For some, getting out of bed in the morning, passing your exams, and finding Cubicus room B200A are already great challenges. And making it through the Twentse Onderwijs Model (TOM) is all the surviving that you need. But for those who seek a greater challenge, the Tartaros Campus run provides just what you need.
This year’s edition featured a distinction between the ‘8km-light’ and ‘8km-heavy’ categories, denoting the difference in obstacle difficulty. For example, one of the obstacles was a horizontal cargo net. The 5km and 8km-light participants would have to climb over the cargo net, while the 8km-heavy participants would have to climb underneath it.
Additionally, Tartaros hosted the NSK Survivalrun this year, which is the national student championship. Tartaros also has a new obstacle course, which they can use for their weekly survivalrun practice and was included as part of the race.
Rubber ducks
The race started off lightly, with a ‘swing-over’, rope bridge, and several hurdles. Soon, however, we were facing the essential ingredient of each survivalrun: mud. It provides quite a different perspective when you’re a human dredger and crawling through mud behind the Horst building.
A bit later, we arrived at a small stream crossing, where for reasons unknown the organisation had placed dozens of rubber ducks in the water. When I tried to question the nearby volunteers about the rubber ducks, they immediately threw me one, which of course I had to carry along for the rest of the race. Our team had gotten a new member!
‘The ‘R’ was notoriously challenging’
After a few combination obstacles, basically the adult-version of ‘the floor is lava’, we arrived at the two million euro obstacle. I am of course talking about the new University of Twente logo and those shiny, big white letters near the entrance. We had to zigzag through them and sometimes climb over or under them. The ‘R’ was notoriously challenging. I suppose I don’t have to tell you what the combination of mud and white letters will do.
The race ended with a warped wall and a combination obstacle, with a finisher where you had to cling onto what looked like an inverted club that they use in knotsbal. All in all, it was great fun, and I would definitely recommend this run. Just don’t forget a rubber duck for the full experience.
