Maldon Mud Race
annual race across the River Blackwater, Maldon, United Kingdom
The Maldon Mud Race is an annual fun race held in spring (originally in the winter, now in late April or early May) at Promenade Park in Maldon, Essex, England, in which entrants compete to complete a 500 metres (550 yd) dash, in thick mud, over the bed of the River Blackwater. The race is organised by the Maldon Mud Race committee, a team of volunteers, which raises money for charity.
History
The Maldon mud race began in 1974 when a regular at a local pub was challenged to serve a meal on the riverbank dressed in a dinner jacket. The challenge evolved into a race across the river to a waiting barrel of beer, drinking a pint of beer there and racing back. The barrel of beer has long disappeared and the race has become a charity event, with many participants wearing fancy dress. The event is watched by thousands of spectators and raises tens of thousands of pounds for charity. The 2010 race was delayed until Easter 2011 due to poor weather and the organisers later decided to permanently move the event from winter to spring. Brian Farrington, from the Maldon Rotary Club said: "It doesn't make any difference in regard to the race itself, because people still get covered in mud. ... Our main concern is health and safety and then how much money we can raise for charity."
The race can only take place when the tide is low enough to allow participants to cross the river safely.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Maldon Mud Race” as annual race across the River Blackwater, Maldon, United Kingdom. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as annual race across the River Blackwater, Maldon, United Kingdom. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6742886. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 2010 and 2011.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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- Expand the search: follow Maldon Mud Race primary sources, Maldon Mud Race archive and Maldon research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Maldon Mud Race” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.