Mud Sports and Children’s Beach Takeover – Sunday 6th August from 10am
Manningtree is a beautiful place with a broad expanse of water when the tide is in. When the tide is out we are equally lucky to have a goodly amount of mud, amazing for wading birds but not much good for water sports.
Many, many years ago some bright spark looked at the mud and thought ‘I wonder what we could do with that?’ and so the Manningtree Mud Sports as part of the Regatta weekend were born!
No need to travel for tough mudder – we have our very own version here – and we don’t have to import the mud!
On Sunday 6th August Neptune will be visiting again to oversee the mud sports and will stay to make sure that the tide comes in for the afternoon’s activities on the water.
Why not take part?
The morning starts with the race across the river (and back). The route takes you along the hard by the Club Marquee, through the low water channel, round a boat and back down the hard to Neptune. There are separate races for men, women and under 16’s. The race was made famous by Griff Rhys Jones in his programme ‘Search for the Mersea Native’ and it is tougher than it looks.
Forty years ago the race went all the way from Manningtree to the Suffolk shore and back and the prize was a crate of beer! The route is a little shorter now, but there is probably more mud. It is a rite of passage – once you have done the Mud-Race you have bragging rights over everyone who has never attempted it! So gaffer tape on your old trainers and come and have a go. The first race start will be 10am – turn up and take part.
The mud race is followed by the infamous tug of war in the mud with teams taking up positions either side of the Hard. The competition is open to Teams from local businesses, community organisations, sports clubs and just about anyone else who can get a team together and have a go! Teams can include up to eight people, with competitions for men’s and women’s teams.
Entries are £10 per team and the rules of the competition and an entry form can be found below.
And last but by no means least, Sunday morning will again feature the Children’s Beach Takeover. While the ‘grown ups’ are playing in the mud the Beach will feature a range of fun children’s games and activities finishing with a children’s beach tug of war. Come along and join in. We rake the beach before the event but we recommend that children wear shoes – just in case.
