POCATELLO — Nick Edwards said the Tough Mudder competition he and several other Pocatello police officers participated in over the weekend was among one of the most difficult challenges he’s ever endured.

“I am sore, but, yeah, I’d do it again,” said Edwards, a school resource officer for the Pocatello Police Department. “I am really sore. I mean, my fingers hurt. I don’t how my fingers could hurt.”

The Tough Mudder was held Saturday in Tooele, Utah. It’s a 10-12 mile course featuring 25 military-style obstacle designed by British Special Forces that tests strength, stamina, mental grit and camaraderie, according to the event’s website, www.toughmudder.com.

Edwards and 11 other Pocatello police officers teamed up to do the challenge, something those who run the event recommend.

“The thing they pushed with us was not so much the time (taken to complete the course), but helping each other get through it,” he said. “I don’t know how anyone does it alone.”

It was a relatively cold day in Tooele on Saturday and Edwards said the first obstacle on the course didn’t warm anyone up.

“The first one was called the Arctic Enema,” he said. “It’s a pool of ice water with a log in the middle and you had to swim through it and under the log. That was cold and it was a cold day.”

Another memorable obstacle Edwards spoke about was one called the Electric Eel.

“You were crawling under live wires that would shock you if you hit them,” he said. “There were hundreds coming down. Everyone got shocked.”

Then there was the 16-foot pole, dubbed Mount Everest. The goal, of course, was to climb to the top of the pole.

“I don’t know how some of the guys did it. If someone wasn’t there to pull me up I wouldn’t have made it,” Edwards said.

The team consisting of Pocatello police officers, which they call the PPD Bravehearts, got started early this year, during the final weeks of winter. Edwards was surprised at the number of officers who wanted to participate in the event.

“We pretty quickly got the 11 of 12 officers, including one of our female officers, to commit,” he said.

Those officers who participated in the Tough Mudder, in addition to Edwards, included Forrest Peck, Derek Daniels, Lauren Herrick, Doug Frei, Lance Cartwright, Theo Vanderschaaf, Scott Long, Eric Miller, Syd Seamons, Travis Evans and Jordan Johnson. Andy Evans and Tucker Bloxham were also members of the team.

With their team name in mind, the PPD Bravehearts — named for the Mel Gibson movie — did what they could to live up to the mystique, including wearing athletic Scottish kilts. That particular wardrobe choice turned out to be a move that at least Edwards regretted, however.

“When it got wet, it got really heavy,” he said. “I didn’t anticipate that.”

When you complete the Tough Mudder you are given and orange headband with the event name written on it. Edwards said they are not sold by the event, only given to those who complete it.

They are told to wear the headband the first day back to work. That was Monday, for Edwards, and he did just that.

“I wore mine yesterday and had to go to Costco for something,” he said. “I saw someone else in there wearing the orange headband who wasn’t on our team.”

But Edwards already knew others from the area competed in the event. He said the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office had a team and there was also a team comprised of officers from the Bingham County Sheriff’s Office and Blackfoot Police Department.