We’re nearly at the end of the build phase with only 2 obstacles left to build, ‘Castaway’ and ‘Underworld’ which means that next week is all course marking which is one of my favourite times. We do it all on foot and spend lots of time discussing how tired eyes will interpret our work, our golden rule is ‘if in doubt, mark it out’ which usually leads to complete overkill but it ensures that no-one gets lost so it’s therefore never a waste of time. We use 3,500 flags and 500 chestnut stakes, 5k or tape and 2k of rope and for this race; 150 arrows but sure is eggs is eggs, come next Thursday we’ll wish we had more.

For me there are 3 clear times on race day where I can feel my start to relax. The first is post the morning course inspection (which starts at 6am), the second is when the marshals are all in place and the third is when I welcome in the front runners on the finish line. I always ask them if they had any difficulties with the course marking and its always met with a laugh and a comment like ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ or ‘a blind person couldn’t have go lost out there’ which is the real point at which I can start to relax. If the elites don’t get lost, it’s a good sign that no one will as the elites are running a break neck speed, pushing themselves and each other hard meaning rational thought is often secondary so our course marking, in my opinion, allows them to focus on racing and not course finding.

We may not have the most obstacles or the most mud but we what we do offer is well organised and well-marked out courses courses with, in my opinion, some pretty big obstacles. Would I have more obstacles if I could, you bet, but that is up to you to tell everyone about Dirty Dozen Races because the more people we get, the more I can invest into more obstacles. I love building obstacles and you love doing them so let’s team up and make Dirty Dozen Races even more epic.

Thanks for supporting Dirty Dozen Races, it means a lot to me!

The Beard