Good, (not so) clean fun: the first ever Swiss event took place in Fribourg's Gruyère region.
Keystone
On Saturday, Switzerland’s very first “Mud Day” obstacle course event drew some 5,000 participants to the village of Grandvillard, canton Fribourg.
This content was published on
1 minute
swissinfo.ch and agencies
The course involves covering 13 kilometres (8.1 miles) on foot through mud while clearing 22 obstacles, either alone or as part of a team.
The event is designed to combine physical and mental challenges, with an atmosphere of fun and team spirit. There is no time limit or ranking.
Obstacles include crawling under barbed wire for 25 metres, crossing six metres of water by swinging from ropes, slipping into an ice water bath, passing through electrical wires, and climbing ladders on slopes with an overhang of three metres. The terrain covers areas of forest, river, castle and medieval village.
The logistics of the event were considerable, and involved the provision of 1,200 tonnes of mud and more than a million ice cubes.
Born in England the 1980s, mud challenges were originally inspired by obstacle courses used in military exercises, and are becoming increasingly popular in the US and Europe. France’s Mud Day 2015 attracted 90,000 participants in six cities.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Alpine Club membership hits record peak
This content was published on
The SAC External linkis now the fourth biggest sports association in Switzerland, behind football, gymnastics and tennis, and membership continues to increase. “150,000 is a record number. Growth is around 2-4% a year,” SAC managing director Jerun Vils told Swiss public radio, SRF, on Tuesday. Vils said SAC members particularly appreciate the club’s environmental work…
This content was published on
Now in its 44th edition, the Federal Wrestling and Alpine Games Festival, or ‘Schwingfest’ has been going since the end of the 19th century, and attracts spectators from at home and abroad. With around 250,000 people expected over three days it’s the country’s biggest sporting event, but what’s the draw? The Federal Wrestling Festival has…
This content was published on
As the ads say, a Swiss king isn’t crowned – he has to fight for it. And so it was that the 30-year-old GlarnerExternal link, a 114-kilogram (251 pounds) bear of a man from the community of Heimberg, near Lake Thun, won the championship title in Swiss wrestling, the national sport known as “schwingen”. Over…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.