So…… That’s it.. All done and dusted… And what an awesome experience/adventure we all had. I won’t bother putting a trip report up here, I think Chris’ blog updates and the awesome photos tell the story… However, I will put a couple of things on here.

Firstly, I want to link you to one of the other runners post race thoughts… What a write up and he says it all pretty well.. Navigate here http://www.4deserts.com/blogs/comptetior_blog_new.php?pid=OTQy&blog=21 and read Ian’s second blog entitled ‘Till the next time…’

Who won the Prize Pot & Sponsorship update!!! Oh, the excitement… Well, thanks to all of you we managed to raise a whopping £6190.34 inc gift aid for Cancer Research UK… A massive thank you goes out to everyone of you.. And now, on to the prize pot winner or winners….

Well, we always said that the winner would be the person who picked the time slot for when the team didn’t finish and due to the unfortunate events of Chris being quite ill, the team didn’t finish Stage 5. So the winner of the entire prize pot is Ian Furlong. Well done Ian. However, we also felt that as two of us did finish, the person who bought the time slot at 41hrs, 47mins, 42 seconds which was where Rich and I finished also deserved a prize.. So, we managed to get a laptop donated to us by Geek Squad UK www.geeksquad.co.uk so we’d also like to congratulate Andy Wilkinson on his prize..

Two questions left…

Would we do it again? I can’t talk for the other two, but I would (and I’m pretty sure they would)…

Do I recommend it to you? Yes!!!

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..

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..

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……

Saturday 15th August saw Alan Braithwaite and James Fry of the HSX ART at the ACE Race at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. Alan raced as a solo for HSX ART and James raced as one half of a pair as the team The Lost Boys.

It was a great day out where luckily the hot hot sun we?d had, disappeared behind some clouds for the day, which was good for us.

The race consisted of running & mountain biking off road, whilst navigating and having to complete five challenges, one of which was a short downhill mountain bike course..

To spread out the start, the organisers decided to put the maps 1.5 miles away, so we had to run and get them and return to our bikes.. What they then told us, was that the 1.5 mile run was up the Butser Hill… For those of you who know the QECP, that?s no small hill.. This broke the pack up sufficiently with both James & Alan being in the lead 10 teams at this point.

The race was also split into to two loops. If you completed the main loop within four hours, you were allowed to complete the Endurance Loop. The Lost boys, unfortunately didn?t make it back in time, however Alan did and he went onto the Endurance Loop..

Both James & Alan said they had a great day and would encourage others to have a go at it if they are interested.. feel free to ask them about it… There are a couple of pictures below..

Final results were…

HSX ART – Alan – 4th in class & 9th overall

The Lost Boys – James & John – 13th in class & 41st overall….

Pictures are –

Butser Hill (the maps were by the mast), The competition, Alan after and James & John after.