The Jungle Marathon 2010 - Brazil

Stage 1 – 15.04km

Organisers pre stage info

“A short sharp shock to the system. There is a very high concentration of elevation. This stage could really wipe you out totally if you don’t take it easy. Watch out for dehydration, pain in your quads and the beginnings of trashed feet.1 swamp crossing and 1 river crossing.”

Johnny’s stage 1 post race report

Well that was quite an introduction to the jungle. Although it was only a 10 mile stage it has taken us 6 hours!! We started off with a little walk along the beach in our flip flops as we knew there was a water crossing after a few hundred metres and we wanted to keep our feet and shoes dry for as long as possible.

By the time we dried our feet  and got our shoes on we were officially last in the race but this was great as we really had no idea what was in store for us. We had to scramble up a bank to get into the jungle and then the winding jungle paths began.

These paths were relentless and took us up and down hills, some which were really steep, all of them covered with leaves and branches and there were loads of trees that had fallen down which we had to climb over or crawl under. Jungle fact: the base of the jungle is about 1ft deep of sandy soil which is rubbish for trees roots and under the sand is clay which the roots can’t get into. So the big trees are largely held up by each other and the canopy which means that when there’s a storm the trees can fall down.

There were 2 checkpoints today and at each checkpoint we had to wait at least 15 minutes until we could leave. This was because its hotter than last year, although less humid, and last year over 50% of the field dropped out with heat exhaustion and other things!

The jungle is amazing, there are some huge trees, dangerous looking plants with nasty spikes, loads of spiders webs and so many ants. Seriously I’ve seen about 10 different types, some tiny like the fire ants which got us the other day. They are only about 2mm ling but squirt sulphuric acid on you and it stings. The larger ants are about an inch long, dark black and look nasty.

Several people dropped out of today, I think 3 and mainly from heat exhaustion. The IV’s have already come out for one of the guys who was sparker by checkpoint 2. Tomorrow is a much longer day and harder apparently.

I’m getting used to sleeping in a hammock though and its actually pretty comfortable. Because its fully enclosed you can lie on your side, back, wiggle around and no worry about falling out. 

 Stage 2 – 23.85km

Organisers pre stage info

“Mud, mud and more mud. Your feet will be soaked most of this stage. Expect to be covered in ticks thanks to the swamp crossings! However hard you try it’s inevitable that you are going in. But there are still some flat parts where you can pick up the pace. 5 river crossings, 4 swamp crossings (1 totally hideous).

Johnny’s stage 2 post race report

Hi All,

Day 2 was certainly eventful! We set off at 6.30am so that meant I got up at 5.15 and I was about the last person to get up as usual on these runs.  

We started with some hills and the first stage which was about 6.5k was ok. It was hotter and really still so the humidity was higher which meant we had to take it easy. The first stage took 1hr 45mins. The jungle is amazing, loads of different plants, insects and weird things.

The next stage included a swamp which was about mid thigh high but the water was pretty clear so it was ok and it wasn’t a very big swamp. We got to the second checkpoint after about 4 hours and this was about 13k.

The 3^rd stage included more swamps and apparently the worst! This time it was about a 25m stretch and up to waist but pretty clean. However Joe, who has become spider spotting man, saw another weird spider at the edge of the swamp. It was about the size of an orange and looked nasty. IT was about another hour or so to the next checkpoint.

After the 3^rd checkpoint we had to cross a small river, about 10 meters but too deep to walk through so we had to put the rucksacks in a bin liner and float it over to the otherside! We then had about 100 meters of the nastiest swamp to go through and at one point I sank in the mud up to my mid thigh which was nice!

Overall it took us 8 hours to do 23km and it was pretty tough. I’ve still got enough in me when I get back to the camp to be ready for the next day which I’m pleased with. Tomorrow is 35km and is going to take ages, god knows how long.

 I’m loving it here. 

 Cheers

 Johnny

Stage 3 – 35.25km

Organisers pre stage info

“Combine the horrors of stage one and two and extend the pain. Don’t get lulled into a flase sense of security by the flatter parts of the trail. There is much more torture to come! 3 river crossings, 3 swamp crossings.”

Johnny’s stage 3 post race report

“Hi all

Today has been the best day so far. It was 35km so about 20 miles and had everything.

Today’s run included swamps up to your waist, serious hills and loads of them both up and down, some pretty dense jungle, running through 2 villages, running down by the river and a couple of creek crossings – one which was up to your shoulders.

