teamHSX on Atacama recieved emails today with details on the course…

It makes for interesting reading..

Distance of Each Stage
The approximate distances of each stage are detailed below.  There are checkpoints approximately every 10 kilometers / 6 miles along the course where volunteers and a medical doctor are stationed to give you water and support.  Each checkpoint also has a tent providing shade.
 
Stage 1 – 35.2 km / 21.9 miles
Stage 2 – 41.8 km / 26.0 miles
Stage 3 – 40.0 km / 24.9 miles
Stage 4 – 42.8 km / 26.6 miles
Stage 5 – 73.6 km / 45.7 miles
Stage 6 – 16.0 km / 9.9 miles

 
Terrain
The terrain is varied.  You can expect salt flats, sand dunes, loose rock and dirt, grassy plains, canyons and hard-packed dirt tracks.  There are also a few water crossings throughout the week.
 
Altitude
The course starts at its highest altitude.  Camp 1 is just over 3,000 meters / 10,000 feet.  Each Stage takes competitors to a lower level, with the week finishing in San Pedro de Atacama at 2,443 meters / 7,780 feet.
 
Climate
The climate of the Atacama Desert is hot and dry.  Course temperatures can reach higher than 40°C / 104°F (with lows of 5°C / 41°F at night).

Good luck to us…..

As mentioned yesterday, teamHSX on Atacama were on today’s news.

This link takes you to the main article :-

http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/ultimate-chile-challenge61727/

and this link is the small snippet on the lunch time bulletin :-

http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/afternoon-news39133/

Also, this evening we broke the £1,ooo mark for our Cancer research fundraising.. please help us get to £6,690… Thanks..

Today, teamHSX on Atacama were joined at Hengitsbury Head (Southbourne, Dorset) by Divya Kohli, ace reporter from Meridian News. She filmed a piece on us to be shown on the Meridian News tomorrow (Monday 17/1/2011) night on the main bulletin.

Divya, even said they are keen to join us on our Malaga training session and are even talking about joining us in Chile for the race….

teamHSX on Atacama then went on to complete a 25km training run along Bournemouth & Poole beaches and back…

Today was also great as we recieved our new team kit….. It felt great.. Thanks Russ and Simon Furlong for helping us with this..

Don’t forget now, with only about six weeks left until we fly out, it would be great if you bought a time slot and sponsored us… Go to the Atacama pages to find out more…. www.hsx.org.uk/Atacama

With less than two months now until teamHSX On Atacama fly and the race starting, the guys are really hotting up their training and sponsorship. Training trips planned, include a weekend in Malaga and lengths of Bournemouth beach.

They’re still alos trying to hit their target of £6690 for Cancer Research. To sponsor them go to www.hsx.org.uk/atacama

As with every year, HSX had their annual forum on the approach to Christmas and has been the tradition for the past three years, this year was also the Adventure Race.

Once again, the weather kept us on our toes. 2008 had rain and floods, 2009 had ice and cold and 2010 saw a fresh supply of snow dump on the Friday night..

Anyway, thanks to Chris Laws for putting it together and Alan for helping out the course out (especially the checkpoint in the middle of the pond)..

In first place this year we had Chris Slater & Ollie Robinson.. Well done to you two, you also get to organise next years..

Great news…

After a successful training run on Butser Hill last night teamHSX on Atacama (Rich Batstone, Chris Laws & Alan Braithwaite) who are running across the Atacama Desert in March 2011 and are trying to raise some cash for Cancer Research are pleased to announce that their pages are now open..

If you’d like to find out more and hopefully donate a bit of money please go to hsx.org.uk/atacama

Keep on running…

HSX set off for North Wales on Friday 22nd Jan, we made good time at untill we arrived and couldn’t find the keys. An opportunity for a quick doze while Dave set off to Anglesey to find them.

I had drawn the short straw with the bursars and ended up with the sofa for sleeping on – wish it had a guard rail as I fell off both nights!

