The muddier and wetter it gets, the more Tough Mann fans love it! This year was no exception with 560 competitors finishing the Tough Mann Adventure Challenge in association with Manx Telecom. The 10km course at Ballamoar Farm, Ballaugh, featured 25 obstacles including muddy bogs, rope scrambles and monkey bars. Joey Bond won with Neil Brogan second and Ben Campelton third. First woman was Anna Kenny with Kirree Quayle in second and Ali Clague third respectively. Manx Telecom provided GoXtreme Action Cams for each of the individual category winners, and Fitbit chargeHR activity wristbands with heart monitors for the team winners.
There were also two special King and Queen of the Mountain prizes for the fastest male and female competitors to reach the top of ‘Killer Hill’ which ascends 1,000 feet in the first two kilometres of the course. Anna Kenny was crowned Queen of the Mountain, and Graham Furner King of the Mountain. They were presented with distinctive polka-dot design jerseys inspired by the Tour de France King of the Mountains jersey. For all the finishers there was a commemorative tee-shirt and a Bushy’s beer for over 18s, and a soft drink for under-18s. Other category winners included:
• Female U21 – Kirree Quayle
• Male U21 – Shaun Kelly
• Female Senior – Sammy White
• Male Senior – Joey Brogan
• Female Veteran Over 40 – Anna Kenny
• Male Veteran over 40 – Ray Whitfield
Manx Telecom’s support for the event included offering a free Pic2Go service which allowed competitors who registered for it to have official photos of them in the race automatically uploaded to their own Facebook page. A total of 525 registered for Pic2Go with over 8,000 photos being uploaded. Pic2Go uses software which automatically recognises race numbers to identify competitors. As the race numbers aren’t visible in many of the photographs where competitors are under water or crawling through mud, you can see a gallery of all the official photos at http://isleofman.in/toughmann and purchase images or order prints, with all profits going to charity.
?1 from every entry fee will be donated to Tabitha’s Trust, the charity which helps families affected by child bereavement. Event organiser Kez Wardell said that a total of ?750 had been raised for the charity so far, but more could follow from competitors who had collected money from sponsors.
For more information and results go to www.toughmann.com
Tough Mann was also supported this year by event partners including Paddy Power, Manx Independent Carriers, Bushy’s, Swagelok, visitisleofman.com, West Coast Fitness, Curtins Structural Engineers, Three Legs Scaffolding, and Tesco.
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