I’m still doing great with my hydration and food. I’m drinking between 2.5-3 litres of water between each checkpoint so in total each day around 12-15 litres is being drunk which keeps the right balance. You can probably imagine how much I’m sweating out here. It is a case that your clothes are wet after 10 minutes of walking/running and stay wet until the morning.

It seems like we are going ridiculously slow and I think our average speed is around 3.5km an hour so about 2 mph. Today’s first 10k took 3 hours, that’s 12 minutes faster than my fastest ever marathon!

The next day will be a shortish and fastish one. Its 23km and should be along community trails which are essentially paths through the jungle that have been cleared of fallen trees and jungle crap. Nearly all of the route so far, except the last 10km today, has been path created for us by chopping down a path through the jungle so there is loads of leave debris all over the place, loads of fallen trees and vines that cross the path to trip you up.

About 300m from the end of today’s race 5 of the little girls from the village we are staying in came running out and walked in with us which was really nice.

Meredith got to sleep in a little village last night which checkpoint 2 was at for todays run. She was playing with the children there and they got a little monkey which they were all playing with. Apparently very cute and there are photo’s to prove it.

I’m off to relax but looking forward to tomorrow.

Jungle love,

Johnny

Stage 4 – 23.98km

Organisers pre stage info

”Forget wet feet, you are going for a swim. Lots of flat parts to run if your feet will carry you, but watch out for dense vegetation, and abundance of prickly plants and snakes and spiders. 2 river crossings and 1 swamp crossing.” 

Johnny’s stage 4 post race report

Hi again,

 Day 4 was completed a few hours ago and it was a pretty easy day in comparison. 23.9km today along much flatter trails through the jungle than the other days.

 It started with a 150 meter swim across a river so we could get into the jungle for our run! This was at 7am in the morning and I’ve got to say the water was lovely. So the day started off very wet and as has been the case for the other days remained wet. The jungle was less dense in parts today but loads of funnel webs at the bottom of trees however we didn’t see any spiders.

 We got back to the camp around 12pm today so the run was 5 hours which compared to previous days was short. I’ve got one blister on my left little toe which I’m not sure what I’m going to do about yet. I might just tape it and see what happens. I’ve been wearing the same socks all week which seem to be doing the trick and each night I’ve been washing them in the shower or the river. To add, the shower water is simply the river water pumped up to the tank that is above the shower.

 Joe and I both got a time penalty today! We think it might be 1 hour or maybe 2. Why? Well we had a beer from the little shop in the village we are staying in and that apparently is against the rules. Its all very funny really and the best thing to be given a penalty for in my book.

Tomorrow is the big one 89km which is around 55 milesish. The first half is in the jungle and we have to pass checkpoint 4 (32km) by 3.30pm as after then is the dark zone where you can’t be at night as that’s where the jaguars live. We don’t know what our strategy for the day is yet but will certainly get past the dark zone and may just crack on to the finish but we are working on a time of around 20 hours for the run tomorrow!

 It will be a couple of days til I email again so until then later’s.

Cheers

Johnny

Stage 5 – 89.45km

Organisers pre stage info

“Watch the piranha and caimans on the water crossing, and the dense population of jaguars in the vicinity of CP4. Face the steepest of climbs and the sharpest of descents, and if you make it out of the forest alive you can enjoy 40km on the community trails. Dark zone at CP 4 starts at 15.30 hrs. 6 river crossings.

Johnny’s stage 5 post race report

Hi again

The long day is all about getting your strategy right so we had it planned to implement the MDS 2010 long day strategy which was to take the first half relatively easy, have a break and then spank the last half.

We had been warned that the first 3 stages were very similar to the first two days in that there were loads of hills, dense jungle, water crossings and swamps! So to kick off the race we started at the river and had to swim across a 100m stretch to the other side. I took the strategy of swimming bare foot across so that my shoes were dry to run on and I think it paid off. Up until this long day I had only got one blister on my little toe which I kept quiet as the guys who had loads would not have been too impressed!

So the run to CP1 was deceptively easy with some gentle slopes and nothing too nasty. Then the fun began. The run to CP2 and CP3 had loads of really steep hills both up and down and one swamp which was thigh high but strangely you get used to these and they are a bit of a laugh. We had to keep cracking on to get to CP4 as you needed to have reached this CP before 3.30pm to be able to carry on as between CP4 & CP5 is what’s known as the dark zone and there is the highest density of Jaguars in this area and the organisers could not risk competitors going through there in the dark.

