10 miles of hell! 1000 participants!
Running the Turbo X course is definitely an extreme sport! It is described as “PURE FILTH! The maddest, muddiest run of the Saab Salomon Trail Running Series.” You will endure 10 miles of the gnarliest mix of mud, sweat and trail, experiencing a natural assault course of water, sand, marsh and muck!
I fancied a nice 10 mile run so I signed up for the Turbo X course. However, on arriving at Bordon in Hampshire I realised that maybe it would not be such a great experience as it was pouring with rain and strong gales. It was tempting to get back in the car, but somehow I ended up at the start line and before you know it you are running 10 miles.
I thought I was 7 miles round the course and one of the marshals shouts “half way, only 5 miles to go”. I nearly cried! I thought I had definitely got through the muddiest parts of the course; I had already experienced freezing cold water up to my chest and walked through a long trench full of muddy water and had a mile of running over boggy terrain.
Towards the end you then enter the ‘Saab X Zone’ which is a 2 mile section of the “craziest trail terrain to push your stamina, agility and perseverance to the limit! “ So, just when I think it can’t get any more challenging it does! This section does make you laugh though due to the madness of it. I had to laugh as I saw my friend Cat crawling through the mud on her hands and knees, which made me laugh at myself for thinking about what I had chosen to do with my Sunday morning!
When you make the finish line it is a huge relief and it all seems worth it. You are greeted with a generous goody bag from Salomon and knowing you can eat as much as you want for the rest of the day makes me smile.
I had been stressing about bras, false eyelashes and breast enhancers in preparing for my first Pamper Party but this race has put things in perspective as I am now grateful I survived!
See saabsalomontrails.com to enter for next year’s races and see Phil O’Connor’s site for some more crazy pictures.
Written by Catherine Peck, sponsored by Salomon Sports, Bonfire Clothing, Ski Club of Great Britain and undercover-glamour.com
