Joel Hicks

Tough Guy claims to be the world's most demanding one-day survival ordeal. It is held on a 600-acre farm in Perton, Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, and is organised by Billy Wilson (using the pseudonym "Mr Mouse"). It has been widely described as "the toughest race in the world", with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year. Taking place at the end of January, often in freezing winter conditions, the Tough Guy race is staged over a course of between seven and eight miles. It consists of a cross-country run followed by an assault course. Running the course involves risking barbed wire, cuts, scrapes, burns, dehydration, hypothermia, acrophobia, claustrophobia, electric shocks, sprains, twists, joint dislocation and broken bones. Before taking part, entrants must sign a "death warrant", which acknowledges the risks and dangers, and which the organizers claim absolves them of any legally liability in the case of injury. In 2010 I was invited to the Tough Guy as a special guest entrant.