Commando Challenge 2008

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by
Simon Wyndham

The Commando Challenge, thick gloopy mud, crawling on hands and knees through confined spaces, negotiating underwater tunnels, and wading through chest deep pools of water are all obstacles encountered during the famed Royal Marines charity event in Exeter.

The 11th of October 2008 saw a motley crew from Worcestershire take part in the 3 mile fun version of the Commando Challenge. For the uninitiated the Commando Challenge is a charity event organised on behalf of the Devon Air Ambulance and Help For Heroes. There is a choice of two courses held on seperate days, the three mile 'fun' course and the seven mile course that involves two mile runs at either end of the assault course.

Being rather new (and unfit!) we opted for the three miler. The Commando Challenge is an event that is based around the Royal Marines fitness test course in Exeter. It is an assault course of sorts, but with a few differences from the usual cliched death slides and cargo nets! In other words it is absolutely nothing like the 'activity centre' style of assault course that featured on the Krypton Factor many moons ago!

Having organised/persuaded/cajoled the team members into taking part I have to admit to feeling quite a bit of trepidation the day before. I am claustrophobic, swim about as well as a brick, and hate the idea of being underwater. So all in all the ideal activity to take part in!

The final team consisted of myself, Carla Jones, Rob Norton, Henry Beck, Jez Nicklin, Mark Lewis, and Duncan Graves. There were supposed to be nine team members, but one dropped out due to illness, and the other, well, who knows...

We set off nice and early and got to the event in good time. First order of the day was to register followed by a safety briefing, which was given with typical Marines style black humour. Then it was off to wait for an army transport truck to take us to the course itself. The event was running around an hour late due to the trucks breaking down all the time, which makes me wonder what kind of PITA they would be in actual use in various parts of the world where they are being used regularly under combat conditions!

After a bumpy ride over to the start area area we were taken through a quick warm-up before going straight to the start line. A few moments later and we were off.

The first part of the course was along a fire track, the clear blue skies and warmth making it all really rather pleasant as we 'jogged' our way down. We turned to go along a thin branch track that led us downhill and which, gradually became wetter and wetter. We could hear splashes in the distance. It was at this point that it was made clear that the time for nice dry clothing had passed.

Once we had arrived at the bottom of the hill a nice helpful Marine ordered us to lay face down in some thick gloopy mud and belly crawl our way through it into a nearby stream, at which point we were told to roll over. Clearly a way to get us used to the water, it was pretty damn cold!

Once our elite...ahem team were through this taster obstacle we had to make our way through a waist deep stream to another obstacle that they called the "Alligator Pit". Amazingly, given the photos that I had seen beforehand, it appeared that they were running rather short on mud since I have seen some people waist deep in it! It must have dried out somewhat! Anyway, on we went.

Next up we had to tackle a section that goes by the name "the Track Wade", a few hundred yards of tricky to negotiate waist deep water. Well to call it water would be generous. In reality it was mainly mud judging by the colour of our clothes as we made our way through. This was quite a tricky section because you could suddenly end up treading in a deep part without warning. Jez had decided that we weren't muddy enough and took great pleasure in scooping it all backwards with his hands.

On the intrepid team went. We jogged up along a short track overtaking a couple of teams in the process before we ended up in a queue. We could hear something going on in the distance at the bottom of the hill, but we couldn't be sure which obstacle it would be. The queuing lasted for some time. I'm sure the Marines don't usually have this problem when doing the course! Oh how we took the time to nervously joke about what was to come...

It turned out that the previously mysterious onstacle was the "Smartie Tube". This was the first real test of the course, especially for claustrophobics such as myself! It consists of a 30 meter long underground sewer pipe with two route choices, the left tube or the right tube. The left tube looked handily large and not as full of water. The right hand tube was smaller and about half full of water. We decided that there must be some sort of catch to the larger tube, so the right one it was to be.

Claustrophobia speaking it wasn't too bad. Just keep heading forwards and you'll come out eventually. It did start to get a bit physically tiring towards the end as you mainly had to pull yourself along with your arms. Mr Lewis thought that it would be mightily funny to grab hold of my foot so that I couldn't go forward. A couple of well intentioned expletives later and I managed to head onwards again!

Once we had exited the "Smartie Tube" we headed straight into another tunnel. Again it was pitch black, but this one was slightly easier since you could crouch and move through it at a much faster pace, even though they call it the "Knee Crunch".

A short jog later and we entered another 20 meter long tunnel, followed by a short jog and then yet another tunnel. All of these were fairly simple to negotiate. But then we didn't have to carry huge backpacks with us like the Marines do.

Next up was "Peters Pool". A chest deep lake with some bloody cold water in it. As we neared the exit we were cornered for a photo opportunity by the official photographer. The nearby supervising soldier told us we had to duck ourselves under the water so that the photographer could get a picture of us as we emerged. My initial thoughts to this were "Oh shit", mainly because the whole underwater thing freaks me out.

We all obliged and went under. The resulting photos were, shall we say, interesting, as you can see. At least there would be no chance of anybody being left out as far as having a photograph of themselves with a silly expression on their face, or in the case of Lewis spitting out half of the lake!

Thoroughly soaked we then negotiated our way down the "Steep Gully" and through a couple of thigh deep boggy ponds, then on towards our nemesis, the "Sheep Dip"!

The "Sheep Dip" is what the Commando Challenge is known for, and was the main reason it took a bit of persuading for a couple of the team members to take part. This was totally understandable, for the "Sheep Dip" consists of going through a totally submerged underwater sewer pipe. You cannot pull yourself through, instead having to trust a soldier at either end of the tunnel to push and pull you through.

I was nervous as hell as we approached it, realising that there was no going back. Carla and Henry were also none too keen on the idea. Though as luck would have it the Marines had a helpful way of getting people through. That being to give a quick brief as to what to do before counting down from 3 to give you a chance to grab a breath before being pushed under! There was no chance to back out, and that was a very good thing as it turned out. Carla apparently attempted to ask if she could go around it, but was met with confusion by the supervising soldier who only had one answer, "You're going through".

Once inside the tunnel it was slightly surreal. In reality it only lasts for 2 to 3 seconds. However it feels like an eternity. There is a brief pause where one soldier lets go and the other one grabs hold of you to pull you through. At this point the idea of trust starts to drain away! Then you feel a gentle tug before being hauled out of the other end, right on cue for the official photographer to obtain an even sillier facial expression on digital record than the last time.

The Sheep Dip managed to wash much of our covering of mud off. Lots of brown was replaced by a slightly lighter shade of brown as we negotiated our way to the "Black Bog", which as its name implies is full of thick black mud and peat. In some places it was waist deep and you had to crawl along to get out. Carla in particular needed to be pulled out after becoming stuck to the accompaniment of a rather humorous sucky splatty sound. At the end of this we were well and truly covered in the stuff, but it was all good fun!

Finally we had to do one final jog to the finish line. After the team photos were taken we were back on the army truck to take to hot showers and a beer at the event HQ.

All in all it was a great day, and I think I can safely say that everybody on the team thoroughly enjoyed it. Whether or not any of them would do it again I couldn't say, though speaking for myself I am certainly up for it!

For anybody else thinking about taking part in it I can honestly say that for the three miler you really do not have to be that fit. There can be some waiting for obstacles so there is plenty of chance to get your breath back. I only had a bowl of fruit salad and an orange juice in the morning. Carla was also short on energy through lack of food. Personally I find it very hard to eat first thing, but we got through it, and we felt none the worse for wear at the end of it. The seven miler would of course be a different kettle of fish. Next year guys?

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