Two quotes from the end of this marvelous ESPN Tough Guy video:

• “I’m a provider of fear for those who want it.”
• “If you’re mentally tough, you can stand up against the world.”

So why do apparently sane people do crazy stuff like that – and in the bleak mid-winter, for crying out loud?

For all sorts of reasons – a dare, bravado, to rediscover the meaning of challenge dulled by living in a comfy world, to raise money for charities and hospitals, to have some fun.

I wrote before about the pleasure and sense of achievement I got from the Corporate Challenge in 1991. And also about taking a holiday with a difference at Outward Bound. The experiences gained are ones I treasure and help remind me to be grateful for what I do have in this life.

Watching Billy Wilson’s Tough Guy challenge video and also reading Jim Caples’s article (scroll down below the video) also reminds me that there are no guarantees in life other than to do your best with what you’ve got, right where you are, right now. The warm shower comes later

Check out this article in today’s UK Guardian newspaper about Tough Guy Winter 2008 which was held last Sunday and look out for some good YouTube videos to appear! There are some decent ones from earlier years.

- Mark McClure