Sailing The Blackwater: Maldon Mud Race 2009

With ice frozen along the high tide line and a nippy wind from the N.W. 250 competitors took to the task of out running, or crawling, the 500 metres of the finest Essex mud to be found with the river Blackwater to cross and return to complete the course.

This is one of the most demanding fun things to do on a Sunday morning. With half a dozen Batmen stuck in the mud, the twenty or more Farther Christmas’s splashed past only to be overhauled by Brer Rabbit, four Bank Robbers and a nippy bloke with bright green hair; the two fairies and Wonder Woman had a bit of a race on.

The winner of the day was the event itself with thousands of pounds being raised for local charities. The skies deeply grey, almost brightened as the race finished and the cold-water showers provided to help remove some mud amazingly didn’t freeze the Donald Duck or the inflatable tree to the tarmac, maybe due to the body heat from the thousands of on looking race supporters.

As a sailor getting wet is not on, and being wet and trashing through the mud is not the thing to do and to be avoided like the plague.
I have the greatest admiration for the
competitors and the winning chap made it look easy, although a fall near the end looked like the chap with the green hair do may have stolen the race.

By the time fifty-first competitor found himself wading through the same mud as the previous fifty runners life become a lot harder, but not as hard as trying to park your car anywhere near Maldon! It was a great event to see and had a good feeling about it, much as Maldon does itself.