A TAVISTOCK man is happy to dig the dirt about a physically challenging event he took part in the United States of America.

Alen Guy, who moved to Tavistock with his family last year and whose wife Kathryn is from the town endured The Tough Mudder - and it certainly lived up to its name! He said: 'The Tough Mudder event is one of several in the United States that has obstacles designed by British Special Forces. The event in Vermont was attended by more than 14,000 people over two days. This was one of the most difficult and special days of my life.

'To finish was incredible, given we had to run/walk quickly up steep ski slopes, do mud crawls, jump in near freezing temperature lakes and finish that off with climbs over four, 12 foot walls and an electroshock obstacle. It took nearly four hours to complete, but was interspersed with tremendous team efforts and camaraderie. Tough Mudder is coming to UK next year and I urge anyone over 18 to look at this as something to do once in their life.'

Alen began training early this year and joined Bodyzone in Tavistock who provided him with advice and an excellent program to build cardio endurance and strength.

He now plans to enter the Great North Run in September, so will be pounding the streets and hills of Tavistock for some time to come. He hopes to join one of the local athletics clubs in the summer so he can train properly for these events, together with a developing training programme at Bodyzone. His boss has promised even more money for his charity if he can run the Great North Run in under 1h 40min!

Alen said:?'I am always looking to raise money while doing these events and my chosen charity is the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This charity does amazing things for children that are desperately ill and in need of a personal boost and a dream come true.'

If you would like to support this charity and keep motivating him to do more things like this then you can go to the website http://www.justgiving.com/Alen-GuyGNR">www.justgiving.com/Alen-GuyGNR

Alternatively people can can raising money themselves for this or other worthwhile charities and go on http://www.justgiving.com">www.justgiving.com