ESKA Team Enters The UK Tough Man 2004
| On Sunday 25th July 2004 6 individuals (5 of
which are ESKA Karateka) entered the UK Tough Guy challenge.....What is Tough
Guy...Well the phenomena of Tough Guy has evolved into cult status with a world
wide audience and competitors from every continent coming to try to beat the
course at Perton, South Staffordshire. Tough guy is a unique adventure event. Its a test of physical and mental endurance based on an assault course of obstacles over 8 country miles. It is set in over 150 acres of fertile land where our fresh spring waters will wash away your miseries and replace them with smiles of achievement. The course is tough and you need to be fit in both body and spirit to survive the ordeal. Supporting your charity & our unfortunates Tough Guy assault course is played on 150 acres of glorious pasture at Mr Mouse Farm for Unfortunates, as the name implies the charitable work is undertaken 365 days each year looking after hundreds of retired horses and wildlife habitats. Unfortunate children and those who are slow of mind and action attend as volunteers to assist the care of the animals. Fundraisers are asked to donate at least 50% of funds raised to help support these Unfortunates. The other 50% goes to the charity of your choice. Our sponsors reward your fundraising efforts with training shirts, clothing and holidays on the farm! One of the competitors, Tony Stones, takes up the story: "This year's Tough Guy was successfully completed by Rob Everly, Alison Pearson, Andrew Pearson, Farah Malik, John Gillespie and Tony Stones. The whole purpose of the Tough Guy Challenge is grind your body into the mud until you and the land become one. Naturally all five competitors have trained religiously for months in preparation for this Extreme Event and all five "athlete's" were in absolute peak fitness!! This years Tough Guy theme was "The Jungle Warrior" and in keeping with the spirit of the event Tough Guy Farah (Alias ESKA Organiser) provided Tiger face paint and illuminous orange shirts, we looked more like "The Tango Warriors". The Challenge begins with bagpipes and smokes flares, large explosions and then your off onto the 8 mile run across country, up and down hills through woods and brambles, barbed wire and anything else they can find that will remove flesh from your bones. It was quite apparent from the off that ESKA TIGERS (Tango Warriors) might not win. Despite the morale boosting "Come on Tigers" everyone passed us by. John Gillespie (Alias Marathon Man) was the ESKA Star with a completion time of approx 3 hours. He genuinely believed that he had to beat the Ghurkhas and from the start accelerated away from the pack like a possessed greyhound! How we mocked his brand new trainers with extra thick tank track grips only to wish desperately for a pair later. John actually lapped us an hour later looking as fresh as a daisy, how we hated him! After the delightful 8 mile run through nettles you find yourself (And every other bugger) at a series of 6ft ponds filled with top quality slurry. This kind of mud could have only been purchased from the very best farms because of the way it bonded to your legs as you ploughed through. Oh how we laughed at the guy carrying the beer barrel only to thank him later for dragging us out of the swamp! and yes, those flies and fragrant swamp aroma were a real treat! Next was the assault coarse. As we approached the first obstacle you could hear the chants "Your having a Giraffe" but we rose to the challenge like good ESKA TIGERS and moaned & cried all the way round. After a series of skin scraping tunnels, knee twisting jumps and elbow skinning obstacles you arrive at the lake. The sole purpose of the lake is to drown. Swim the lake with a log and the reward for not drowning is to continue the coarse. It was at this point that Alison went a curious grey/blue colour. Alison was having a great time, battered, bruised, cold, wet and now suffering from hypothermia! but, like a true Jungle Warrior she pressed on and completed the course in style. Rob (Alias Hyper Man) was enjoying himself too much. For a first Kyu he had way too much energy. He would stay behind to help anyone and everyone over each obstacle and at regular intervals inspire the team with "Come on Tigers"! I think we can guess who will be entering next year! Without doubt the best obstacle was "Walk the plank" with a 15ft drop into a river, if you survive the fall the pond weed gets you! We would all like to thank Angus for supplying copious amounts of chocolate at regular intervals. Of coarse we had to be spoon fed, we were in no fit state to touch anything! But the final thank you goes to Farah who informed us after the event that we would all need worming!" Below are their finishing times and positions: John Gillespie - Position: 315 - Time: 2hrs 37.5 mins Andrew Pearson - Position: 944 - Time: 3hrs 19.05 mins Alison Pearson - Position: 1604 - Time: 4hrs 29.18 mins Tony Stones - Position: 1604 - Time: 4hrs 29.18 mins Farah Malik - Position: 1604 - Time: 4hrs 29.18 mins Rob Everly - Position: 1604 - Time: 4hrs 29.18 mins |
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