You could say Rodger McBrydie and Dan Goodwin are experts in their field - as long as that field is a churned-up bog with barely a blade of grass showing.

What Goodwin doesn't know about mud, after years playing club rugby for Te Puke and blindside for Bay of Plenty, isn't worth knowing.

McBrydie, meanwhile, has comfortably lost count of the number of runs he's dished out to hyperactive hot-shots in his long-serving role as a PE teacher at Tauranga Boys' College.

Now the pair have combined their specialties for the inaugural Tauranga Boys' College Mud Challenge, a 6km mud run through the wilds of Pahoia, to raise funds for the school's rugby hardship fund.

'We use our hardship fund to support families so that money isn't a barrier to their boys playing rugby,” explains McBrydie. 'Money shouldn't be a reason for students to miss out on all the awesome things sport has to offer. That's also why we picked the Mud Challenge as a fundraiser - as the name suggests, it'll be a challenge, it will be exhausting and it will probably be uncomfortable but we fully expect everyone to cross the finish line with a massive grin on their face.”

The 6km course will take competitors across mudflats near Pahoia Domain, through paddocks and channels, with additional challenges along the way, such as cargo net crawls, a mud slide and try-scoring in the mud.

The long course is open to teams of three as well as individuals, while a 3km version is open to under-16 athletes, making it the ideal challenge for the whole family.

For more information or to enter, visit www.taurangamudchallenge.co.nz.

Nora and Millie Ashby try out the Tauranga Boys' College Mud Challenge course near Pahoia.