Last Saturday the Higgins Miller team took on the challenge of the Bear Grylls Survival Race 2016 at Tatton Park. It was tough. It was challenging. But everyone in the team not only completed it … we actually enjoyed it!
Once again the team consisted of Mark Higgins, his wife Maria, Office Manager Cara Rodriguez, plus Chris and Hilary from SDR Fitness Centre. We’ve been asked, “What was the biggest challenge?” and we have to say that it had to be the biggest obstacle on the 10k course – the 80ft high man-made mountain. Maria, who has a phobia of heights, was particularly dreading this frighteningly high climb, but to her credit and despite her fear she made it over half way to the top. To descend we had to slide down the inside of ‘The Sock’ using only our elbows and knees to control the speed of our fall.
Other survival challenges included running with heavy jerry cans, pulling fully laden sledges and walking whilst wearing weighted bergens. We also had to take part in a rifle shoot where we each had three shots at a distant target. Failure to score at least two hits meant a ‘Bear crawl’ penalty. Just two of us (Mark and Cara) proved to be Top Guns.
In addition to these challenges we negotiated monkey bars, climbed ropes, went through simulated Arctic conditions and ate mealworms (Mark said that they tasted like nutty Bombay mix!). We then had to light a fire using only cotton wool, straw and flints before we finally leapt through the flames to cross the finish line together … and smiling. The course took us two and a half hours to complete.
Having survived the Bear Grylls Survival Race 2016, we are now looking forward to our next big event which is the 10k Tough Sh!t in Merseyside on the 8th October.
On this course we will come face-to-face with 20 toilet themed obstacles. No sitting down though! We’ve been told that we can look forward to splashing and climbing as if our bowels depend on it.
Bring it on!
For more information call us on 0161 429 7251 or email us at [email protected].