I have been waiting to return to a Toughest race for over 2 years! After cancellation of the last two years because of you know what, I was looking forward to visiting a new venue for Toughest Race Malmo having already taken on Toughest in London, Amsterdam and Oslo. I really want to do Copenhagen (Beach race) but it wasn’t on this year’s calendar. Watch the video below to get to see the whole course and all obstacles!
Toughest Race Malmo is based in Ribersborg, only 2km from the centre of Malmo. In terms of access, its very easy to get to by public transport or, as I did, use the e-scooters (plenty around!). Based on the beach, the terrain is very flat. The whole course took up only a few square kilometres, and the route was very much an zig zag affair. This had two main advantages – great for spectators to see (almost) all of the action whilst its very easy for participants to see where they are in the race compared to others.
The event village was small, just some sponsors’ stands and food vendors. I cant recall any changing facilities, but there was a small (un-manned) bag drop. Spectacular hype team to get participants going with small waves (around 50?) going very 10 minutes. The finish was the Super Ramp and made for an exciting spectacle for spectators cheering participants
Obstacle List
- Haybale Combo
- Bridge
- Wreckbag Carry
- Floating Bricks
- Bridge
- Traverse Rings
- Balance
- Gorilla Bars
- Log Carry
- Dragon’s Back
- Web Ring
- Bilia Car Crawl
- Liquid Tubes
- Dip Walk
- Worm Hole
- Heavy Balls
- Mudland
- Big Wall
- Spinning Wheels
- Power Push
- Haybale Pyramid
- Monkey bars
- Rings
- Rope Climb
- Incline Wall
- Floating Wall
- Irish Table
- Ninja Jump
- Super Slide
- Water Crossing
- Cod Ladder
- Super Ramp
Gallery
Final Thoughts
Well, I have booked again for 2023 in Malmo. Not really much more I can say in terms of how much I enjoyed the race.
If you’re a regular reader, you may have seen I am critical of some races based in parks – flat and boring. But with Toughest at Rigersborg, they have really made it into a spectacle. Mostly, I believe, its down to the sheer number of obstacles (30) within the relatively short distance (8km) – that’s around 1 obstacle every 250m. There was very little in the way of longer runs just to “make up the distance” and so the density of obstacles and short runs inbetween distracts you from the flat terrain.
If you have never participated in Toughest, I heartily recommend it (and if you havent, go watch the video!). All of their races are based in Scandinavia and unlike ones in the UK are always very easily accessible by public transport. Oslo – subway, Amsterdam – train, Malmo – e-scooter. London – erm Pippingford park… car… There is definitely something to be said for easy access events – see the vibe Tough Mudder Finsbury Park…. The other thing to note about Toughest is that there are no official photographers (for free or paid photos) on course and the only pic you will get is at the finish line.
Looking forward to Malmo 2023!
Travelling to Malmo from the UK
If you’re interested in visiting Malmo from the UK, its pretty simple – travel to Copenhagen, Denmark! Yes, sounds strange, but Malmo doesn’t have an international airport. The quickest route to Malmo is flying to Copenhagen (flight time of around 2 hours) and taking the train from the airport to Malmo Central Station taking around 20 minutes and costing around £8 each way. Lots to see and do in Malmo, but being so close to Denmark’s capital means you can explore two large cities over the weekend.
