Just finished day 2 of 86 km. Karil and Geoff went together and Billy and I – we all finished.

It was long and gruelling with an emphasis on hills and going up and up and up. It had a combination of canyons, rock river beds and a giant up hill at stage 5 (somewhere around 55 km mark) which went over 10 km and vertical rise of 1500 metres. The exact angle of the slope matched the knee angle that was the weight bearing on the chondral knee graft when I was walking and this caused my knee to give way. I had to do the whole distance lifting myself up on poles and it really smacked me around with a drop in the blood pressure. This forced me to stop a number of times and resuscitate myself with various potions.

Eventually I made it to the top but it took over 2 and ½ hours. After that I could scoot in my pace. Alas when we had 2 km to go at 2 in the morning and finally came across Carlos’s final piece of torture – millions of rocks on a significant downhill slope going for 2 km – Carlos is an evil man. If the feet weren’t smashed around before this they certainly were after. I am loosing 7 toenails and huge blisters over the ball of the foot ---but we finished and that’s the important thing.

Through the race Billy had to wait for me a number of times but eventually we finished in 19 hours. He was a hero and needs to be reminded by everyone on a regular basis. He ended up with his usual injuries and the email is not big enough to mention them all individually. I must say I have missed the Gobi Bear growl which he is well known for when he vomits--- but no vomiting this time. We continued our song sing at every check point and I am pleased to say we haven’t repeated a song.

Having a good time with Rags friends Karen and Matt and we have quite a vivacious tent.

Hi all,

40 km today and the great Billy Biffin took over the reins of the team as there was too much infighting by the other members--- it was a good move. He supervised karil and Geoffery through the day – and surprise !!! they finished. I had significant hip joint extension pain which made it difficult to walk all the time  -- he sent me out the front as the Rabbit to be chased so that I could do some running. And that  was great to be able to push myself rather than walk – I did however get some extra blisters.

We have had some interesting times in the tent which cant be mentioned on email bit will be good fodder for discussion on return.

Yesterday’s man of the match was shared between Geoffery and Billy and was all about getting Geoffery across the linen—todays man of the match was Billy again who is now the match referee --- I feel there will be a few yellow cards handed out soon.

In the tent are Sandy Suckling – who is winning the female section as well as Karen and Matt who are friends of Raggi. Matt was doing very well until he strained his hip flexor and now his aim is to just finish the race. The race like the tent is full of high drama – with penalties being handed out on a regular basis. I have met some great people --- one was a guy from Japan doing the race in a cow suit. I said to Billy that if the cow passed us on any day I was pulling out of the comp --- yesterday we beat it by 2 minutes.

We all fnished the day –Geoff was   down and out at the 20 km mark with various problems but with some help from Billy he made it through. Karil sped ahead and left all in her wake – having believed her son could go no further – but alas he was resurrected by Billy in a way that only Billy could and this will be the basis of many embellished stories around the campfire in the future. Billy, Geoff and I finished in great style with Billy and I singing yet another cheerful song to the volunteers as we finished ‘ aint she sweet just a walking down the street’, I have managed to sing a cheery song at every checkpoint. Karil is like a mother hen with Geoff – hopefully Billy can break this cycle—I had to give up.

The course has been relatively easy with very mild weather –and fortunately I have had only a few toenail and minor knee problems.

We will continue – next installment tomorrow.

Hi one and all---just finished day 2 with all the team—we stuck together and crossed the line together ---our main aim is to try to get everyone to finish. Today was perfect weather the complete antithesis of yesterday. Yesterday was huge in the rain wind and cold departments—we froze to death, and to add insult to injury we were kicked out of our tent by some aggressive competitors who basically took over our tent space. Now I just happened to have an ace up my sleeve—SNAP-- and incomes Alina. The race organiser has a fair amount of pull and far from me to knock it back. It might have been a little over the top giving Karil, me and Geoff the cybertent – fully furnished with a fire for central heating (boy did you need it), huge amount of space and huge blankets(mine had the 3 pigs on it). What heros Alina and Sam were – they are doing a fantastic job appeasing all the aberrant personalities on the race under extreme conditions  --- and how calm they are. They will be in line for my special award at the end of the race if they keep it up.

Billy and I have been giving a real treat to the volunteers at each checkpoint – and singing some cheery songs as we go through—I think they love it????

Will pass on more info tomorrow.