Happy birthday mate for yesterday from Matt and me. Hope you had a great day and you did something nice, and sorry we were not able to be there with you, but we look forward to celebrating with you when we get back.

Look forward to seeing you Tuesday.(do you want a dodgy "made in China" present?!)

Love Matt and Dad

Firstly thanks for all your blog comments which I have read, it really helps to see the support we are getting, and has been a great help to Matt in getting through this week.

The long day is always the make or break of these types of events, so our team decided to approach the day with caution, and just keep moving forward towards the finish line. Our time was not important, as circumstances have prevented us from showing our true  potential results, but what has been achieved is so much more significant than a quick time. We have shown that as a team we can do it under difficult circumstances, and Matt and Roger have demonstrated courage and determination to push through for the team, whilst being sick ALL WEEK. On days 3 Matt was as sick as I have ever seen him, and at checkpoint 2 on that day it was as close to over as we could have come. What stirred in him, to get off the ground and carry on I do not know, but he  did. Especially knowing that even if that day could somehow be completed all he had to look forward to was the brutal day 4, and then the long day of 75km after that. At the end of day 3 wrapped shivering in a blanket in the medical tent, Matt deteriorated further and was at his lowest ebb. So to come back and complete 115k of very difficult terrain over the next 2 days was as close to a miracle as you could get. It reminds me of a saying “If you are going through hell, then just keep going”.

Day 5 was a long day for us, and we crossed the line in 12.16, and amazingly the very minute the sun set behind the mountains. Very symbolic of our whole race.

The day started with Rogers stomach in a bad way having been up to the loo 3 times during the night, and Matt still feeling quite ordinary. They both had to also go to the loo (no2) a couple of times on the course and Matt had some drugs at checkpoint 3 to help. To top things off his nose also started to bleed. Contrary to the course description, the first 36km was vey hard with 700m cumulative altitude gain, rocky territory, and big ravines to climb in and out of like billy goats.

At 40km we were rewarded with a long downhill, and we got into a good run, and we managed to run/walk the next 20km passing many. But at 60km Matt (and myself) were totally spent, sore and tired as we had run out of food at around 50km, and lack of energy and a bit of dehydration set in. So the last 15km were just a fast walk, eventually slowing as we neared the finish. We were too exhausted to celebrate too much, but just relieved to be finished, and after collecting our water headed straight to bed, with just a recoverite shake for dinner.

Its been an incredible week, all of the team have been amazing and strong, and the spirits and determination have been high. All in all, a difficult but inspiring experience for  our team. We are all missing home and I’m sure Matt (and myself) will have a break from training as we recover. We are currently placed 65th, which considering the week we have had  is still good, and we may even pick up a few places on the 15km sprint home tomorrow.

The 5 desert dream lives on for now, with our minds soon turning to Sahara at the end of October.

Not sure if I can blog again, but if not, keep your eyes out for the final leg results, and I’m sure there will be some good pics on the website.

Our cameraman James, has some fantastic footage and awesome photos, and once the film is compiled is will surely show a real life drama.

Now getting ready for Desert Ashes , Aussies vs Poms cricket this afternoon. I’m sure we will beat the poms!.

See you all back at home.

Cheers

Firstly thanks for all those that have sent blog replys to Matt. He will draw much strength from them when he reads them tonight, as we rest and prepare for the long day.

It has been an amazing day. After I took matt from medical tent back to our tent last night, he had deteriorated further, and was not well, but managed to eat and then straight to sleep. The chances of him starting day 4 seemed slim. However when he woke he said ‘my stomach is still bad but im feeling better so think I will give it a crack’ after 2 dashes to the toilets, our packs were on and we headed to the start line,with a 400m altitude gain 3km climb to heavens gate, a huge natural archway the height of the empire state building. The views from up there were amazing. we needed to remove our backpacks and climb ladders to get up there. Of course having started, the strategy was just to manage our pace and do whatever we needed to finish, with our time not important. Todays course can only be described as brutal and after the first climb and then descent we did about a 16 km stint of endless huge up and down hills, which were very steep and very long and the downhills quite technical with large drop offs if you fell. The first 10km took 3 hours including 2 loo breaks for matt, and a dose of gastrostop, which seemed to help him. The course makes six Foot track look like a leisurely bushwalk. But today Matt was  a man on  a mission and was not going to let the hills stop him. The mood in the team was more upbeat today, and we just pushed on hour after hour, and eventually finished in 8hrs 45, which was a great mid pack result,which was very inspirational to the team, and makes me very proud of Matt. Everyone else in the team is all going well, so if Matt continues to improve we should have a reasonable long day of 75km tomorrow, and finish this thing off.

