Jungle Marathon Day 1 Fedback from Ryan

Last night must go down as one of the coldest nights of my life.... the consequences of trying to have a light pack and not using a sleeping mat!

It was a good feeling to get started this morning after the previous week’s events and the lead guys set off at quite a quick pace. I was feeling good on the first climb and made a break and ended up running the rest of the stage on my own. My final time was 3 hours and 3min about twenty odd minutes ahead of the second placed runner. From my previous race experiences it helps to have a time cushion after the first day so I am quite chuffed with the way things went. Not to say it was easy out there...

I still can not get the fact that we are running along in a desert in 40 degree temperatures and looking up at snow caped mountains.... there were a few times today when I could have done with some of that snow! The first two sections of the stage flew past really quickly apart from a quick pit stop.... Rob, I could have done with a pooh bag! The third section had a never ending hill which kept on going up... There is not a lot that lives in the Atacama apart from a few Llamas and things got very hot and lonely out there. I finally made it to the check point and from there it was a quick 3.6km to the finish. It’s a big day relief to get the first day under my belt with no issues.

The terrain here reminds me of running in the Gobi Desert except there is not much life and the air has slightly less oxygen! When we are not running in dry river beds, then it is across fields of rock and sand. But all in all it has been a good day at the office in an awesome place..

Off to the tent now to put my feet up..

 

 

Atacama Marathon Day 2 Fedback from Ryan

Last night I slept a lot better and it felt less cold...but I was probably just exhausted from the first days racing.

We started off the first section of stage two running in the slot Atacama Desert Race - Day 2...and nearly stage 3 too! Canyons; the scenery was awesome with a few river crossings. Yes a river in the driest dessert in the world...but I was not complaining as the ice cold water was the perfect recovery remedy my legs needed. There was quite a bit of life along the river with wild donkeys, birds etc. Straight after the first checkpoint we headed up a pass, through an old mining tunnel and then up some more before running along a ridge with panoramic views of the desert. I was told the Atacama Desert course was flat.....going by the last two days this is definitely not the case!! Just before checkpoint two we dropped of the ridge down a massive sand dune....it made Table Mountain look small!

The final two sections were flat, sandy, HOT and faaaking lonely....I was in the lead but I did not know by how much. I could see no one behind me so I decided to put it in cruise control and take an easy run into the finish.... or so I planned! But that only lasted for a few minutes...no pain and suffering was over rated and I decided to push on and get to the finish before it got too hot. The day nearly ended in disaster when I started following the flags for the start of stage three....luckily I realized something was not right and I did not end up wasting too much time. I finished 50mins ahead of the second placed runners so my lead is growing but the race is still in the early stages and anything can happen...

But for now all is good!!

 

Stage Three – from Ryan Sandes - Happy Birthday Ryan!

I woke up this morning and it was too cold to get out my sleeping bag....so it took me a while to get going.

I was strapping up my pack next to my tent and heard 10, 9, 8.... I made a dash for the start line and we were off.

We started off running through what looked like "ploughed fields of coral".... very slow moving, crunchy underfoot and now and again my foot would get swallowed by the "coral" leaving cuts on my shins. After 5km I moved onto an open stretch of road and it was nice to stretch the legs out again before reaching checkpoint one. The next stretch to checkpoint two was a mixture of single track and sand dunes, I was feeling good and at checkpoint two I thought I was going to be in for a short and easy day.

I was very WRONG...the entire next section (10.5km) was over these "ploughed coral fields"...this is a mixture of hard packed mud and salt - ideal for twisting ankles.

The going was slow moving but loads of fun and I got to the last checkpoint feeling great and my legs were feeling strong.

It was 11.5km to the finish but it felt like 111kms...it took me 1hour and 35min to get through a mixture of sand dunes and rock shelves....very slow!!

It kept getting hotter, the sand kept getting softer and I was having serious sense of humour failure....what was taking so long!? I eventually crossed the finish line feeling exhausted but glad it was over...

To my surprise I was over an hour ahead of the second placed competitor...Apart from the last 5km of the race I felt really comfortable and my legs seem to be feeling a bit stronger. With the long stage lurking around the corner this is a good thing!

I was asked the question what I thought was the hardest 4 Desert apart from Antarctica...My answer after today is Atacama! It has got the hardest bits of Gobi, Sahara and more! But this is by far the most beautiful desert and the scenery is insane when I get a chance to take it in.

Thanks to everyone for your Birthday wishes and messages of support!

 

Day 4 – Ryan Sandes

I woke up this morning with a few butterflies in my stomach as stage 4 heads straight through the infamous salt flats..

It was freezing cold again this morning....I don’t do the cold well so I will have to make a plan for Antarctica!

We started off stage 4 on more faaaking sand dunes....I thought I had seen all the sand dunes Chile has over the previous three days. Just before the first checkpoint we headed down a really steep dune into a river with loads of vegetation, for a second I thought I was back in the jungle again. There were seem deep areas in the river which I managed to avoid but a few competitors were not so lucky and I have been hearing complaints of wet i-pod's and cameras.

After checkpoint two I headed through a small village and was greeted by a few dogs snapping at my ankles... Luckily I survived and headed along a 13km soft sandy track to checkpoint 2 and the start of the salt flats. I was expecting the worst going through the salt flats but it was actually not that bad... It was a mixture of more salty coral like terrain and softer salts flats that now and again my feet would pierce through. I survived the salt flats thanks to my Salomon S LABS... and after checkpoint 3 it was a quick 6km to the finish on a jeep track.... As I am typing two dogs are crossing the finish line with a competitor... apparently they followed him across the salt flats...

I finished feeling strong today and I am looking forward to getting the long stage out the way and finishing in San Pedro!

Thanks to everyone for your messages of support!!!

I will keep you posted.

 

 

 

Day 5 - from Ryan Sandes

 We had a staggered start today for the long stage of 76km, so the faster guys started at 10:30am just as it was getting really hot. The wait to start took forever and I had a few butterflies in my stomach....every long stage does that to me as it can be really brutal if you are having a bad day.

We started on some more salt flats and I took a hard fall early on leaving me cursing myself not to be so clumsy. This was followed by a combination of more sand dunes, salty coral formations, rock, canyons and some extreme heat.... But I was having a good time passing the slower competitors...some company was good. At the half way point I got a stupid idea that sub 7 hours was doable...I think the previous record was about 8 hours something. So I put my ears down and went for it...there were times I really regretted my decision but another voice in my head said don't be a wuss and just run.

After a bit of suffering I crossed the finish line in 6 hours 57min and I think I may be able to sneak under 24 hours for my total race time depending on how long tomorrow is...I heard it is 10kms.

But more importantly the pizza at the finish is going to be good. Freeze dried meals, smash, stock cubes, Perpetuem, gels, ProNutro, Recoverite have done the job this week but I need some real food now!!

Chat tomorrow