A tough lot at Church Minshull Aqueduct Marina

THEY  are certainly tough staff at Church Minshull Aqueduct Marina, competing in Tough Mudder raising money for Anne’s Wish Muscular Dystrophy charity.

There were 20 obstacles in total including an Arctic enema (ice bucket), blockness monster and Augustus gloop which required at least three or four people to work together to get over them. Several more obstacles required fellow team members to encourage you through mud, water and electric shock obstacles—all in the pouring rain!

Team members

Team members included: Robert Parton, Chris Moran, Nick Beech, Peter Smith, Holly Critchley, Sarah Rayner, Phil Langley, Rosie Mason, Alex Bebbington, Matt Simpson, Johnny Howard and Bernie McCrae who raised money for Anne’s Wish together with Stephan Wallace and Claire Dalton (Live for Work) who were raising money for St Luke’s Hospice. Andrea Parton and children Elizabeth and Joseph along with Woody, Aqueduct Marina’s groundsman went along to support the team.

The team were soaked by a downpour between the car park and the check-in tent and the pattern for the day was set. After a rigorous pre-start warm up, the merry band of Aqueduct Marina Athletes set of at a ‘steady trot’ on the 10 miles, 20 obstacle muddy course. The definition of ‘steady trot’ covers a wide range of tempos!

Raced ahead

Stephen became competitive and raced ahead trying to be the first team members to finish. The rest of the team regrouped at each obstacle and were photographed and cheered on by Woody, Andrea, Elizabeth and Joseph.

Robert Parton, Managing Director at Aqueduct Marina, enthused:

"We’d like to thank everyone for taking part in what was a great fun, cold and wet day out with a fantastic feeling of achievement at the end. Most of us would be prepared to do it again next year! We have managed to raise more than £1,000 for Anne’s Wish Muscular Dystrophy from this event, thank you to everyone who donated via our JustGiving page.”