Having accidentally won South England's strongest natural man (under 80kg) back in April, I found myself in the national finals, against all the champions and qualifiers from across the land. This was to be my first ever two-day competition and my hardest to date. So you might think I'd prepare myse...
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08:21, Trojan Fitness, Bristol The dial on the scale slid upwards, heartlessly, to settle with a mocking little bounce at exactly 80.6kg. “That...” I summarised insightfully, “Is not under 80kg”. That was a problem because, one month after running my first marathon (on a frozen lake...
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Yes, you read that correctly. A marathon. On ice. Why? Because I'd never done a marathon before and would probably never do one again, so I might as well make it memorable: by doing it on frozen lake in Norway, as part of the World Ice Running Championships. Thus, the Oarsman! We drove from O...
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For those who don't know, a Spartan Sprint, Super and Beast race all within a single year. Or, if you are a Guildsman: a single weekend. After all, how hard can it be? Preparation Being a man of The Guild, I believe the best preparation is no preparation. That way I am always equally prepa...
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This time next weekend I will run my first, second and third Spartan Race since 2015. It's in Windsor and is the very last Spartan Race of the season and only the second ever trifecta weekend in the UK. It's going to be epic and I’ll be writing up a full review of my suffering for Obstacle Race Ma...
Continue reading ...Last year I took part in (and won) England's Strongest Novice Under 80kg. It was my first ever competiton and it ignited a passsion for strongman in me, especially watching the guys competing in England's Strongest Man Under 80kg, who I decided to take the following year. So it was that this wee...
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This weekend was Ghost Squad's third outing to Mudnificent 7, the OCR Expo. It always holds a special place in our hearts because it was the first race we ever attended outside of Tough Guy, where the sound of five hours of pounding war drums made the OCR community realise there was something not qu...
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This weekend Ghost Squad returned to the summer version of Tough Guy, Nettle Warrior, to do what we do best... ...whatever that is! [gallery type="rectangular" ids="8000,8002,8052,8051,8050,8039,8038,8037,8036,8035,8034,8033,8032,8031,8030,8029,8028"]...
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This Sunday marked exactly one year to the day since I started strength training with a purpose. That sounds odd, I know. Surely the purpose of strength training is always strength? Well yes, but Guildspeople don't really train uni-directionally or for specific purposes. We cultivate an ambient l...
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It is with GREAT pleasure that I can announce that Rise of the Sufferfests – the documentary about OCR and only film that opens with the words “This is Ed Gamester...” – is now available to view ON PLANES! Not just any old shitty planes, either. British Airways, United Airlines, Virgin A...
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--- I have backdated this post to the weekend of Tough Guy - 29th of January 2017. In reality, I didn't start writing it until about April and then ignored it until July. --- There was a fallout after Tough Guy. Hell, there was a fallout BEFORE Tough Guy when Mr. Mouse hinted that it might not a...
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Every January, over 1000 people fail to cross the finish line of Tough Guy. Normally, it’s because of the cold: even on relatively warm years, the combination of water, wind and exposure cripples hundreds. “It’s not cold enough for hypothermia” St. John’s Ambulance service tells me ever...
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Hi, I’m Ed. Some of you might recognise me from Tough Guy; I take the warm-up, hammer on stuff, and leap out at unsuspecting folk. I bellow constantly and drink a lot of rum. In short, I’m hard to miss. I don’t work for Tough Guy, I’m a volunteer. If I wasn’t smashing and bellowi...
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22KILL started the #22pushupchallenge to raise awareness of the 22 American ex-military personnel who commit suicide every day (as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, brain trauma and the complications of returning to civilian life). Here in the UK, some of us are raising money for Comba...
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Little did we know, when we picked ourselves up off the floor of a barn on the last day of July 2016, that we were about to witness the final Tough Guy Nettle Warrior of all time. Luckily, Ghost Squad go about every event as if it is the last event on Earth - and we tore it up as best we possibly...
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Last weekend, Mr. Mouse deployed Ghost Squad at Nuclear Rush. This was the first time the Ghosts had been unleashed outside the borders of Tough Guy - making it a very special occasion INDEED! Mr. Mouse then proceeded to charge up the ninja ramp, and conquer the Death Slide with James Parish - ch...
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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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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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"A Guildsman does not train for events. He wanders the Earth being mighty. He performs feats as fleeting extensions of his power. Like flexing." So sayeth the Guildsman's handbook, the code by which I live. Today, however, I am feeling a tad apprehensive about my blasé approach to physical challe...
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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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