NINE miles, 20 military-style obstacles and plenty of mud made Tough Mudder a challenge to remember for town council employee Cara Austin.
Communications officer Cara travelled to Badminton Estate, near Gloucester, to take on the famous endurance event and raise money for Alcohol Change UK.
Cara completed the course in just over three hours and raised £400 for the charity.
Cara, joined by her rugby teammate Hannah, took on more than 15km of running and obstacles involving everything from climbing, crawling through water, upper-body strength challenges, and plenty of mud.
But Cara’s biggest challenge had begun long before she even reached the start line.
At the start of the year, she suffered a serious knee ligament injury while playing rugby for Chard Ladies and initially believed she was rehabilitating a torn ligament.
MRI results just a few weeks before Tough Mudder revealed she had completely ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), one of the main ligaments responsible for keeping the knee stable.
Having already committed to the challenge and her fundraising, Cara decided to put her trust in the months of preparation behind her, which had included running across the hills and trails of West Dorset, helping to strengthen the muscles supporting her injured knee.
During her training, Cara clocked up 5,783m of vertical ascent while running – the equivalent elevation of climbing the National Three Peaks, twice, a challenge she had undertook at walking pace only two years ago.
Cara and Hannah overcame every single obstacle and the full race distance in the middle of a heatwave.
Among Cara’s favourite challenges were Block Ness Monster, which requires participants to work together to rotate huge barriers through a water pit, and Hang Tough, a series of suspended rings requiring competitors to swing their way across, but the monkey bars proved slightly less successful.
Cara said: “There’s definitely homework, if I ever decided to do another obstacle course race, particularly the monkey bars!”
“I’d like to say a big thank you to my council colleagues who supported my fundraising, and the community for the support and wishes of good luck.”