A personal trainer who works in Canary Wharf admits he is “dreading” the prospect of pushing his body to the limits in the World’s Toughest Mudder competition this weekend.

Darren Bruce, who works in Canary Wharf, is jetting out to New Jersey, USA, on Thursday to join hundreds of other competitors who have excelled in early rounds of the Tough Mudder competition, which have been held all over the world.

The 39-year-old was in the top five per cent of competitors when he competed in the competition in Kettering in May, and was subsequently invited to test his mettle on the world stage.

The former boxer is now faced with the challenge of completing as many laps of an eight mile course – incorporating around 40 obstacles – as he can in a 24-hour period on Saturday.

He said: “I’m dreading it! The last one was horrendous. You were wet and caked in mud from head to toe within the first mile.”

Darren, who has been a personal trainer at the Reebok sports club in Canary Wharf for 10 years, will compete in the contest with one of his clients and a further friend.

“I hadn’t realised they had put me forward! We’re going to be dragging each other through”, he said.

He admits that he has particular reservations about coping with the challenges based in water, adding: “I’m a black man – I’m not meant for water or the cold!”

The challenge is made all the more intimidating because by the fact that nobody quite knows what to expect from the course, and only 10 per cent of contestants completed the 24 hours last in last year’s competition.

“It’s the great unknown”, said Darren. “You don’t know just how brutal it will be, but some of the obstacles look absolutely horrendous!”