Day 5 Report

Day 5 began at about 6.00 for me, 3 hours after I and fallen asleep. Throughout the day I was to see other competitors complete the 51 miler and the begin to find out how it had gone for them. I can't mention everyone I spoke to, but here are a few stories of some of them.

Let's start with my heroic Charlotte who arrived after 22 hours at just after 7 in the morning. She had found the stage fairly horrible and had physically deteriorated. Her feet were to put it bluntly, a mess. Her back had acquired several grazes from her pack. She was obviously completely knackered and spent a few hours trying to sleep off her ordeal.

I reckoned if she made it this far, then it would be a fair bet that she would finish ok in 2 days time. She had also been stung by some vicious insect. Fortunately she was being accompanied by 3 other Brits at the time, Alastair Prain, ad the two Kefford brothers, Paul and Andy. Apparently there was a race between the three of them to see who could use their antivenom pump first.

MORE...

All was well, eventually and Charlotte was able to continue with a huge welt on her back where she had been stung. Even after I insisted how tough she had been to complete the stage Charlotte modestly replied "I'm not tough, I'm just pretending" and then burst out giggling. But the thing is with the MdS, nobody can pretend here.

Paul Scully, a 27 year old retailer from London had a good stage, despite being In our tent - we discussed the race so far.

When Mark Hanson arrived he confessed he had been using former military motivation techniques to get him across; left, right, left, right, left, right, left. I had heard several runners/marchers talking to themselves throughout the race and had done much of my own, so it didn't surprise me that a former soldier would do the same. Hey, whatever works.

Dan Truman had been a dark horse in the tent and had made consistent progress through the week - the race was living up to his expectations. Each day his ranking had gone up by at least 60 places.
Charlie Myers, another banker, TA Para, and probably the most organised guy in our tent, also happens to be the fastest. A 2.50 marathon runner he is clearly working much too hard all week. At the end of the 51 miler he had been put on a sugar IV drip by " a very sexy nurse"; I was worried he might continue trying too hard just for another opportunity to meet her again.

But at the end of every stage he can be found chilling out in the tent, rehydrating and getting himself fit enough to do well the next day. He told me he had found it hard at first coming to terms with the fact that he was finally here, actually doing the MdS after so much preparation. Once he realised he found he was overawed by the beauty of the desert and is clearly enjoying the tranquillity of it.

Rob Houston, a 37 year old network analyst from Horsham, described the 51 miler as "horrible, horrible", but was somehow still enjoying the experience. He has also raised several thousand pounds for a prostate cancer charity.

Tony Archer, 35 year old London cabbie, when asked for a printable comment about the race said only "Thank You Best of Morocco for a wonderful holiday" his tent mates then promptly fell about laughing.

Simon Prest, a 29 year old trader (really a banker) from the City has run well all week. Amazingly he's still enjoying the race. He has been living on chicken and rice every day and confessed he is now extremely bored with it. At least I think that's what he said. Simon has raised over 40,000 for Dial a Dram, a children's charity. When I asked how he decided to do the race he confessed it was the result of a very drunken bet. So inebriated was he that the organisers had to send back his application form to complete again as his handwriting had been completely illegible.
Matt Yates is a 30 year old Instructing Officer admitted hating the heat and felt he hasn't bee able to run normally out here.

There is also a tragic story of a competitor who collapsed less than 50 metres from the finish lie of the 51 miler, only to be stretchered away by the Doc Trotter team. His race is now over.

Annette Fraser, from London, descried the 51 miler as a very hard day, despite completing it.

Alistair Hay had a good 51 miler - I asked him why he had come out here. He told me he ever gets any feeling of challenge like this at work and just wanted to try this. Since he started training, Al has lost 3 stone in weight.