Slottsskogen Park in Gothenburg is an idyllic place
– for 364 days of the year, at least. On one particular
day, however, this oasis nestled in the middle of a Swedish
city becomes a mecca for masochists. Cries of agony ring
through the trees; smoke billows from burning barricades;
and blood, sweat and tears fl ow in equal measure. It is the
day of the Tough Viking race, which along with internationally
renowned event the Tough Mudder, is considered to be one
of the world’s most extreme obstacle races.
Members of the Swedish Army’s Special Forces developed
the concept a few years ago. The objective is to take every
participant to their physical limits – and beyond. The race
through the park gives runners 19 obstacles to conquer over
a distance of 7.4 kays. Just a few hundred metres from the
starting line, dozens of rugby players await the runners,
ready to tackle them and take them down. Competitors who
manage to get by without sustaining injuries will go on to
suffer through stages that require them to crawl through
mud, under barbed wire, then sprint over red-hot burning
coals and dive into a pool of ferociously icy water.
All the while, runners are simultaneously racing against
the clock and battling their own urge to simply give up and
make the pain stop. Not everybody wins the latter battle –
but those who succeed in making it to the fi nish line, after
up to three hours of hellish agony, still have to get past the
most feared obstacle in the entire race: the 10,000-volt cage.
Hundreds of electrically charged wires that send a shock
through the runners’ bodies every time they touch one (see
right) hang from the ceiling of the cage. The shocks are not
life-threatening by any means, but they are very painful. No
other obstacle in the race produces louder screams of agony.
In spite of all this anguish, next time hundreds of runners
will once again queue at the starting line to take on the
Tough Viking race – ready to test their limits and disturb
the idyllic peace of Gothenburg’s Slottsskogen
