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The first event was held in 1987 with 103 participants running the gamut of streams, woodland, and mudhills on a 103-acre farm incongruously titled Mr Mouse Farm for Unfortunates in the townland of Perton. Mr Mouse turns out to be a loquacious ex-marathon runner called Billy Wilson. A pioneer organizer of such famous runs as the London Marathon, Mr. Wilson got bored with the monotonous slog through empty city streets and decided to set up his own off-road gauntlet inspired by World War I trenches, Vietcong tunnels, and Russian prisoner camps. Indeed many of the participants are service men from both Britain and overseas with a fair share of SAS personnel trying their luck. Yet it is a Bristol bricklayer called Vito Graffagnino who has proved the ultimate tough guy, winning this grueling race on three occasions with a record time of 57 minutes. Only 60% of the runners pass the finish line and there is a cutoff time of 5 hours, meaning stragglers are disqualified. Women are also welcome and many have completed this grim obstacle course lovingly titled the “killing fields.” The race requires a high level of teamwork and cooperation with fellow participants pushing each other on through the most terrifying of installations that include a rope bridge that is just that, a thin rope strung between two trees four stories high. Not for the fainthearted. —CO’M

www.toughguy.co.uk.

When to Go: Tough Guy takes place three times a year. Check website for specific dates.

Birmingham (34km/21 miles).

$$ Travelodge Wolverhampton Central, Bankfield House, Wolverhampton ( 44/871/984-6221;www.travelodge.co.uk). $$ Barons Court Hotel, 142 Goldthorn Hill, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton ( 44/1902/34-1751;www.baronscourthotel.viviti.com).

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Birdsville Races

Horses for Courses

Birdsville, Queensland, Australia

In 2002, the famous Birdsville horse race meeting had a problem—no horses. Equine flu had forced trainers and owners to keep their race horses away this particular year. Not that anybody noticed. Thousands still gathered in this remote desert town to party over the weekend, cook kangaroo burgers over campfires, race in wheelie bins, and wrestle steers. This quintessential Ozzie outback experience has become more important than the races themselves, with a carnival atmosphere that sees bush poetry readings, country and western singing, and stand-up comedy shows. Thousands of revellers come and camp out in this town of 100 residents at the eastern edge of the vast red stretch of sand dunes known as the Simpson Desert. Everybody is remarkably friendly, oiled somewhat by lots of liquor and beer.

Such friendliness disappears if you step into the ring at the Fred Brophy boxing tent. Here you are challenged to fight a selection of fighters with names like Crush and White Lightening. There is a dramatic drum roll as you step into the arena and if you are tough enough to knock out your opponent you walk away with a large money purse. Such casual prize fighting is banned elsewhere, earning what happens in Birdsville the slogan “only in the Outback.”

Birdsville is 1,610km (1,000 miles) from the provincial capital Brisbane, with little in between but dirt track and dunes. The race meeting here is probably the most isolated in the world and many people choose to arrive by light aeroplane. The local airfield quickly fills up with single engine Cessnas as they ferry punters to and fro. The aviation link does not stop there. The races are a major fundraiser for the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service, an aerial ambulance that covers the vast interior of Australia. The Simpson Desert alone is 181,300 sq. km (70,000 sq. miles) in size with some of the longest parallel dunes in the world, some reaching 30m (98 ft.) in height. It gets only 20cm (8 in.) of rain a year and is so inhospitable that the authorities have resorted to closing large chunks of it every summer to prevent the recurrence of hapless, ill-prepared tourists getting into trouble in the mid-day sun.

There is not much to Birdsville town itself. Originally a droving toll