After getting to bed at 02:30, Saturday saw us get up early and after breakfast two groups set off for the Ogwen Valley, one heading up through the Devil’s Kitchen and the other doing Heather Terrace on Tryfan, whilst a third group headed for Snowdon. We hiked most of the day on the hills managing to find some patches of snow, for quite a few of the Peru team it was the first time in Snow boots.

In the evening we headed back to the lodge in Capel Curig for a tasty evening meal prepared by Brimlow and helpers, most of them crashed early as I tried to re acquire the sofa!

Sunday saw the Peru team head off for PT round the Lake at Snowdon, another team went off for a hike up Moel Siabod, a few of us went to find some bouldering but it was too wet so ?Rhys and I went off to Plas Y Brenin the outdoor centre to do some indoor bouldering whilst Besty and burser Tom went for a run up tryfyn.

After Lunch and a clear up we left for Hampshire. A good fun weekend enjoyed by all.

Mark How

HSX do the Brecons, by Chris Slater

Last weekend saw HSX head off to the Brecon Beacons for a fun filled weekend out in the hills! The weekend was a really busy one with 31 people heading up including the Peru Team and Mark and David from the Malawi team. Staying for the first time at the Glasbury-on-Wye Scout Hut, the HSX members slept inside on the floor of the hut next to the fire evicting the Peru team outside to sleep under canvas in the garden.

Saturday saw us divide into 5 teams, Smudge, Brimelow, Christian and Batstone headed off to do some climbing leaving the remaining 4 groups to tackle the Brecon Beacons. Starting from the village of Pencelli my group consisting of Lawso, Rhys, Hayley and Bursar Anton also joined by Dave?s half of the Peru team we scaled the dizzy heights of Fan-Y-Big, Cribyn and Pen-Y- Fan. The remaining two groups started the same route from the opposite end with the aim to meet half way to swap keys for the Tornados. After a great start of Lawso leaving his walking boots in the Tornado heading to the opposite end of our route we were soon on our way. Part way round we stopped for a half hour of kite flying shenanigans in the relatively blowy conditions (with Dave narrowly avoiding slamming the kite into the back of Anton?s head!!!). On our descent from Fan-Y-Big we met the other two groups swapping keys and hearing of Bursar Tom leaving his waterproof jacket in his tent (Muppet!). The day was topped off with a quick trip into Brecon for some QSH?s before heading back to the hut to cook dinner (we missed not having Russ!!!).

After dinner we were entertained by Everest Dave attempting a first attempt at traversing the wooden beams in the roof, complete with thermarest crash mats below for safety naturally. Not to lose face Bram soon scrambled up to have a go followed by Rhys, Bertie and McNab. Being Halloween we brought the obligatory pumpkin to carve, I took it upon myself to handle this important job, but was soon relegated to scooping out the insides, Bram just couldn?t stand seeing someone else having fun!!!

Sunday morning started off very wet, but in HSX we?re not put off by a bit of rain so we headed back out into the hills, with one group off to practice micro-nav, another group off for a 10km run and the Peru team off to do some PT after an epic drive to get to a waterfall. Luckily my group, off to do micro-nav manage to stay dry with the rain stopping as soon as we got to our destination. We all reconvened at the hut shortly before lunch to tidy up and have some grub before hitting the M4 for the homeward journey.

Oh and if Katie is reading this I?m still waiting for my cup of Tea!!!

What a year at the OMM it was. This year due to the rain and media storm last year, the organiser’s had moved the start away from the Event HQ, this added some time onto everybody’s day, but nothing too bad..

The Elan Valley, Builth Wells & Ian’s parents house were all great settings for The OMM. Having never been to the Elan valley before and having not experienced the legendary tussocks, I would go back again for a bimble..

Anyway…. Results.

Tim Clarke & James Fry came 40th in the Medium Score class….

Alan Braithwaite & Jon Hallam came 76th in the C Class…

Chris Laws & Dan Gray came 28th in the C Class…

Tom Percy & James Jones did not finish the C Class (we hope James’ knee is ok)…

Stu Rose & Terry Massey came 121st in the Short Score…

Neil Gregory & Andy Reed came 120th in the Short Score…

Ian Furlong & Selwyn Fisher came 11th in the B Class…

Well done to all and see you next year……