The infamous murderer's prison escape that inspired a near-impossible ultramarathon “Consider bypassing an obstacle if you lack confidence, have appreciable fear or are carrying an injury.” “You are not compelled to complete every obstacle,” the rules state. No one enforces obstacle completion at the Dirty Weekend, unless you are among the few aiming to win prize money. About 2/3 of the way through, a sign read “Nearly there,” but then a bit farther along, the next one read, “Just kidding.” Another one – far from the kids’ course – read, “I wish my wife was as dirty as this course.” There were so many groups of friends and co-workers that it seemed everyone had their own support network, cheering them on or literally helping pull them up, over or under the next obstacle.īut cheeky signs along the course helped maintain spirits, too. Obstacle variety is the spice of the race, and team support was key to so many finishing. No wonder the nearly marathon-length Dirty Weekend completion rate for adults is a whopping 84%, with more climbing, sliding and mucking about than most of them do in a year. Through it all, there were mostly smiles on the faces of kids and adults, in contrast to a Spartan Race I witnessed a couple of years ago in which most competitors looked either stoic or miserable. Rat Race also raised more than 200,000 British pounds for children’s cancer research this year. More than 1,000 children ages 8 to 15 registered to complete one or two loops. A 3-kilometer “young muckers” course was made up of the first 30 obstacles. When I described this to my 10-year-old daughter, she asked, “Is it for adults or kids?” The answer is both. One section required pulling yourself through troughs of muddy water and then over a wall of tires. Later in the course, there was an even scarier (as judged by the number of panic-induced runners) 25-foot plunge into a pool. There was a haunted shipping container with a chainsaw-wielding “It”-esque clown hidden in the fog. There were two giant Slip N’ Slide-style stretches, potato sack races, a ball pit, monkey bars, a “Laundrette” box full of bubbles, a bridge of overturned canoes to hop across and a massive “Ewok Village” of rope netting and balance beams in the woods. Some of the obstacles were more delightful than others. Runners left in waves of 400 or so, gathering for final reminders under a large circus tent before being dispatched to the estate. The mud-making rains wouldn’t come until the afternoon, and even they didn’t sour any moods. The weather on the morning of this year’s Dirty Weekend race was as bright as the attitude of those competing. More well-known OCRs – Mee describes them as “suffer-fests” – tend to be more testosterone-fueled than family-friendly. Mee saw an opportunity to do these races bigger, safer, better organized and more enjoyable. Mee had participated in various OCR courses, including the Tough Guy, a public, non-professional course in Wolverhampton, England, created by a former British soldier in 1987 and considered to be the first of its breed. He isn’t just the founder and director, but he designs all of the races, as well. Rat Race, a company that organizes Dirty Weekend and a host of other adventure courses throughout the world, is Mee’s brainchild. And from the smiles, good humor and bonhomie among the more than 5,000 rats who turned up this year, I’m going to declare mission accomplished.įor the event’s founder, Jim Mee, the balance is allowing adults to act like kids, while also making the course very challenging. The point, it seems, is to be the most fun OCR in the world. Maybe it is – it’s impossible to prove and easy to outdo, depending how loose your definition of “obstacle” – but that’s not the point. With more than 230 obstacles spread over a single 20-mile loop, the Rat Race Dirty Weekend purports to be the largest obstacle course race (or OCR) in the world. The physical race is less about getting ahead than it is about fun, fitness and the satisfaction of overcoming fear and physical limitation in order to accomplish the course. Ambition, pushing oneself and overcoming obstacles that stand in the way of your goal are common to both.īut the objectives between the rat race and the Rat Race are much different. The Rat Race Dirty Weekend – which attracts thousands of competitors every year to the expansive grounds of a noble estate two hours north of London – shares a few qualities with the career metaphor. Even if you win the rat race, as a favorite teacher of mine liked to say, you’re still a rat. It represents a craven desire for money and power through one’s career. The rat race, metaphorically speaking, is nothing to aspire to.
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