Tough Mudder North Germany Race Review

Hermannsberg, Germany was the location of “Tough Mudder Norddeutschland” and has so far been the flattest but longest Tough Mudder I have completed, clocking in at just under 22km and a total elevation climb of only 213m. As it was a friend’s birthday and had have the privilege of running with a future Paralympian, the OCR solomudders took this Tough Mudder at a very easy pace to enjoy and savour each kilometre.

As always, parking was a doddle, with road direction signs several miles out from the village. Many MVPs at check in made for a very quick and easy registration and bag drop. The village was much “tighter” than in the UK, which made for a fantastic atmosphere. Rather than a photo opportunity at Bosch, there was Olympus Germany a KONG set up.

Toilet stop, bag drop and we went straight to the start, again a small difference was no holding pen, but a queue system as per 2016. We managed to sneak in pretty quickly and start the warm up, which included 200+ people singing “Happy Birthday” to Gary. The atmosphere at the start was really hyped, so much more than I have experienced in the UK – perhaps we are more reserved?

After the warm up and start line pledge we were off into the woods. The first 5km we could have done without – pretty much a trail run that included a bit of mud, some hay bales and a trench. It was only around 5.5km that we hit the first showcase obstacle of Kiss of Mud with the obligatory photo opportunity.

A couple of kilometers later and we got to Mud Mile 2.0 (No Jeep DJ) and then straight towards Arctic Enema. The weather was hot! around 20C+ so AE was actually more of a refreshing dip than the icy shock which normally meets us. We did play Rock, Paper, Scissors – fortunately I won and able to get out first.

The half was run at the same time as the full and we kept joining them for some of the major obstacles (leading to some major queues!) We skipped Hold Your Wood as we figured it was a half hour wait. Really not worth it just for a log carry!

There was a huge number of creek crusades – 6 in total and all of a decent length, not just puddle and out again. The last one was a lake swim, something not seen in the UK.

BlockNess was a huge amount of fun as always, however it seemed that the Germans didnt quite get the concept, the vast majority would hold on as usual, but then just fall into the water head first. The blocks of nessie mever really got going, however much the UK contingent tried to help them!

The back straight also included Agustus Gloop / Snot Rocket, unfortunately the water depth wasn’t high enough so both versions were exactly the same. The surprise obstacle was the slack line – around 10m length and over 3m depth of water – which I found out to my major surprise (Thanks to the water safety guy for getting me out so quickly!)

The end was in sight with Everest – I love Everest and we made sure we helped our team up, plus a lot more. On to Kong for a ride through the air and finally Birthday Cake and Jaeger in ElectroShockTherapy.

The usual finisher swag greeted us – t shirt, headband, beer and pick up chocolate biscuit (so much nicer than the trek bars).

All in all, a great course, the longest TM course I have done but also one of the flattest. Plenty of water stops and the German  MVPs were enthusiastic but some didn’t seem to want the muddy hugs. Personally if they cut off the first 6km it would be perfect. Would I go again? Yes, but I think I would prefer to try a different city if we were to go to Germany again.

Want some “alternative facts”? Read Mike Mussard’s review of the German weekend here – https://blog.mussard.org.uk/2017/07/21/tough-mudder-norddeutschland/

Tough Mudder North Germany Map