If you’ve joined us on course over the last few years, you’ve no doubt seen a squid hat around. Whether that’s crawling through Kiss Of Mud or diving through Arctic Enema. Team Squid Hats have created a new community within Tough Mudder. Their colourful squid hats always catching the eye, mudders often wonder ‘why are they wearing squid hats?’. Well, today’s the day you find out.
We caught up with Tough Mudder Ambassador, Chris Hill to take you on a journey of Team Squid Hats. Find out how you can join the team, plus a teaser for what’s coming in 2023.
Strap yourselves in, this one’s about to get interesting.
What’s The Backstory?
The OG Squid was Ashley Adams who bought the very first of the iconic Squid Hats from the merch tent at Tough Mudder, East London at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in 2018.
He wore it throughout the run and then off the course as we partied hard apres-mud in London.
How do you find your mate at a bar? Look for the big orange squid hat.
As a member of OCR Solo Mudders, where there’s ‘always a mudder by your side’, the idea spread with a small group of us buying the hats for our upcoming international trip to Germany taking on the awesome Tough Mudder course of North Rhine-Westphalia.
News of the international Team Tintenfische Hats soon spread amongst the Tough Mudder community with others wanting to get in on the action. So the official team was born, with an official Facebook group being run by Tough Mudder Ambassador, Christopher Hill.
How Many Are In Team Squid Hats Nowadays?
The group has grown very quickly over a relatively short time, and successes in the team amongst wearers of the Squid Hat are plentiful.
At World’s Toughest Mudder in Las Vegas 2019, Team Squid Hats Leader, Christopher Hill won the Community Award: FUN. Other iconic legends include spotlight volunteers Ryan Thomas Kiss and Andrew Ryan who is nearing his 100th volunteer shift, known as ‘Shouty Squid’. Andrew can be heard from fields afar encouraging mudders in all weathers to “Keep Pushing”.
The group now has around 140 members sporting the Squid Hat at events around the world. Tough Mudders in Germany, Malta, and even the United States have seen Squids taking on the course and volunteering too.
Has Anybody Ever Forgotten Their Squid Hat?
Team Squid Hat leader, Christopher Hill said, “I can proudly attest, that since 2018 I have done every Tough Mudder in my Squid Hat and never forgotten it. 2023 will see me complete my 100th Tough Mudder at the Manchester event.”
There have been special occasions such as for the pride wave, where the Rainbow Squid Hat was worn, or the famous orange Squid Hat has been swapped out for a Green Squid Hat to match the 5k city event branding. However, once a squid hat is worn, people don’t tend to forget it.
Reckon you could pull off a rainbow squid hat? We’d love to see it.
Is There A Particular Story About Team Squid Hats Over The Years That Sticks Out?
After 2021 it would be difficult to talk about Team Squid Hats, without mentioning Team Crab Hats too.
Team Crab Hats was formed as a naturally friendly rival group following the antics at London West event in 2021.
Christopher and fellow Tough Mudder legend and legionnaire, Kev Calder were set to go head to head in a race of all races. The plan was to head first through the inch crawl space afforded by Cage Crawl. However, just as the duo was about to set off, Martin Gemmel, who is a close affiliate of Kevin, grabbed Christopher’s toe in a pincer like movement, sending an immediate tsunami like wave of water over his face resulting in a water-board-like experience.
Christopher made it to the exit in just enough time to recover from partial drowning. Upon leaving Cage Crawl and prior to throwing his guts up, he announced “That was very crabby of you!”. This birthed what was to become a long raging battle between the scuttling crabs and the superiority of the Squids.
There’s so much orange on show here and we really love to see it.
Is There Anything You’d Like To Say To Potential New Members Of Team Squid Hats?
Team Squid Hats welcomes mudders from all walks of life, but you must get the following questions right before joining the team:
- What is the best type of hat?
- What is Squid in German?
- Do you agree to bow down and worship the squid
If you can successfully answer these questions then you too can become part of the most fun team in Mudder Legion.
What’s The Plan For 2023?
Team Squid Hats is definitely not going away – we have a few plans for 2023 and are looking forward to the events that both Tough Mudder and Spartan put on for us… Aroo and Hoo-rar!
Get To Know The Squids
Get out on the course and see Team Squid Hats for yourself. Book your 2023 event now.
