I completed the Newcastle Stampede on Sunday and it was first class! There were five of us competing in total and I think we all agreed it was great fun. The above photo from left to right is Lee, Me, Martin, John and Ray. Obviously it was a challenge and a really tough one but there’s just something about running around in mud and freezing cold water that does it for me.

I’m sorry to start this article with a slight negative but John had to wait an hour and ten minutes to get registered. The rest of us were in and out within 15/20. I guess there were more D’s than any other surname but I would have thought they’d have known this in advance. Anyway, we all got registered and made our way to the starting line for the warm-up. The course was 10.2k (to be exact!). It felt a bit shorter, I don’t know why? Throughout the course were hay bails to get over, streams to cross, hills to run, tunnels to slide through and plenty of mud running!

The course seemed well organised and I noticed quite a few marines on the various obstacles. The one that sticks in my mind the most was the last tunnel. It was full of water and you could just say get your head in to breath. We started and finished the course together, I loved that. I mentioned in my Newcastle Stampede post that Peter couldn’t take part so my friend Damon stepped in. Well unfortunately he couldn’t make it in time either so my friend Lee stepped in! The five us all run at different paces but I think we managed to set a reasonable pace for all of us. I know from our Total Warrior experience that it wouldn’t have been the same if we all just went our separate ways. We helped each other throughout the course and I know I couldn’t have done it without the lads.

Here’s a pic my Mam and Dad bought for me from the event. 10% of the sales went back to the BHF.

We found out our times later that day and I was really chuffed. 78 minutes and 334th place. I think there were about 1500 that took part so we’re pleased with that time. I also received several texts on Monday night to say they had seen me on the Tyne Tees news! It may have only been for about three seconds but it’s my three seconds of fame. You can also see John in the bottom right-hand corner and Ray is coming down the slide!

Overall it was a great experience and I think we’ll be signing up to it next year. It’s difficult for me to not compare it to Total Warrior but they were different courses and challenges. If you fancy something a bit different to a standard 10k run, give it a shot and I’ll hopefully see you there next year. More important than anything else though, I raised £65.00 for the British Heart Foundation.