Tough Mudder 5km Urban, Finsbury Park 2019 review

The Tough Mudder 2019 season started with the 5km Urban series at Finsbury Park. Tough Mudder promised a change in direction in 2019 with the promise of more fun, new or updated obstacles and a return to it’s roots. The “half” and “full” have been replaced with the (muddy) “5km” and “Classic” (reminecent of the Coca Cola change?)
How did Finsbury Park fair compared to 2018 Heaton Park or Clapham Common? Watch the video below, or read on!

Tough Mudder Urban

For those that don’t know, Tough Mudder Urban 5km is set up to be an introduction of obstacle course without the mud, water or electricity. Held at major parks, with easy access to public transport, they’re designed for people to travel as friends without the “mess” and “dirt” that some obstacle courses have.

The Obstacles

• Blades of Glory – Renamed “Skidmarked” (probably due to a change of sponsor) – tilted 8ft walls, angled towards you with a bit of an over hang
• Devils Beard – cargo net crawl with a hay bale across the middle which makes it more difficult to traverse
• Overtired – new obstacle – climb up a large pyramid using tires and ropes
• Pyramid Scheme – I think this was taller than last year. There are also two lanes – one with a ledge allowing for a small chain of people to get up and one without the ledge, requiring at least 3 people to climb on shoulders to get to the top. This is a great example of Tough Mudder team work.
• Get Low – A crawl underneath barbed wire
• Texas Hold ’em – Needing a partner to traverse across a triangular beam. The american version has the beam on large springs making it unstable.
• Clean and Jerk – A team carrying their companion in a bag
• Hero Walls – 2 walls, vertical climbs of 4 ft and 8ft
• Tight Squeeze – Crawl underneath large bags of soil pushing you down to the ground
• The Whopper aka Gauntlet – The Gauntlet was introduced at Worlds Toughest Mudder and will be coming to all “Classic” courses. The “Whopper” is the smaller version and consisted of wall, tyre and slack line traverse
• Next Level – Very tall pyramid climb with great views at the top
• Hanging out 2.0 – changed from rings to pole traverse
• Everest – 1/4 pipe ramp with two levels to attempt

The Village

The village as all 5kms was a small and compact affair. The startline at one side of the village with the finish line at the other end. The disco, courtesy of Toyo tires was pumping, with a lot of participants dancing away.
The start line MC needs some work (Matt, Bobby and Gil weren’t attending this time) whilst no finish line MC was present.
As for finish line goodies: 5km headband, the new “Mudder Nation” Tshirt (really comfy), Snickers protein bar, smart water and Brewdog finisher beer.

My Verdict – B+

A great start to the season, Finsbury Park was really easy to get to and also surrounded by a number of bars and restaurants. The bar we finished in seemed to be 90% full of Tough Mudderers
The start line MC was great for the warm up, but as a “Tough Mudder” MC – needs some work.
The atmosphere around the course was electric, so many people having fun and enjoying what was most likely their first obstacle race experience. The obstacles were a great introduction and should certainly bring more #muddernation to the classic courses.
I really liked the choice of difficulty in some obstacles (this is the “level up” idea they are bringing to Tough Mudder) but I do wish they kept ring lanes at Hanging out – the poles aren’t anywhere near a challenge.

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