12 fearless students from St Edmund Hall will brave the infamous “Tough Guy” competition this Sunday.
With claims to being the most physically demanding assault course in the world, eight students will be joining 6,900 other competitors from over 25 countries who will head to Stratfordshire to battle it out for the title of “Tough Guy of the Year”.
“Tough Guy” has seen the death of two competitors and participants are required to sign an “official death warrant” acknowledging the threat to their lives as they battle to win the ultimate badge of machismo.
The race involves running through high-pressure hoses and barbed wire fences, jumping over fire-pits, wading through ice-cold, murky lakes and sewage pipes and running through fields of stinging nettles amongst other feats of bravado.
Only a third of competitors complete the race each year but according to Billy Wilson, organiser of the race, no one as ever completed the challenge as per all his regulations.
Adam Jordan, a Blues Hockey player at Teddy Hall, will lead a team of 12 Oxford students as well as his brother Michael Jordan. He has undertaken the challenge twice before.
“Second time round I was taken off the course by paramedics with hypothermia, so for me it’s a revenge attempt,” he said. “I thought I’d drag a few others along with me to give it a shot.”
“We’re not doing it to prove our manhood. We do have one person running with a heart condition, but he is built like an ox and has a mind of steel so I’m confident he’ll do well.
“The main risks for us are broken bones. The assault course offers some decent heights and with water involved in the course it becomes slippery, people break or dislocate legs and arms all the time but you’re unlikely to die from this: the main danger for us is hypothermia.”
Maria Higson, a third year at Teddy Hall, commented, “I originally had no intention whatsoever of doing ‘Tough Guy’, as it sounds like my idea of absolute hell. But when my friend Adam suggested it to me he used those fatal words ‘it’s for charity’.”
Women like Maria make up just one in ten of competitors undertaking Tough Guy. “I think Tough Guy is designed for people who just want a challenge to see how far they can physically push themselves… The women are pretty determined however, and there is definite competition!”
The Teddy Hallers have been training hard since last term in order to complete the assault-course challenge. They also did a sponsored ice bath in the College’s front quad.
Jordan said, “We have done long runs, circuit training with sand bags, tyres and jerry cans full of water, and most importantly cold water training: wading through the shallows of the punting river and swimming the width of the main river even when ice was building up at the edge!”
Higson commented, “I don’t think any of us are thinking about winning… getting to the finishing line would be a huge achievement!”
Alex Michie, a friend of the group registered his support. “I think it’s a really admirable endeavour. They are putting in considerable time and effort into training. I hope they all do well and enjoy it and raise lots of money for the RNLI, which is a very worthy cause.”
James Appleton, an ex-Cambridge student, won the title in 2009.
