A Derbyshire mum who was challenged by her husband to take part in a gruelling 10-mile endurance obstacle race in return for him raising £1,000 for charity has finally fulfilled her part of the deal – and said it was “brilliant”.
Claire Hollingshurst, her husband Tim and two friends braved electric shocks, withstood a slide into a skip of ice-cold water and climbed over a series of energy-sapping obstacles when they took part in the legendary Tough Mudder Midlands event over the weekend.
Tim is a veteran of many a Tough Mudder event, having taken part in 12 over the years, and spent months trying to convince Claire to join him in his next one.
Eventually, she agreed, on the condition that Tim raise £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation, which at the time was the official charity of Lubrizol in Hazelwood, where they both work.
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Derbyshire mum Claire Hollingshurst with her husband Tim, who took part the Tough Murder Midlands event last weekend after Claire agreed to participate only if Tim raised £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation.
Tim took up the challenge and achieved the total last year through a JustGiving page and, 12 months on, Claire completed the 10-mile run, taking three-and-a-half hours to overcome the 25 obstacles which had been laid out at Belvoir Castle in Nottinghamshire in order to test participants to the limit.
They include Funky Monkey – a set of monkey bars – the Electric Eel, where runners crawled through electrified wires dangling from a frame, the Arctic Enema – a slide into a skip filled with ice cubes and water – and Kiss of Mud, where participants had to crawl through mud and underneath barbed wire stretched out just 18 inches above them.
Claire, a quality systems manager at Lubrizol who lives in Horsley Woodhouse, said: “Tim has tried to get me to enter for the Tough Mudder for ages and so I wanted to make sure that if I was going to take part, he was going to have to raise money for charity. When he achieved that, I had no choice but to go for it.
“It was a brilliant event. Standing on the start line I was very nervous and worrying about what was waiting for us, but I threw myself into it quite literally, and I really enjoyed it.
“There is a lot of teamwork and camaraderie required because everyone helps each other get through the obstacles and I enjoyed that side of it. Otherwise, you just had to get on and get through it even though the obstacles, especially the Electric Eel, which had wires hanging down and giving you little shocks all the time, were extremely uncomfortable.”
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Lubrizol workers Claire and Tim Hollingshurst braved a host of gruelling obstacles in the Tough Mudder Midlands, including Pitfall, where participants have to wade through a pit of mud – and beware of hidden traps.
Claire was supposed to take part in the Tough Mudder last year, but the event was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
In the mean time Lubrizol, which has also donated £500 to Tim’s fund, taking the total collected to £1,524, has handed over an incredible £18,396 to the BHF following a two-year fundraising campaign.
