ROTTING potatoes, barbed wire and lots of mud — they all had to be tackled by a Tavistock teacher competing in the Tough Guy 2000 competition held in the Midlands recently.
Ian Bell, a teacher at Kelly College Junior School, tackled the 12-mile course along with hundreds of other intrepid competitors.
This year the challenge involved themes such as Jesus, Dunkirk, Dragon and Tiger — so 500 selected competitors had to carry a wooden cross for the first kilometre before the rest of the field set off.
Ian said: 'This year's Tough Guy involved more water and hill running. One of the most revolting obstacles to go through was called the elephant's graveyard, which had rotting potatoes floating around in a brown, smelling liquid.'
Other challenges included crawling under barbed wire, through a 50-metre tunnel, over a number of high obstacles, walking through neck-high water and diving under wooden poles.
Ian completed the course in three hours and was welcomed to the finish line with hot chocolate and a space blanket!
The gruelling race was televised and will be shown on Channel 4's Transworld Sport some time during the next few weeks.