33 boys and 12 staff took part in last week’s annual Tough Guy challenge, based at Perton near 
Wolverhampton.
Billed as the ‘safest most dangerous event in the world’, the participants tackled the 15km course, which includes obstacles with names such as: ‘dead-leg swamp’, ‘death plunge’, ‘gladiator coliseum’ and ‘torture chamber’. The official website warns, “Your fear of heights, tight spaces, fire, water and electricity will be tested to the max.”
Just over half the boys finished, whilst all but one of the participating staff completed the course. Jake Gilkinson came 19th out of over 5000, the highest-placed person of his age by some way. Ryan Kavanagh, who has run well at several events this year, also performed well, finishing in 152nd place.
A lot of competitors opted to call it a day; the cold, wet January conditions and muscle cramps having got the better of them.
Trip organiser, Jude Lowson, said, “It was the toughest day that I’d seen there since the very first time I attended in 2004. I’ve never seen so many people dropping out of the event, so all of our boys did brilliantly.
In short, it lived up to its billing and proved a stern challenge to the boys, but they all did themselves proud once again.”