The Nuts Challenge "WINTER" 1st & 2nd March 2014
My review of such a epic course - 14km on 2nd March 2014 - Terry Matthews
Oh boy, this course we incredibly awesome and very well organised, a course set in a natural surrounding of woodland, fields, hills and streams with man made obstacles stretching a distance of 7km's with the challenge offering up to 4 laps of nuttiness with the extremities of wind, rain and extreme coldness.
This is not a course to be taken for granted in such conditions, be prepared and ensure you have suitable kit even for 7km.
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| Get your kit from www.obstaclekit.co.uk |
My brief advise would be Leggings, Base Layers, Tech t-shirt and trail shoes & most of all pit stop fuel for anything over 1 lap!
If you get your kit, fuel and training right then Wayne and his team will have everything else covered!
Despite the extreme conditions on site due to recent weather and high rain fall every effort was made to get you parked safely with previsions in place to assist with any cars that may have got into a mud run and stuck.
Heated tents throughout the site, friendly marshals and registration staff to get your ready for the off!! Wayne the owner of The Nuts Challenge was on site greeting participants and organising staff and still smiling, what a dude!!!
10am first wave of the day (Sunday 2nd March 2014) after a warm up with Zumba we set off!!
As you can see the conditions of 1 lap were exciting enough for most, with my Gopro camera dropped of safely, i tucked into my supplies at the pit stop ready for my second round of muddiness and nuttiness.
- A protein shake with carb was welcomed for some sustaining energy and a couple of SIS hydrate gels sucked down as i set back off into wilderness and madness of the nuts course.
Really buzzing at this point i plough through the start but come a cropper when i hit the new wave of runners struggling with the severity of sucky mud and energy zapping obstacles, along with a few stragglers from my wave now finding the temperature dropping and hitting them like a shovel in the face.
Even knowing whats to come didn't prepare me enough when the temperature of my body dive bombed about the second lap 5k Mark, already helping and pushing along a fellow racer Ollie who had experienced this little short fall of cold before me, i knew i had to keep moving and i only had 2k left…
Pushing through the last obstacles and dipping into that last river before the haystacks was a awesome feeling and achievement, being my first 14K obstacle race and finishing in the conditions that was presented to me, i was grinning from ear to ear!!
Greeted with my Medal in the tent and wrapped up like a turkey in the foil blanket i retreated to the changing rooms to find my fellow races and get out and watch the other waves bundle in..
A great day and the best atmosphere from every single person i met that day.
Big shout out to all the team of Nuts and a huge thank you to the Search & rescue volunteers that were there on the day.
Would i recommend this course?
Absolutely
Suitable for beginners?
Yes but Winter nuts 7k is hard, expect to be on the course for 1 1/2 - 3 hours as a beginner & i would highly recommend you have a form of good fitness! I consider myself to be average fitness within OCR and my first lap took me 1:20mins
Any good for elite oct runners?
100% yes, 4 laps at 28k will push your mentally to the limits, out of 200 only 17 finished the 4 lap course!! be prepared and do not take this as a jog in the park!!
Parking: Muddy but organised with provisions in place to assist with any car that became stuck
Facilities: Top job!! Heated tents, toilets, changing room and bag room, hot food & tea!!
Marshalling: Plenty, smily, helpful and professional
Water Stations: Loads and maybe not all needed for winter but will be very welcomed in summer
Obstacles: Awesome, safe and well manned… Not gonna miss hamburger hill mind!!!
Reward: Medal - Love it, great design and lanyard
Get booking now guys www.thenutschallenge.co.uk
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