Geoff here. This is a Brazilian laptop where the keyboard doesn't make sense so (as) much as it pains me this is going out without punctuation. This has been an epic adventure. We are currently in a little village on the shores of the Amazon with white sand beaches and thatched huts, waiting out the penultimate day while the remaining competitors slog it out. I have completed my four days but the seven day effort would have been quite beyond me. It was brutal, but now that Im finished its a buzz. On each day I was one of the last to finish so I was out there for longer than anyone else, and got less recovery time before we had to go out into the blast furnace again. The terrain is hard enough but the heat is intense.
To put it into perspective, when Sue set out on Stage 5 yesterday morning, she was feeling as exhausted when she started, as she was when she finished the afternoon before. She has only managed to get a couple of hours sleep each night due to the heat and the hammock, so she is massively sleep deprived. She had to get up at 2.30 to be ready for the 4.30 start. She has blisters on her feet that make you cringe. The temperature soon got up to 45 degrees. Approaching the third checkpoint she had stopped talking, her pupils were the size of a pinhead, her face was ashen. At the checkpoint they gave her some water which she promptly vomited up. Ahead of her lay seven more checkpoints and and 70 kilometres to be traversed on dusty red roads, jungle trails with inadequate markings, or rocky coastline, some in the 40 degree heat of the day, the rest in pitch darkness. On medical advice, she withdrew at that point.
All of the other competitors can tell a similar story. About 10 have made it through so far, and I dont know how many are still out there. Ironically we are now resting up in a little tropical beach hideaway reminiscent of Fiji. I am feeling great and Sue is making a speedy recovery. I just wanted to let you know that this event lives up to its billing, but we are having a fabulous time. THIS HAS GONE ONTO UPPER CASE BECAUSE I PUSHED A WRONG BUTTON SOMEWHERE. BUT THAT WILL DO FOR NOW. WELL TELL YOU THE REST OF IT WHEN WE GET BACK.
Geoff Hardy
To put it into perspective, when Sue set out on Stage 5 yesterday morning, she was feeling as exhausted when she started, as she was when she finished the afternoon before. She has only managed to get a couple of hours sleep each night due to the heat and the hammock, so she is massively sleep deprived. She had to get up at 2.30 to be ready for the 4.30 start. She has blisters on her feet that make you cringe. The temperature soon got up to 45 degrees. Approaching the third checkpoint she had stopped talking, her pupils were the size of a pinhead, her face was ashen. At the checkpoint they gave her some water which she promptly vomited up. Ahead of her lay seven more checkpoints and and 70 kilometres to be traversed on dusty red roads, jungle trails with inadequate markings, or rocky coastline, some in the 40 degree heat of the day, the rest in pitch darkness. On medical advice, she withdrew at that point.
All of the other competitors can tell a similar story. About 10 have made it through so far, and I dont know how many are still out there. Ironically we are now resting up in a little tropical beach hideaway reminiscent of Fiji. I am feeling great and Sue is making a speedy recovery. I just wanted to let you know that this event lives up to its billing, but we are having a fabulous time. THIS HAS GONE ONTO UPPER CASE BECAUSE I PUSHED A WRONG BUTTON SOMEWHERE. BUT THAT WILL DO FOR NOW. WELL TELL YOU THE REST OF IT WHEN WE GET BACK.
Geoff Hardy