Myself and Joe made it to CP4 by 2.30pm so an hour within the cut off. 10 people ended up getting held there overnight – faced with having to finish the 60km the following day and the thought of that was horrible.

CP4 to CP5 was another long, tough stage and the last through the deep jungle. Finally reached there at 5pm. By this stage we had covered about 42km, so a marathon so this day, and we had 47km to go!. So we took a bit of time out and had some food, rested our feet. Joe had all is blisters re-taped which was a massive help to get him through the second half.  The codeine also helped!

While we were resting one of the competitors, David, got to the CP with severe heat stroke. The docs took a break from my feet to attend to his much more serious condition. He ended up having 3 IV’s and was a right mess. Unsurprisingly he was pulled out the race. The doctors quite rightly had to treat David before they could finish Joe’s feet so we didn’t leave CP5 until 7pm so with a lovely 2hr rest we were ready to kick on, and we did.  

We stuck the head torches on  ran from CP5 to CP6 which was the first proper sustained running we had done so far. Meredith and Erika were at CP6 so we had a bit of a chat then left to make the most of the nice night. It was cooler but no way near cool during the night probably only dropping about 3-4deg.

CP6 to CP7 was ok too and we did this in about 1.5hrs - around 10k. We were picking up the pace and the pit stop strategy was working well. We passed a number of competitors out on the course during the second half and pretty much ran most of it although when I say run it was about a 7km/h shuffle!.  We the cracked on to CP8 which meant we only had 25km to go, just over a half marathon. It was about 11.30pm when we got to CP8 so we had been on our feet for 17.5 hours!

CP8 to CP9 was the longest individual stage at 14km but we were told it was flat – what they failed to mention was that the majority of it was over soft sand, tree roots and stony paths. They also didn’t mention was at the end of the section (which we arrived at at 2am) there was a 150m river crossing. So in the dark, with no idea what was in the water we swam across this crossing to the other side where more beach lay ahead of us.

These are my favourite times during the run. It was about 2am, we were running along a beach on the edge of the Amazon river with about a million stars above us, it really was spectacular. You can go two ways at this point, either enjoy it cos you are somewhere really special that you’ll probably not go to again, or get down that you’re in a bit of pain and still have 2+ hours of running to do. What also helped was that we got the ipod’s out and I had Above and Beyond Vol.8 banging out some lovely trance. Hands in the air!

We finally finished at 3.45am so this day had taken 21.5 hours from start to finish and we had run over 55 miles.

Tomorrow/today was a day off where we could try and relax, the reality was that we didn’t really sleep much that night as still full of adrenaline and viper bars and the sun came up at 6am. It was great watching the other runners come in during the day and some of them didn’t get in until 11pm the following night!!! You work it out but that’s an unbelievable effort.

We actually did amazingly for the stage finishing joint 24th.

Next time, I'll have finished!

 Stage 6 – 32.77km

Organisers pre stage info

“Sand, sand and more sand and plenty of sunshine. But the end is in sight and *only* 32kn until you reach the finish line at the beautiful resort of Alter do Chao.”

Johnny’s stage 6 post race report

I have finally got some blisters, about 4 which were mainly placed between my big toes and the ball of my feet. They were a cross between blisters and pressure sores so after a while standing they ached. But this was the final day and with my feet taped up, blisters popped and 2 codeine inside me for breakfast I was ready to go and boy did we go.

It was an early start with the running starting at 6.15. This was because the entire run was along the beach on the river’s edge and we wanted to get as much done before the scorching sun came up from behind the hill on our right hand side.  

So we ran it and we were getting close to 10km/h for the first 2 stages. I pushed on took turns with Joe being in front and whilst I was feeling good, Joe was getting a bit warm and his feet were mashed compared to mine which obviously makes it harder. We stuck the tunes on and just got our heads down and cracked on.

The last stage was a 9km one which was great. The viper bar was working, we started to see some homes along the river side and then in the distance we saw the boats that are moored at Alto do Chao which meant we were almost there.

We had to run up to the village square where the finish line was and it was fantastic. We had done amazingly today running the final stage in just over 4 hours and coming joint 20^th!

We had both finished a very respectable joint 27^th overall.

It really was a fantastic week, tough but enjoyable. The jungle is an amazing place and the villagers who live out there are friendly and welcoming.

The only question now is what’s next?