There was no place for couch potatoes when a team of fitness fanatics lugged a sofa on their backs for 23 kilometres when the Spartan Race came to Perth.

Team of 10 carried 2-seater couch through mud and over fire to raise funds

A team of 10 on a mission to prove they are no couch potatoes, spent nearly nine hours carrying a two-seater sofa around a Perth race track. The herculean effort came as the Spartan Race, an international event franchised across 30 countries, descended on the Fair City for the first time, drawing an estimated 5,000 participants and spectators. The group of furniture racers, who hailed from across the UK and who were dubbed the Spartan Sofa Squad, began their run in the centre of Perth before the route turned towards hilly trails. After crossing the River Tay, they headed out on to the steep Kinnoull Hill and Deuchny Woods carrying their maroon, mud-splattered sofa aloft. The team waded through sludgy bogs, scaled slippery, six-foot ramps, crawled under barbed wire and cargo nets, clambered over giant felled tree trunks. As their grand finale, they braved a “fire jump” over blazing logs. Local tourism chiefs joined in the celebrations as runners from around the world flooded into the area to take part from Friday night through to yesterday evening. Sam Lansdale, general manager of the Spartan Race, paid tribute to the people of Perth for giving the event such a warm welcome. He said: “It’s been a fantastic success for our debut in Perth and my thanks in particular go to Perth and Kinross Council for all of their support in bringing this world-famous event back to Scotland.” Mr Lansdale said that he was delighted to see restaurants in the city packed out with Spartan racers. He added: “I went out on Saturday for a bite to eat and I couldn’t get a table at three separate restaurants. “I had a look and I could see all the guys there with their Spartan Race shirts on. “That was fantastic to see and I can say we will definitely be back. The views and the terrain are just incredible and the residents have been really warmly receiving.” Dashee Vavrova, 32, who dressed as a Spartan warrior to captain the sofa squad, said: “We had a rule that, however tired we got, we would not sit down on our sofa, so it was tough going.” The group ran the course to raise money for Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a military charity supporting children who have lost a parent serving in the Armed Forces. Their fundraising page is available at virginmoneygiving.com/Team/ SpartanCouchChallenge

Sofa so good: The team carried their sofa around the course without sitting on it once, to raise funds for charity

This is Sparta: Racers from around the world navigated bogs, mud, barbed wire, cargo nets, tree trunks, slippery ramps and even fire to finish the Perthshire course – although not all with items of furniture in tow