We have limited time to blog, so let me take you to the salient parts as quickly as I can:

1. We all made it

2. We started at 7am as usual, and decided to all stay together. Rags was in good shape but worried about the heat. Pete, Ed and I were just worried about everything

3. We decided to take it easy and not race out of the gate “like a dog shot in the arse”

4. Checkpoints 1 and 2 and 3 flew past

5. We hit checkpoint 3 at 11am and the temp had soared to 45deg. From there we were entering “the sands of ra”, or in English “the sands that burn like the sun”. How to sum it up – If you have seen “The Avengers” and can remember when the Hulk tossed Loki around and smashed him on the ground 4 or 5 times – well that’s what happened to us. This was another moment where we took one completely up the Kaiber. I heard nothing from Pete for the whole leg other than “this is the hottest clucking stretch ever” Rags was flagging in the heat and Ed had gone dead quiet. We were in the middle of this 13km stage when four vultures started circling which Ed took as a bad sign – something about one each for the vultures.

6. At checkpoint 4 we found Alina and Rags perked up markedly – pete and ed were dead quiet.

7. As we headed to checkpoint 5 ed said he had finally found the moment which would push him to start swearing again

8. As the sun went down, Rags started getting stronger. We left checkpoint 5 after eating a bit of food and headed off at a fair pace

9. At checkpoints 6 to 8 we ran most of the 22km legs and seemed to be getting stronger for the runs as the night grew cooler

10. As we left checkpoint 8 to make the final 10km run home, pete said something about someones mother of darkness (which was good to hear as we knew he was still coherent). Then his ankle went to toast and we were in for the long walk home – which in itself was hell because the ground kept changing shape

11. We got into the base camp at 1am after 18 hours on the go – utterly shattered!

12. Pete asked me to do a quick favour and just shoot him – I told him there is no way I would want Karen on my tail so he would have to just harden up

13. Ed said he has torn a new cheek in his backside – literally!! His left glut is torn and his calf is in trouble

14. Rags is fine

15. As for me, ive still got the blister but am ok and looking forward to the finish

told I have to finish up as others want a go. Can I close then by saying a huge thanks to all those who sent blogs – rags and I have just been reading these latest ones and laughing our heads off. Finally, to Katie ,all my thanks for everything as usual – I am a very lucky person to have found you. To special, mont and peorgie, lots of love and thanks for the blogs – and see you soon

loooooooove to all

jp

Its 2am and I am staring at the top of the tent roof wondering how it is that 6 guys from two different countries can all be snoring at once, with Ed taking the roof down. Rags is sleeping next to me and has been up to pee six times already – the best bit is that he has a new blow up sleeping mat that squeeks in an unbelievable noisy fashion. So if im not listening to the band of honkalots, its waiting for rags to get up for his hourly trip to pee!! It was not a great nights sleep.

Ed received some tough news and came back from the medics tent with a dejected look. When asked what was wrong, he said the doctor told him his two small toe nails on each foot were not in good shape and may get infected. If antibiotics don’t work then he was told he would be pulled from the race. When he said he was really worried about losing his toe nails, I told him the story of how many nails all of my brothers and nephews have lost so far in these races and that they now wear the wounds as badges of war. When I told him my nephew Jembo also left some other body parts (eg his arse, left nut, etc) in the Kimberley, he perked up

Pete was fixing a litany of blisters on his feet. He pulled some tape of the heel and an oval shaped blister the size of a 50cent coin showed its ugly mug. Pete has taken to using a harpoon on his blisters rather than a delicate needle – it was a hideous sight and rather than discuss it I quietly left the tent to let him wallow in the agony of his creation

We kicked off at 7am as usual, weather was cloudy and looked good so we kicked out pretty hard. Amazingly, we were with the top 20 for 500m, then rags passed us with a smile and kept going. We got into checkpoint 1 in about 40^th position which we were happy with, although all three of us were sweating profusely – I mean really, really sweating, like its rivulets of water running everywhere. In any case, we were cruising well and hit checkpoint 2 at about 10.30am where we found rags on a stool getting attention from medic and waiting for us. Rags was flagging a bit so we waited 10 minutes more and then decided to push on. About half way to checkpoint 3 there were 4 four wheel drives with a crowd gathered – we were cheered in by Alina and a crew of people which was a great surprise but, as the convoy of cars packed up and moved on without waving to anyone else, I couldn’t help asking what that was all about as it had never happened before – rags piped up “that’s what happens when you know the director”. Well, I cant tell you how much we dined out on that comment!

We got to the third checkpoint in reasonable time, although there was no running now as we were moving as a quad.

And thats when it started going bad. Rags went down hill really quickly and with about 6km’s to go, we slowed the crew down a touch.

