Close to home, so let’s mix it up a bit. Another chance for a run, and different obstacles. All good practice.
Born Survivor brings a different flavour of obstacle course racing to the Tough Smudge calendar. Less festival playground and more military assault course, this one is designed to test strength, stamina, teamwork and the ability to keep moving when the terrain and obstacles start taking their toll.
Set in the rugged Ribble Valley on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border, the Lancashire event combines rolling hills, remote trails, mud, water and more than 30 military-inspired obstacles. It is a course where the landscape is every bit as much a part of the challenge as the structures built across it.
Born Survivor was created around the idea of an authentic military-style obstacle course, with obstacles designed to demand climbing, crawling, carrying, hauling and plenty of determination. Add in mud trenches, water crossings and the infamous high-speed Torpedo Slide, and this should provide a very different test from a Tough Mudder.
The main 12K course is the full Born Survivor mission, packing 30+ obstacles into the Ribble Valley countryside. There is also a shorter 6K option, but for Tough Smudge this event is about taking on the full challenge and seeing how another style of obstacle course compares.
With the World’s Toughest Mudder getting closer, events like this are an important part of the journey. Different obstacles, different terrain and a different format all mean another opportunity to build experience, identify weaknesses and become a little harder to stop.
12 September 2026. Ribble Valley. 12K. 30+ obstacles. Another test awaits.