Myself I ran on 5 snakes today, and sports drink, as I am short on food and needed to preserve it for the long day. This effort would normally deserve 6 bacon and egg rolls, but that will have to wait.

Will blog again ,but wont be until the day after the long day, as we will be in late, all going well.

Hi to all. It has been a very difficult and distressing day for the team. Matt woke thismorning with a fever and bad headache, and was unable to eat breakfast, and lucky to be walking. Neverthless he decided to start the day and see how things went. What transpired was nothing short of sheer courage by Matt who struggled badly just to move forward. To get to each checkpoint was amazing, and every checkpoint (except for the last) he was about to pull out, which would have been fine with me, as it was terrible to watch what he was going through.

At checkpoint 2 after 20km he was close to tears, and quite scared about the situation, but bravely decicded to proceed. I had to help push him up hills from behind, he could have stopped at any point, but had the occaisional slightly better spell which kept him going. It was just a slow trudge all day, much like the death march. At checkpoint 3 Matt had another rest before a long 9km walk up a neverending hill gaining over 500m of altitude.

The finish couldnt come soon enough and we crossed the line in about 8.15.. and effort from Matt much more impressive than a top 10 finish.

Matt is now sleeping in the medical tent, and we will asses the situation again in the morning. His temp is OK his hydration and salt levels are also OK, but he is just not well. Best place would be in bed not trudging 37km across difficult terrain. Tommorow is the hardest of the short days with endless 50metre hills, and is titled "stairway to heaven", but sounds much more like stairway to hell... and then the long day after that. If Matt does feel a bit better in the morning and decides to proceed it iwill just be a matter of survival and finishing. If he doesnt, there is no shame. The rest if the team is fine and pulling together to support Matt. Wiill repost tomorrow with an update. Please send messages of support to Matt, as he is unlikely to blog tonight.

A long day today with some difficult terrain. Matt in particular did it tough with lack if energy from being unable to eat due to his stomach problem, and also inflamed knee tendon, after effect of North Face 100. Roger also not well and lacking in energy, so today just became about getting the team to the finish, which we eventually did in around 6 hours 24, which was 68th and well outside what we are capable of fully fit. But that doesn't matter ,its a long race and we just have to do what we have to do to get to the end of each day.

I was very pround of Matt who was clearly in pain and distress but toughed it out, and has now crashed in the tent, and will hopefully be able to hold some food down and get his energy back. His knee however is quite bad, so its going to be a long week. In a stroke of luck a guy strolling past our tent for a chat kindly lent Matt his patellar tendon strap, and hopefully this might help tomorrow..

So with 170km to go its hard to tell what will happen. Its equivalent to over 12 city to surfs across difficult desert terrain with the equivalent to a slab of beer on your back (unfortunately its not beer, it s just stuff like freeze dried vegetable tikka).

Jess, Ron and I are going OK, however Ron metioned he was quite tired and was seeing stars, so has decided to have a sleep post race.

Tommorow is a bit shorter at 36km, however camp 4 is 900m higher than we are at the moment at 2,525m elevation. I didnt realise we would be running at this sort of altitude in Gobi. Anyway we just have to deal with things like this day by day and keep pushing on.

Blog again tommorow.

Before I blog about day 1, i wanted to mention a unique western chinese sport that was put on for us by the local village, that very few westerners have ever witnessed. It works like this.
2 sides, 3 horsemen a side (dressed in suits), one   Horseman referee
Object of the game: Get a dead goats carcass into   a goal on the ground formed by a circle of rocks. The side who does this   wins!