At 4.5km, he went down further, stopped talking completely and at 2km I was nursing him with water on the head and shoulders and we had slowed to a crawl. I was seriously wondering whether to call a car up and get him taken care of but thought we should push it to at least give him the option of deciding whether he can go the long leg, from base camp. He has amazing fortitude and despite being in a near daze, kept pushing on. As we finished I sent him to the medics tent straight away where he sent a few hours doing something. He is back at “The House of Mut” now and looking much better. I’m hoping he recovers like pete did and can cope with the hell expected on the long march.

Ed and Pete were strong today. Feet are a problem and all are worried about the hellish heat that strikes from 12 noon to 5pm (at least 45deg plus). We came across two deathstalker scorpions today - when they reared up in attack mode we would normally have run for it but, unfortunately for them, we were too tired, and simply stepped on them and kept moving. The guides at base camp have asked us to keep our eyes open for camel spiders that are nesting around the camp – apparently they have a hump as well, but are known to be fast and they have a poison that induces paralysis – not sure what they do next but that was enough for us to keep our eyes open.

I am in pretty good shape, peeing a lot, which is good from a hydration perspective. In fact, im peeing so much im a little scared “the big fella” might get sun burnt. I have a small blister on my small toe, but have yet to mention it to the others in the Mut tent as I am a bit fearful of the reaction given the copious bulbous squirts of fluid hitting the tent roof when pete and ed go at their feet. The Japanese guy in our tent has blood in his socks every time he removes his shoes!

Many thanks for the blogs from all that sent them. I will pass the blogs onto rags to cheer him up.

Ps Rags has just come in to tell us we get a can of cool drink for Halloween – thank god Mary is American.

Looooooove to all

JP

Started the first day today – 37km over slight sloping, sandy and rocky ground. Temp around 37-40deg, although the heat felt like the devils hammer was banging down on us as we entered “death valley”.

Rags, Ed, Pete and I all started together but that’s where our plans for a quad team ended. Rags bolted like a bloody gazelle and all we saw after that was his dust, and after a while we didn’t even see that. His race was amazing and he did around 4 hours, coming 5^th overall. Every checkpoint we went through, Alina was there to tell us how Rags was going ahead of us – it started out as “Rags is going really well”, to “My Rags is amazing”, to “My super strong Rags is the most amazing runner here”……

As for Ed, Pistol and I, we were cruising comfortably until about the 25km mark when some dark, shadowy, sinister figure popped out from behind a rocky out crop and gave each of us a complete slapping – that’s the only way to explain how we felt at the finish!! During the first leg of 7km we were tracked by a pack of around 15 dogs (or wolves, it was hard to know as we were running as fast as we could). We passed 7soldiers protecting some bit of dirt, all of them had AK47’s – we waved and smiled nervously at them – ED told me to say Sallam to them but also stressed not to confuse that with Shallom. During the second leg we overtook a bunch of competitors and it was evident that the heat was getting to people. The third leg was the longest and took its toll. I spotted a few deathstalker scorpions out in the intense heat and a couple of competitors in front of us either sat down in the sand (which seemed weird given how hot it was) and headed for one of the few large boulders for shade. The last leg was the killer, hotter and softer sand and the conversation dried up to nothing. Importantly though, we made it.

Rags was there to greet us which was great of him. We took 7 hours or so and got in at around 2pm so we have now had time to rehydrate, have some food, a bit of a snooze and generally discuss the highlights of the day (of which there were 2! – with spotting the scorpion one of those) and the low lights.

Other points to note - The staff at the checkpoints were really good, pete has the start of some nasty blisters, Ed was good up till the last few km’s then mentally vanished. We are all ready to commence the second day and hopefully all will be ok – 43km and looks tougher than today

Katie, thx for the blogs. Pls also tell the kids I am finding their notes in my pack and they are very, very welcome.

Looooove to all

JP

Hi guys

We have finally arrived at the start camp, a beautiful sandy camp site by the shore of lake rayada, within the wadi rayada (wadi means “valley”). Spirits seem high which I guess is to be expected given we haven’t started yet! The scenery out here is really amazing – if you can picture Laurence of Arabia in the scene where he is about to cross the desert, it’s a bit like that – long stretches of desert with interspersed plateau’s rising out of the ground. Rags is looking fit, although looks remarkably distracted whenever Alina walks past, so whilst I’m sure he will go well, I will keep an eye on him as any good uncle would do . Pistol and Ed are full of beans, although a small amount of apprehension is no doubt wallowing just below the surface. We start at 7am tomorrow morning, so game faces are starting to appear. From my perspective, I think I’m like the others, feeling ok but a little nervous about what’s to come. My meal tonight was a little average so I’m hoping the food for future dinners is a bit better. Kit feels ok so far but tomorrow will be first real test – weather feels ok as well at around 35+, although a bit hot in the morning – we will see how we fair with both tomorrow

Loooooove to all

JP