Mud. Water. Flies. Hills. Ropes. Trees.

Six words to describe the toughest obstacle course race I’ve ever completed.

We managed to convince my friend Katy and her fiancee to take part in the Lanrick Challenge, a 12Km race around Lanrick estate, near Stirling, with us. I’m not sure any of us had any idea what we were in for! The challenge is organised by Tom’s family friends’ and raises money for their charity, The Sandpiper Trust.

250 runners were set off in waves of 20 every 15 -20 minutes, which meant that we spread out pretty quickly. Our plan was to run as a team of four, and use the race to have a long overdue catch up. What can I say, running is totally a social activity for me!

We started at the back of our wave and quickly lost the rest of the group, which was actually really nice. We didn’t have to queue for any of the obstacles (which meant no time to catch your breath!) We picked our way carefully through the obstacles to avoid twisting our ankles or further injury, however given the speed that others finished the course, it seems like they were flying through the mud pits!

Did I mention there was a lot of mud? Sam lost his shoe at one point in a pit.

My least favourite obstacles were the pond/lake crossings, up to our chest in freezing water, slippery rocks underfoot and a halo of flies around our heads.

However, the absolute worst was the mud pit aka the shit pit. Chest deep thick mud that stank like sewage. The flies became more brutal with our new aroma although luckily there was another freezing pond to ‘wash off’ in afterwards.

I enjoyed the more typical obstacle challenges along the way, including the tree stumps, nets and the monkey bars. I completed the full set of monkey bars for the first time in years, so the Barrecore workouts are definitely paying off in terms of upper body strength.

The course ended up being long, quite a few kilometres long- I think we ran up 15Km in total, taking just under 3 hours to complete the course. We finished in 23/28th out of the teams not particularly speedy, will have to get some more practise in for next year! We finished exhausted, starving, covered in mud and insect bites but with huge smiles across our faces.

They want to recruit 500 runners for 2016- and if you’re up for a challenge, want to test yourself or are looking for a fun but tough day out with friends, get your team together now! www.lanrickchallenge.com