The 2013 Maldon Mud Race - surely the grubbiest jewel in the sporting crown - was held under sunny skies on Sunday.
After firmly affixing their footwear, 273 competitors wearing all manner of fancy dress lined up on the banks of the River Crouch at low tide in anticipation of the challenge to come.
What lay ahead was a 400-metre charge across cold water and thick, smelly mud towards Maldon town.
The race set off at a cracking pace, but it wasn't long before most at the front of the field abandoned any hope of competing the course on foot, dropping on to all fours and continuing at a literal crawl.
No such problems for 39-year-old John Edgington.
Refusing to surrender to the painful build up of lactic acid in his legs, Edgington gritted his teeth and remained upright for the entirety, hobbling to victory in a new world record time of three minutes and 15 seconds.
The race was far from over at that point though - with the vast majority of competitors getting down and dirty crawling through the sludge, it would be quite some time before the last racer crossed the finishing line.
Those who had completed their gruelling challenge reflected on the difficulties of competing in the Maldon Mud Race: "It just saps your power trying to pull your legs out and before you know it you're doing what these other guys are doing, you're crawling."
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