Photo: Mark Webber Challenge

The irony of Commonwealth Games and World Championship triathlete Deanna Blegg tackling Tough Mudder events is difficult to miss. The electrified, steep-walled and muddied obstacles of this travelling torture circus are symbolic of the challenges Blegg has faced on her life’s journey to hell and back. “There’s a lot of synergy there and probably why I’m so passionate about this type of sport,” she offers. “Life is about overcoming obstacles – whether you go over them, through them or under them – and achieving something at the end.”

For the uninitiated, Tough Mudder is a hardcore 18-20km obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test contestants’ all-round strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie. That Blegg finds these events “fun” becomes understandable after you’ve heard of her life of fighting – and living with – the HIV virus.

Blegg’s years of adventure/obstacle-course racing provide a concrete-solid base for events like Tough Mudder.  At 17, she was crowned junior world triathlon champion and became the tenth-ranked woman on the planet, so it was only a matter of time before this now-Victorian resident caught up to the pack, despite the debilitating effects of her illness. These days she’s settled into a groove of attacking long-distance events, like the gruelling Mark Webber Challenge in Tassie.

While Blegg will be an absentee from the upcoming Sydney Tough Mudder, scheduled for October 12–13 near Penrith, she has a good excuse. She’ll soon be jetting off to New Jersey to attack the 24-hour version, World’s Toughest Mudder, set down for November 16-17. (The world’s most eager entrants found out just how tough Blegg is when she finished third from about 1300 female and male competitors at last year’s event.)

If you’re thinking about tackling a Tough Mudder, read Blegg’s advice carefully. If there’s a fitter (or tougher) 44-year-old female athlete in Australia, we’d love to meet her ...

FITNESS FIRST

“I was an athlete when I was young, then I had close to 15 years off, not really doing anything, before firing my personal fitness back up in 2007. I had a bit of a rocky road in between. From the age of about 30, I started concentrating on my fitness, but with no real goals, nothing in place. I’d just go for a run or go to the gym, that sort of thing. In 2005, I saw a promo for an adventure race. That’s when I thought, ‘I’m going to do this.’