The depth of human spirit at this camp over the last 12 hours is amazing. Everyone who started stage5 finished, the finishing drum
banged all night as competitors completed their stage. The last finishing in around 27 hours an hour before cutoff.
Peoples feet are blistered to shreds and the medical tent is finally paying attention now that some are infected.
People are sick of camp food and tired of sleeping on the rock but this only strengthens their resolve to complete tomorrows final stage.
I now want to pay respect to my fellow tent 9 members , a great bunch, that have certainly made my race easier with lots of laughs along the way.
Matty , a true mate , tough and who I must thank for getting me here.
Darrin, the toughest bloke in camp, walks in after 26 odd hours after sleeping for just 1 of them at 50kms. His feet are an absolute mess, every toe,
all underneath shattered and now infected, his whole little toe has degloved . Absolute top bloke , shows true Aussie spirit all the time. I tip my hat mate.
Blain, one of two Canadian lads in the tent, head like a panda bear from the sunburn and strong as hell, another top lad.
Darrin, runs like a gazelle, doctor with two kids and took 1st place yesterday by 15 mins, to inflict not only physical but mental pain on the other
leaders. Lovely bloke who can talk like hell.
Cameron, Kiwi residing in London, lawyer who has a great wit and ability to lift the tent with his banter. I call him the mad Kiwi, runs like the wind
and obviously has a high pain threshold, only the long stage got him as he went too hard in the earlier stages.
Sophie, who has now completed 6 ultramarathons, at 27 years old her body is starting to show signs of wear and hopefully she can pursue other more
challenging activities. I did around 100kms with Sophie , her feet were also in the broken class and she was unable to hold much down for the last 4 days,
never once did she tell me to slow or look for any sympathy only to go in the final stage,. By far the toughest bird (other than my good wife)that I have had the pleasure to meet , with a great English sense of humour.Sophie thanks for your company and good luck with the future with your physio career.
Christine, 46 years old from Canada and who currently holds 3rd spot in the womens category. A lovely lady , who can see past the boys carrying on like boys,
with a rye smile. Her ability to remain spotlessly clean makes us all laugh. Well done on a great race.
 
We will all go home and our blisters and toenails will heal with time. But the bond these racing The Desert competitors will take away will remain for a long long time. The terrain in such a beautiful country was unforgiving and no doubt made these racers go some place in their minds that many probably have not done before. Some will compete again and some will not. Good luck.
 
A final message to all the people back in Australia who have helped me with your supportive mail and to all the contributors to The Randwick Kids Hospital
CF ward. Thank you.
 
And to my kids and wife especially, who have put up with me disappearing for hours down to the National Park to train for this bloody race, a big thanks,
 I cannot wait to land next tuesday night and give you all a big hug.
 
Bye for now.

Pushed it through in 13 hours, did not want to get to bed late.
No stops, was sick around the 20/30km mark and was looking down the barrel, got a second wind until the 60ks 
where nothing would stay down, but too close to home. Travelled with the first 50 with Sophie the English lass and Chris a British bloke ,
both so  inspiring, we had to let Sophie go at 50 k s as she was too ill, and is still out there now at 14 hours as I type, the poms blisters were so bad hes on antibiotics, but the pommy/aussie rivalry got us over the line together . Matty  will grind this out as he is the nutter that brought me here, and Dazz our Melbourne mate came in 11hrs last night after 40kms with two bung knees started again today with a smile and wished me good luck….top fella,he will finish!!
I have not got much more to say coherently, and need to eat and address feet before sleep. Tomorrow is a rest day for those in and backmarkers have till the 30
hour mark to get in to avoid DNF.
Thanks gain for everyones support , it is all very much appreciated at this stage.
Homeward bound.

Day 4 was no easier. left my aussie mates at 10ks as felt OK, but after doing the black sand solo for 15 was having second thoughts.
Arrived at check point 2 at 23ks having chased the guatemalen team, they had a sit down and I picked up one of the top British women ultramarathoners
who was on her knees puking her guts up, she is a tent mate and we are a very loyal bunch so I was told by medics to watch her through the saltpans.
The saltpans are a cross between coral at low tide and broken glass(gaiters shredded), this girl chundered her guts up for 20ks through heat and terrible terrain
but never did she say stop. Tough as teak. We finished together in 37/38 pos I believe, she hasnt moved in the tent since> Darren our good buddy we left behind before
checkpoint 1 with knee and blister issues, 10.5 hours in this heat and still not here. Tomorrow 76ks for me is way into the unknown, i hope the terrain is friendly cause blisters are all over both feet and I have to go begging to the medical tent for more tape. Freeze dried food is hard to take down now, I need a T bone .
Today was for you Tommy. And tomorrow Im guessing Ill be out for around 16/20 hours depending on how feet hold up. so midnight arrival means no blogs till next day whatever that is. Tomorrow is for James and Sally.
 
Thanks for all you mails!!!!

Thanks to all my bloggers, its great to read them all.
3rd day today and welcome to the salt flats and rolling sanddunes, I wish I weighed 60 kilos. It was only  a 40k day, but took as long as the 45 yesterday, our crew did not move as well today, some serious suffering going on over the last 10 kms of delrium.
Yesterday claimed 10 racers sadly , and one chap from our tent, straight back to san pedro to the hotel bar i assume.
Ive just had the medical tent drill 3 toenails with a needle to release the bad stuff under them but seems this is a regular occurence with these ultramarathoners...nice.  The drum is beating in the back ground as finishers continue to come in upto 12 hours after the gun..these people i tip my hat to most...cause 8 odd hours in the black sand dunes was brutal enough. People ask whether the scenery is beautiful...most definitely but  the competitors have their heads down most of the time. The scenery is beautiful, we continually are circled by snow capped mountains which thankfully bring the temperature way down at night to beanie and gloves in the sleeping bag.
Tomorrow brings pretty well a full day of salt crusted flats, which will be better than the undulating sand and shale of today. Time will tell. Love to the all kids and Mum.
Today was for you Livvy.

Today was brutal. started with 10ks of river gorge just to make sure we had wet feet until the desert dried them out. stage 2 steep climb straight up then ran a ridge for about 5ks before dropping down the biggest sand dune Ive ever seen for sand track to stage 2. alot of people broken by this stage, dehydratos flopping. next 10ks ive forgotten abt, stage 4 sand running mid afternoon by this stage, went for 15ks, ran out of water last 5.
evryone in good spirits , our tent is made up of 4 canadians,3 aussies, brit and kiwi...all good people.
 
hit the stillnox tonight to get some sleep, some pain killers for breakfast and hopefully float the 3rd stage as we enter the infamous salt pan march formost of next 2 stages before the long march. no blood yet. 
 
To all those people sending emails , thank you.  I can read your emails but cannot reply to any of them for
the course of the event.
 
Benny have a very happy 5th birthday on Thursday and leave some cake for me.Today was for you Jack.

First day was everything expected. Altitude posed no problems ,passing as high as 3200m and to camp 2 around 2500m.
Hydration was fair, level of delirium at 36.5ks moderate, blisters bad, will lose some toe nails next few days.
There are some seriously impressive athletes here…I see them at the start and finish. Matt and I spent most of the distance with 2 Chilean teams of 3 so the conversation was limited to grunts and shoulder slaps. We beat them in around 5.75 hours. Tomorrow will be interesting, more up and down on relentless sand and rocks. We got we paid for. Benny today was for you.