The course was divided into a 5km run, and a 10km version (splitting off at the 5km mark, and rejoining for the final few obstacles.
The Melbourne 2012 run was held at the the Glenbrae Equestrian Centre in Wandin, and made good use of the site and facilities.
Under and Overs - log crawl and climb
Rope Tango - mud crawl whilst pinned down by a cargo net
Human Window - climb though odd shaped holes
Wrecking Yard - crawl through, over and on top of wrecked cars
Ice Bath - wade through and dunk in an ice filled pool
Bus Stop - climb over cargo netting up and over a bus
King King - big pile of tyres
Spiders Web - climb through a stand of trees wired with bungy-cord
Giant Slip and Slide - a long, long water slide into a pond
Trauma Tunnels - Crawl through piping and squirm through flat plastic sheeting
Sand Blast - do a circuit with a sandbag
Quick Step - run through flat tyres
Hay Stack - climb over giant rolled hay bales
Devils Cave - a darkened shed with falling water, and hay bales
Cable Chaos - climb over a series of stacked cable spools
Gladiators - run past a gauntlet of pugil-stick and boxing pad armed opponents
Tunnel Under - climb through tunnels
Dumpster Jump - climb in and out of a set of dumpsters (one with apples)
Half-Pipe - Scale a high sloped ramp
Sunday Roast - run over fire
Mud Buffet - crawl under barbed wire through mud
Bug Zapper - dangly cable filled hall some of which running with 10,000V!
As well as these, there were numerous stretches of thick, gluggy mud. and wading through murky ponds, and the occasional equestrian hurdle.
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This is my taking a leap over the bonnet of the last car of the Wrecking Yard. It was obstacles like this, and the crawling ones, that made me choose to wear my BlackHawk! Advanced Tactical Knee Pads v2.0 I've had these for a while, and they have done good service, although I have skinny legs, and found that they did slide a little being on bare skin, when I was crawling through mud-filled tunnels. I wouldn't have wanted to go without them though. Wearing suggestions anyone?
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This is me wading through the barrel filled dam, I wanted to give some of my other kit a good solid workout, and opted to go with my First Spear OAGRE vest, that I got from the folks at LEGear. As well as being well fitting, and totally as rugged as I have previously reported, I found that the belt-ties ensured that I didn't have to worry about my shorts coming off, and gave me some significant rash-protection when rolling over and crawling through obstacles. I also ran with some patches: A TAD logo Ranger-eye, I also wore my Stargate LRP nametape, to see how that held up and my ITS "Crew Leader" Tab. I pinned the Stampede ID number to the MOLLE, rather than using the sticky label, knowing the challenges it would be facing. On the back of the OAGRE I laced my "Zombie Control Officer" laminate, for a bit of fun, which got a lot of cheers as I passed folks, and the Tough Mudder patch on the back, under the drag handle. The 3L Source bladder that came with my Platatac Bravo pack fitted pretty well inside the OAGRE.
I also changed what I wore on my hips. Lesson learned from Tough Mudder earlier in the year. As awesome as my Survival Utilikilt is, it is not optimal attire for an endurance obstacle course like this, which is why I was so pleased with the new addition to my clothes-pile, in the TAD Gear Amphibious Cargo Shorts. As they were new, I didn't want to risk running-rash, and wore some boxers under them. Useless, they waterlogged and sagged. I would have been better off going my usual commando. Great shorts, fast drying and mud-shedding, comfortable and good for adventure!
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I opted for a hat over sunscreen, which gave me somewhere to mount my Contour GPS, in its waterproof casing, as well as keeping my hair out of the way. I wore my Platatac Tactical cap, which also somewhere to out my MSM "Zombie Hunter" patch. The Contour in its case assed quite a bit of asymmetric weight to one side of my head, I think mounting to a chin-strapped bump-helmet will be my next option. I also wore my Headsox scarf-tube, which helped keep the sun off my neck, keep the vest from chafing and also as a smoke filter.
I wore my Platatac Punisher-Skull logo CUS shirt which was a dramatic improvement in comfort over the Jackeroo safari shirt I wore for Tough Mudder. It dried, it breathed, it wicked, and was pretty bad-assed to boot!
I kept my delicate hands safe from harm with my trusty Ironclad Landscaper gloves.
So here I am at the end of the race, having crawled under barbed wire covered mud and been shocked by electricity over and over. I wore my much abused Altama Tan Desert Mil Spec boots, veterans of years of summertime wear, Stargate LRP and the Tough Mudder. This may have been their swan-song.
I did the 10km course in just under 2 hours, keeping a pretty constant pace. I'm not fond of running, it hurts, but I managed to jog pretty much the entire course, giving aid to people who needed it, and taking my time. I loved the obstacles, was happy with my effort, and the little preparation I did to be ready for it. Since May, I've gone for perhaps 4, 8km runs at lunchtimes at work. I feel that I am able to get from A to B in good time, regardless of the obstacles in my path.
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