Sitting in camp the full scale of what we and the other competitors had been through began to become clear.
The race had been won by Irish Tom who finished the course in an astonishing 17 hours despite getting lost in the early stages and adding an extra five kilometres to his trek. He had spent the entire journey on his own.
Next in was Andy whose time was about 22 hours. Most of the others had finished less than an hour before us.
We had come equal seventh! Individual stories were swapped as we all hobbled around our tents. We compared shocking blisters and talked of our experiences through the night. One of the competitors had seen in the beam of his head torch the terrifying stare of a hyena.
It can only have been 15 feet away from him. Much of the talk was of the last desolate 12 miles and the mental and physical agony endured on that final trek to the finish line.
Ahead of us now lay sleep and our first shower for five days. They were moments to cherish.
The race had been won by Irish Tom who finished the course in an astonishing 17 hours despite getting lost in the early stages and adding an extra five kilometres to his trek. He had spent the entire journey on his own.
Next in was Andy whose time was about 22 hours. Most of the others had finished less than an hour before us.
We had come equal seventh! Individual stories were swapped as we all hobbled around our tents. We compared shocking blisters and talked of our experiences through the night. One of the competitors had seen in the beam of his head torch the terrifying stare of a hyena.
It can only have been 15 feet away from him. Much of the talk was of the last desolate 12 miles and the mental and physical agony endured on that final trek to the finish line.
Ahead of us now lay sleep and our first shower for five days. They were moments to cherish.
6 comments:
BRILLIANT! Great pieces, really brought it all to life and what a fantastic challenge. Well done. An incredible adventure.
Read with a great deal of interest and humility. Fantastic - well done to you both! And well done for raising so much money for a great cause. Elaine.
Bill and Pete, what can I say...AWESOME! Glad you are both OK. I really felt for you - great read! You deserve a well earned rest! Angie
What a great blog! Well done you two, so chuffed you did it and (just about) survived! Looking forward to hearing all about it back in the office - although don't show me your blisters! Love Helen x
Thank you for sharing this amazing insight! I wanted to read more! Any way you could expand it and make it into a book!? Including your training, After care, etc?
Well done guys!
swell done again Bill and Pete.
how much coking is necessary and how much do you have to carry; presunably there is no time to camp out? how many competitors went solo and how many in pairs? my queries are because I failed to get in the London 2009 and fancy doing this instead, probably for the charity "help for heroes"....
Edbanger.
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