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Ghost Squad 2016

After 96 intense hours, the days leading up to and including Tough Guy 2016 have finally released me from their carnival of madness. I don't have the words to describe them. I really don't. Possibly because I am physically and mentally exhausted, but possibly also because the descriptive potentia...

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Spartan Race World Championships

I am not a Spartan Race World Champion. Let's just clear that up right now. Anybody could pay to enter the race in Lake Tahoe and not run in the elite wave. Indeed, about 10,000 people did exactly that - myself included, side by side with Scott and Amber Keneally. I say "side by side". I mean...

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Mudnificent 7: A Masterclass in OCR

This weekend, the Ghost Squad descended upon Coventry for the inaugural Mudnificent 7, mud racing expo and combo-race. Seven different obstacle races, each of whom transformed 1km of a park into a representation of their own race: Tough Guy Big Foot Challenge Reaper Events Bear Grylls Survival...

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Photos from Nettle Warrior

Photos from Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2014 have been popping all over the place over the last fortnight. They first starting appearing on Yahoo News, in which I appeared as part of their Pictures of the Week - alongside a view of the Earth from space: After that, various other pictures ...

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Go Do Something!

After appearing on House Hunters International a few weeks ago, I have received lots of very kind messages from people who saw the show. This rocks! I can't express how grateful I am for the show of support; it's hard to stay convinced I'm doing anything worthwhile, so hearing that some peop...

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Secret Caves and Ullswater

This week, the Guild struck out for the Lake District in search of a secret cave somewhere in the Langstrath Valley. Simon set out on Tuesday afternoon and picked me up in Sheffield. Even if we couldn't find the cave that day, we were hoping for a sneak peak into the valley when we arrived. Alas,...

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Bored: A Crossing

Seriously, fuck travelling by bus in Laos. It is 600km from Luang Prabang to Chiang Rai...and it has taken us 40 hours. FORTY HOURS!! That's long enough to build my own bus, find and extract my own oil for petrol AND drive to bloody Thailand! 40 hours. Most of which were spent thus: [galler...

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Unhappy Pizza

24 hours after eating our Happy Pizzas, we are still pretty stoned. 48 hours later, we still feel rather strange. The last 2 days have been hell. Who mixes weed and mushrooms?! As if thinking something is trying to kill you isn't bad enough, now you can see it too! To be fair, it probably doesn't...

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Tomb Braider: Angkor What?!

Having spent three days in Bangkok, eating cakes, drinking bad cocktails and getting excellent massages, it was clear the time had come to venture elsewhere - lest this year's foray into South East Asia turn into nothing more than an implosion of hedonism. It was, therefore, with the perverted e...

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Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2013

On Sunday morning, with hangovers that would kill lesser men, the Guild of Adventures donned our running gear (I made mine by taking a knife to my trousers), wrapped socks around our shoes to keep them on...and strode out onto the Killing Fields of Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2013... [caption id="at...

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To Fishguard…and Beyond!

This weekend, effectively gate-crashing a romantic getaway for my good friend Sam Steak Davis and his delightful girlfriend Rosie, the Guild descended upon Pembroke in Wales with the intention of going deep water soloing. For the confused amoungst you; Deep-water soloing (DWS) is a form of solo roc...

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Climbing Mount Doom

Today, I climbed Mount Doom. For those too boring to be familiar with Lord of the Rings, please see below: The ascent of the mountain, which is actually a volcano called Mount Ngauruhoe, starts a couple of hours into the Tongariro Crossing. Alas, I was told by my shuttle bus driver that I wou...

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Views from a Mountain

I have a problem. Actually, I have a few. I have been sitting in New Plymouth (not the most rocking town in the world) since Tuesday afternoon, waiting to climb conquer the local piece of badassery - Mount Taranaki, 2600m high and the most lethal mountain in New Zealand. My problem is that New...

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Mental Warfare

Today, it is way too cold to climb Mount Taranaki. Tomorrow the weather will be better. So I wait... ...and eat cake...and drink tea...and stare at Mount Taranaki. I'm getting inside its head. Psyching it out for the big day. I'm playing mind games with a mountain. This is mental warfar...

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Forging the Emperor’s Blade

24 years ago this very day, the Great Smith in the Sky forged my own Brother in Thunder, Emperor Matthias Bunn of Murderbeers. With him, I have feasted, reveled and lifted for time immemorial. Together with my Brother in Blood, William Billiam, we carved our path through the cities of Europe and...

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Highway 97

Once I am out of Mossburn, I stop to catch my breath and readjust my backpack, which already weighs a ton. My knees throb and the lunacy of attempting to run 22km in this condition has dawned on me. Still, at least I have made some good distance towards Five Rivers. Casually I check my watch for...

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Routeburn Day 3: To The Great Divide

I wake upon the final day of the Routeburn Track and check my clothes. They are drenched. All of them. Squishing myself back into my boots, I hit the road. I shall not be taking my time today. I shall be running, wherever possible - until I reach THE GREAT DIVIDE! In reality, the Divide is just th...

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TO THE SKIES!

Today the bathroom was busy, so I brushed my teeth in the shower. It was exhilarating. Oh, I also jumped out of a plane 15,000 feet above the earth, with only some billowing device to prevent my body from being obliterated upon impact. Oh and another man to activate aforementioned billowing devi...

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Trekking the World’s Oldest Rainforest

Today will be busy. To start with, we are heading back to the tree house to clean, tidy and put up some walls to keep the worst of the rain out. I'm actually quite excited; not only do I love the tree house, this is my first chance to hang out properly with Matt – the man who built the tree hous...

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