Tough Mudder – what an adventure!

Writer: Hedda Mittner.

The Tough Mudder is not a race – it’s a challenge. It entails 8 km (Half Mudder) or 16 km (Full Mudder) of mud and obstacles specifically designed to test the participants’ teamwork, toughness and endurance. And, according to Hermanus Chiropractor, Dr Chad Gordon, it’s a whole lot of fun!

Chad was one of several Hermanus people who took part in this event, held at the Houwteq campus in the Elgin Valley on 19 October. Whether participating solo or in a team, all participants had to bring was the strength to leave their fears in the parking lot and a willingness to get out of their comfort zone and push their boundaries. “Obstacle races are a great way to get people off their couches and into the great outdoors,” says Chad, who is also an avid trail runner and mountain biker. “It’s about getting ordinary people to do extraordinary things.”

Chad's 12-year-old daughter, Liv Gordon on the monkey bars.

Tough Mudder is a global initiative and Chad says he first participated in the event last year. He had so much fun that this year he took the whole family with him. “Obstacle courses are a great metaphor for life,” he says. “It’s all about overcoming obstacles and how to work in a team by supporting one another. There was even a blind woman who took part and she could do it because everyone helped her to accomplish her goal.”

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