THE race pack made for grim reading and the accompanying death warrant did little to calm the nerves.

Welcome to the world famous Tough Guy!

Dead Leg Swamp, Murder Mile and the electrocuted Tiger's Tail were all part of the 2.5 mile Killing Fields assault course -- which had to be negotiated twice. And that was after completing an energy-sapping five mile cross country race.

Just walking the course made you realise what you were up against. But it didn't seem to put anyone off with a record breaking 1,500 mad-cap competitors, including seven Darwen Dashers, taking part in the summer version of the Tough Guy. The winter race attracts more than 3,000 runners.

The theme for this year's event was Braveheart and Tough Guy 'Kilties' could be seen everywhere -- but us Dashers just opted for the war paints!

All local hopes pinned on Vinnie Brookes, who last year finished in 15th position, while Tough Guy veterans Jim Taylor and Tracey Lang alongside Claire Bruce, Alison Hughes, Lucy Sadler and myself made up the Magnificent Seven.

The race started on top of Tough Guy mountain, built to recreate the Braveheart battle front.

Vinny soon disappeared through the smoke and fire while I did my best to stay in Jim's slipstream. The girls had a pre-arranged plan to run as a unit.

The run on rough terrain took us away from the main area, dominated by the towering Tiger's Tail and Behemoth, and into the dense woodlands near by.

After ducking under low-hanging branches and dodging the nettles with 'man eating stings' and baring the bramble slashes, it was on to the slalom hill reps.

Then came another long trek in swealting heat back towards the Killing Fields -- a 20 obstacle assault course including barbed wire crawls, raft races, neck length gunge plunges, water tunnels and tyre tortures.

With knees grazed, pride bruised and T-shirts in tatters, we had to do it all again.

Second time round though it didn't seem so bad -- maybe it was a case of shell shock or that famous second wind everyone talks about.

The race was won by Neil Ashcroft in a time of 1 hour 29.43 seconds with Vinnie Brookes coming in a fine 37th place in 1.59.15 -- lapping myself and Jim just as we completed one lap of the assault course!

The second lap took about another hour with Jim Taylor finishing in 3.01.15 and myself just over a second behind.

Claire Bruce, Lucy Sadler and Alison Hughes crossed the line in 4.01.00 while Tracey Lang showed the true Tough Guy spirit to battle on after a nasty fall to finish in 4.15.00 The big question is would we do it all again. And the answer is definitely -- although the mind numbing cold winter race might take a little more convincing!