Imagine a game of rubgy leauge except on horseback, with a dead goat instrad of a ball. The six horses charge  into a "scrum" and you have 6 people grabbing the legs tail or head of the goat trying to secure it, eventually one wins and charges off on horseback, dead goat in hand towards the goal, with 5 other horses in hot pursuit. The goat can be passed between teammates,... have you ever seen anyone throw a "dummy pass" with a dead goat... we have!. Eventualluy the 5 horses catch the goat carrier and a new scrum ensues, with vigorous competition for the goat carcass. Eventaully one wins again, heads for the goal and   throws the limp carcass into the rock pile, and the locals all cheer and settle their bets. This goes on for ages, I think until the goat is finally destroyed (but they are tough little buggers).. Is that a crazy sport or what!. As  a bonus James has it all on film.. Kind if puts a new spin on the term Goat F%$@.

Anyway, day 1 of the dace. Nice cool weather relatively easy course, much of it on tracks, which was redcued to 33km due to a canyon being flooded by recent rains in the nearby mountains. However it was a tough day for Tream Born to Run. Roger and Matt must have had a dose of local food that wasnt too good and were suffering. I was running comfortably and just before the first 10k checkpoint found I was some way in front of the team, and Rog had needed go behind a rock pile 4 times. Matt was feeling nauseated and stopped to try and throw up but couldnt. We stuck together as a team, and generally let Rog and Matt determine the pace they were comfortable with. As it turned out the course reduction was a blessing, as Rog and Matt were finding the going tough with their problems.

Anyway I told the guys not to stress and the medals are handed out on day 7, not day 1. Despite the problesm we still did pretty well finishing in around 4.15, and 31st place. We are hopefull of improving on this placing as the event unfolds, but time will tell and anything can happen in an event like this,first  and of course the main goal of the Team is to finish.

I am feeling good and strong, no problems and Jess just continues through the desert on her laughing way, and making sure the team is OK.

I think the highlight of the day was the last kilometre to the finish line through the village, and our team were escorted in by around 15 kids aged from 3 to around 8, some on bikes and most running, to cross the line with us, an awesome and unique experience, again captured on film courtesy of James.

I have not had access to any blog replies, and willl see these later., but thanks for any you have sent.

Love to all, and hopefully the team will be feeling better in the morning to have a good crack at day 2..

Cheers

PS Lots of poms here and some indians as well, and we hope to hold the first tri-nations cricket tournament on the Chinese continent on the rest day.We have bats and balls, and are good to go.

Hi All

Just hit camp one after an interesting and scenic 2 1/2 hour bus trip. Greeted by a huge crowd of local village people (no not "those" Village people). LOts of singing and clapping, music and men on horses. Quite an amazing atmosphere out in the desert. Bigger tents this time which is good . We are sharing with our Japanese friend friom Atacama Hiro, an American Aaron a young Korean lady Anna, and another Korean and Japanese.

We are all fit and raring to go. Tomoorow is a full 42km marathon distance which should be a good warm up for the week.

My pack is a little lighter than Atacama weighing in at just over 11kg excluding water, but hopefully after a hearty dinner tonight and brekky in the morning I will have more weight in the tummy and less on the back.

Its around 6pm and weather is actually pleasant, probably around 23/24 with a nice breeze. It doesnt get dark until after 10.30, and light again at 7am.

We had a great 2 days in Kasgar the furthest west city in China which is an interesting mix of chinese and middle eastern cultures, with crazy traffic and activity, a real eye opener. No tourists here, they wont let them in, and I think we were the only westerners on the streets, and it was lots of fun having kids coming up to us in the streets and practicing their english.... ie "hello".

James has done some great filming even before the race starts.

Anyhow will blog again after day 1, with hopefully positive reports. Thanks all for your love and support.

Let the fun and games begin again.

" Not all success is to be found at the finish line. Much success lies at the start line, by doing what needs to be done to earn the right to put your feet on the starting line line. Much more sucess lies throughout the journey itself, and the success to be found at the finish line is merely the icing on the cake"