Scout Ambassador Ride… A bit more..
And… We made it into the Romsey Advertiser…. I spot, Alan, Craig, Chris, Smudge and the side of Toms head.
Scout Ambassador Ride
On Saturday 9th March, the JOGLE team took part in a Hampshire Scout Ambassador cycle ride to launch Hampshires new Scout Ambassador James “Captain Ketch” Ketchell..
A full update will be coming soon, for now here’s a picture from this weeks Southampton Daily Echo where a few of us snuck into the picture back left…
teamHSX in Trail Running Magazine
Our very own Lucky CFO Alan Braithwaite went out into the New Forest yesterday with two other lucky readers of Trail Running Magazine, the Editor & a photographer to do an article for next autumns edition of Trail Running Magazine.
We can ensure you it will be worth a read.
teamHSX on Atacama – All Done (& who won the prize pot)
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!!!
Day 6 – The Finish Line
Alan and Rich crossing the finish line after Day 6, and 250km running across the desert behind them. Chris followed shortly after, competing the final stage despite having to pull out of the penultimate stage after suffering from a bout of vomiting, unable to take on fluids and any food – an extremely tough yet ultimately sensible and necessary decision given the conditions the team were racing in. Alan and Rich finished in joint 23rd place, a fantastic achievement given the exterienced international athletes that surrounded them. Rich also become the youngest people to have completed the crossing. A huge well done guys!
The Long Awaited Rest Day
Not long after I sent yesterday’s update Alan and Rich appeared at the finish line. In spite of covering just 15km in the first 3 1/2 hours before I withdrew they had an absolutely blinding run from there onwards and covered 73km in less than 12 hours. People continued to arrive throughout the night and the final finishers crossed the line about half an hour ago.
Today we don’t have a lot to do apart from eating, drinking and chatting. Although that may summon up images of a pleasant lunch in a restaurant it’s worth bearing in mind that we’re actually in a tent in the desert, haven’t washed for 7 days, and all the food we have is freeze dried or in PowerBar form. The tent is starting to become rather… fragrant, so the afternoon breeze will be extremely welcome to get some air circulating.
I also seem to have lost a bit of weight, which isn’t surprising given I’ve walked/run 175km and have only taken in about 2700kcal each day. My hips definitely seem a bit more prominent than before, and any trace of stomach flab has disappeared. Although some would consider this an encouraging start to their 4th decade, I’m intending to reverse it before we head home!
While I’m not too tired or rushed for time, I thought I’d share a few highlights and lowlights.
The Highlights:
1. The atmosphere on the start line each day
2. The views of Licancabur during the day, and the stars at night
3. Crossing the finish line (4/5 times for me, sadly) to the sound of drums and the cheering of volunteers.
4. The other competitors: an all round fantastic bunch of people, and extremely supportive both on the course and at the overnight campsThe Lowlights:
1. Expedition Foods breakfasts: great when tried during training, not so great after 7 straight days.
2. The smell of my running top.
3. The smell of the toilets: it seems freeze-dried food isn’t great for anyone’s digestive system…We’re still in good spirits and looking forward to getting back to San Pedro tomorrow. Allegedly there’ll be beer and pizza at the finish. Can’t wait!