew, the pic of us standing in the stream was just before the finish. I don’t think it could get a move on even if I wanted!!
I’m really looking forward to the Forest half, it our sort of running so should be good! I just need to get my distance up now
Nice one guys. I did it last year and remember exactly how hard it was! Great achievement!
Thanks Mike, Small’s said you had a hard time of it last year, I think he said you would never do it again
They changed the ride around in the other direction, which ment we hit the really nasty mud at the start, but it got easier after the first few miles.