The actual Tough Mudder UK finale came in the form of Tough Mudder City, based at Morden Park, South London. Next year, the Tough Mudder City brand will be made redundant and amalgamated into the 5km, 10km and 15km branding – but enough of that!
The basic premise of Tough Mudder City is that participants are able to use public transport to and from the venue. This means that there is no water, generally no mud (unless the weather proves otherwise) and very close to transport links. The other feature over the Tough Mudder “classic” is that some obstacles are generally “easier” and serves as a great introduction to Tough Mudder and obstacle course races in general. Everest and Pyramid Scheme are pared down obstacles compared to the usual course, but there are still lots of obstacles which are mirrored across the Classic Course – Hero Walls, Skid For example, there has been an introduction to electric obstacles with Electro Shock Therapy. The shocks dished out are a little gentler than on the classic courses, but will still give you a bit of a shock if you’re not expecting it!
Take a look at the video (only 8 minutes long!) to see what the obstacles across Tough Mudder City at Morden Park look like.
Obstacle List
- Skid Marked
- Hero Walls
- Walk this Way
- Hero Carry
- Minefield
- Pyramid Scheme
- The Gauntlet
- Gut Buster
- Devil’s Beard
- Texas Hold ‘Em
- Cry Baby
- Dong Dangler
- Reach Around
- Black Widow
- Ape Sh!t
- Mudder Wheelbarrow
- Mudderhorn
- Everest
- Something about Flaps
- Electroshock Therapy
Tough Mudder City – Morden Park Images
My thoughts on Tough Mudder City – Morden Park
The Tough Mudder City series is a fantastic introduction to Tough Mudder and Obstacle races. Morden Park, however, in my opinion has little character compared to Finsbury Park (earlier on in the season). A lot of zig zagging along a very flat course meant that you can practically see that you’re running around fields just to make up the distance. Very remaniscent of Tough Mudder South West in that respect where at least with hills and trees, the distance between obstacles can be “hidden”. That being said, there’s a lot of fun to be had on course with Reach Around and Dong Dangler, both exclusive to the City courses this year.
Quite a few queues were built up for Gauntlet / Ape Sh!t of which there defintiely should have been more lanes, whilst Dong Dangler’s rope was far too thin, with a lot of people (myself included) getting rope burns by gripping too tight. Seem to be a lot of failures too, just because of the type of rope used as compared to Finsbury Park.
Little niggles aside, the event village was absolutely buzzing. The great weather and placement of obstacles between Everest and Electroshock therapy meant there was plenty of participants and spectators hanging around to watch and soak in the atmosphere.
Morden Park is very practical for a lot of London based people (last stop on the Northern Line and very close to South Morden Train Station) and if you have never done an obstacle race before, then this event is a perfect introduction. Personally, if you are based in the South, then I would suggest Finsbury Park and I believe they’re trying to bring Manchester back for 2022 as in 2021, the Etihad Stadium had been used as a C19 facility.
