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 have spent the day exploring the town of San Pedro de Atacama today and getting to know where all the cafes are.. The town which sits at 2400metres within the driest desert on Earth also gets looked over by the snow capped Andes (check out the picture below)… Which is just cool..

The team also saw the finish line today as the race which starts 0800 Sunday morning finishes in the town square..

Also this afternoon, Emily has left the boys to join the other volunteers for her volunteer training, which starts tomorrow…

All in all, we’re all having a splendid time…

teamHSX on Atacama have now checked in and are relaxing air side.. Please remember there is still time to sponsor them and enter the prize draw.. No more entries are allowed after 0800 Chile time, this Sundy..

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

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