More than 500 take on Isle Listen's Tough Mucka challenge

More than 500 people took part in Isle Listen’s annual Tough Mucka obstacle course fundraising challenge at Ballafesson on Sunday.

The fourth staging of the mental health charity’s fundraising event saw 501 participants take on the mud, despite the event having been postponed a week earlier because of adverse weather.

A total of 667 people had originally signed up for the October 4 event, with 623 entries remaining following the postponement.

The 501 people who attended represented an increase of more than 130 compared with last year’s event.

Participants tackled 18 obstacles across either a 5km or 10km course, while younger competitors took part in a shorter 2km route.

The course included returning challenges such as monkey bars, a hay bale pyramid and a slip-and-slide, alongside new obstacles including an uphill slippy climb.

Jess Knight, events and community fundraising manager at Isle Listen, commented: ‘We’re absolutely thrilled with how Tough Mucka went this year.

‘After months of planning, and a last-minute postponement due to the weather, seeing hundreds of people out on the course enjoying themselves made all of the hard work completely worth it.

‘Tough Mucka is a huge undertaking for our small team, and it simply wouldn’t be possible without the incredible support we receive from our volunteers, sponsors, suppliers and the wider Manx community. A massive thank you in particular to our headline sponsor, Conister Bank, for getting behind the event and helping us make it happen.

‘The atmosphere on Sunday was brilliant, and seeing so many people challenge themselves, get muddy and have a lot of fun while raising money for Isle Listen was exactly what the event is all about.’

Tough Mucka is Isle Listen’s biggest fundraising event of the year.

Money raised through the event supports the charity’s mental health education programme, which is delivered in schools across the island.