This weekend of 11^th November, saw the first ever Nuclear cup challenge down at Brentwood, Essex. A great chance to continue with an improving season and a few hurdles this year plus 1st qualifying event for the OCR World Championships 2018.

Eight miles long, over 100 obstacles, wet and rainy weather and feeling quite cold for some, this was definitely going to be an exciting race. There was a ‘one attempt only’ rule on all obstacles, and if failed a penalty run was to be taken. I had a feeling this race would suit me well and I was more than fired up and ready to get stuck in!

The race started pretty fast as they always do and headed us straight into some nice wooded area, I was up front and running along side Tristan Steed as expected and a whippet triathlete. Great to see people from all disciplines getting involved in off season racing in the mud.

After around 2.5 miles in and having already tackled several obstacles with some nice running sections myself and running partner on the day ‘Rob’ had a slight lead on Tristan.

We ran along and hit the AquaFobia obstacle section at the same time. I instantly gained a little lead on Rob as I casually went along the balance beams, down on the crash mat, into the pond, up over the tyres and started wading across the pond before exiting. With Rob taking a more careful approach in the balance I knew I had the edge on this course from here on in. Rob looked strong and I am sure his experience will grow in these types of events, one to watch.

I was then upfront on my own for a short time before Rob was rapidly back and breathing down my neck, next up was the ninja rings.

As I dipped my hands in the sawdust and grabbed a couple of rings ready to get on with the obstacle I heard Rob mumble something that gave me an indication that he wasn’t too confident on technical or upper body obstacles. I breezed through this, dropped my rings and ran on a little to the ‘bloody heavy’ chain drag.

Completing this and looking back briefly as I was on top of the next obstacle I realised I had made a good couple hundred yards on Tristan and Rob. Quite surprised as we were not even half way through the race yet but I was feeling strong ploughed on keeping a solid pace throughout to try and make the gap in between us as big as possible, just in case I was to fail any obstacles and have penalties to run later on.

Half way or more into the race by now and a good few minutes lead I was quite happy as I knew the next part really would suit me and give me even more of an edge on the speedier competitors; cold water and lots of obstacles with shorter running stretches in between.

Next up, the Zip Wire, Twister Monkey Bars, Flying Monkeys, Cargo Crawls, Kicker Slide and the cold swim, King Fisher, a pontoon crossing, Tight Ropes Traverse, and several others before washing it all down with a warm cup of orange juice!

I was out of the ‘water zone’ and into the final couple miles. Tackling the stair way to heaven and another nice running section I was now on the final mile of the race.

The last mile was packed with many of the signature Nuclear obstacles such as Spinning Wheels, MQ Rings, Dragons Back, Quarter Pipe, Cage Rage, see-saw and finally the roller obstacles (spinning beam over water).

Job done. Crossing the finish line with a solid 1st place in a time of 1 hour and 15 minutes. Tristan Steed taking 2nd place and Jason Brunnock taking 3rd.

Overall an awesome course and bodes well for the World Championships next year. Nuclear events are always incredible and really well run with lots of free incentives that most races you have to pay for.

Imagery supplied by Nuclear Races | Read more about Conor at the KitBrix Stories HERE