The Terrex

I travelled up to Stirling today as Rosemary and her team (Paul, Andy and Dave) were finishing the 5 day Adidas Terrex. It's a pretty mad event involving approximately 600km of adventure racing: mtbing, canoeing, canyoning, trecking and running...did I miss anything?

Luckily, the race finished at The Peak sports centre so I could get a swim and a run in! it was my first pool swim in about 6 months, but it wasn't as bad as I envisaged! There had been a slight miscommunication (for a change) between Rosemary n I meaning that I arrived way too early and at minimum, I would have a 5 hour wait.

The teams all had trackers which could be monitored online (Very addictive throughout the week. It only told part of the story, as sometimes they stopped! Was Rosemary sleeping or had she fallen of a cliff?). Team after team came in....but Rosemary's tracker appeared to have stopped! Grr technology! It was starting to get dark though.

Then, James, one of the race organiser's came up to me looking worried..."Andy, there's been an accident" he said! "fuck" I thought! "Rosemary's fine though"! Fwwweughh....." I though! "Dave, has crashed and they're waiting on an ambulance". Not so good.....

James and the team were great keeping me updated when they knew stuff! It wasn't clear if the team would finish though.....but knowing Rosemary, she would crawl back if need be! Eventually, just after 10pm the team, minus Dave came in! They were looking weary but happy! Youtube here

The blip is of Andy....it says loads! I changed my mind with the image! I like this one! They had been on the go for 5 days with just over 12 hours sleep in total. Rosemary had bad blisters and a deformed wee toe.....Paul told me that she was a brave lady as she had walked in extreme pain for well over 10 hours with him dragging her on. Adrenaline was definitely keeping them going, although Paul looked remarkably fresh!

Eventually, we headed back to Andy's house in Stirling. Luckily, Dave was released from hospital quite quickly having suffered minor concussion, but was obviously upset at getting within 20km of the finishing line! Fortunately, because they were so close, the organisers applied a similar rule to that used in the Tour de France....they would be classified as finishers, but Dave must go back and ride the final 20km in the next month!