Towards the end of the stage we passed some old mine workings and the ruins of an abandoned village. Finally, the next camp and the inflatable arch of the finish line came into view across a flat rocky plain just – another 2km. As I crossed the line Patrick Bauer greeted me and placed the finishers medal around my neck; he did the same with all the finishers. That evening we were treated to another cold Coca-Cola (or beer if you wanted one). The race had now finished. I came in 559th and Keith 695th STAGE SIX The final stage on Saturday morning was in aid of a children’s school in Morocco, but did not count towards the overall finish positions but had to be done or you would be disqualified from the final rankings. It was only about 7km and all across some sandy dunes which were almost orange in colour. Hardly anyone ran the idea was that we should all complete it roughly together. Everyone was in a relaxed mood at the – start with their medals already won and just a short (maximum two hours) stretch of desert to cross. Some people’s feet were so bad by this stage they had been given crutches to help them walk. After finishing the stage we boarded coaches and were transported back to Ouarzazate it took us 6 hours to – get back. A longer journey than a week earlier as we had covered 150 miles on foot over the last 7 days! We than had two nights in a 5-star hotel, the Berbere Palace with buffet breakfasts and evening meals where we could eat as much as we wanted to try and regain all the weight we had lost in the course of running across the Sahara. And finally, a note about the Official Guinness world record running the London Marathon in Ski Boots. After a lot of pain and water during the hottest London marathon on record; 5h 52 minutes later the GWR certificate was presented. Unfortunately, the Ski boots are no-longer usable for skiing and fortunately no longer usable for running.
Towards the end of the stage we passed some old mine workings and the ruins of an abandoned village. Finally, the next camp and the inflatable arch of the finish line came into view across a flat rocky plain – just another 2km. As I crossed the line Patrick Bauer greeted me and placed the finishers medal around my neck; he did the same with all the finishers. That evening we were treated to another cold Coca-Cola (or beer if you wanted one). The race had now finished. I came in 559th and Keith 695th STAGE SIX The final stage on Saturday morning was in aid of a children’s school in Morocco, but did not count towards the overall finish positions but had to be done or you would be disqualified from the final rankings. It was only about 7km and all across some sandy dunes which were almost orange in colour. Hardly anyone ran – the idea was that we should all complete it roughly together. Everyone was in a relaxed mood at the start with their medals already won and just a short (maximum two hours) stretch of desert to cross. Some people’s feet were so bad by this stage they had been given crutches to help them walk. After finishing the stage we boarded coaches and were transported back to Ouarzazate – it took us 6 hours to get back. A longer journey than a week earlier as we had covered 150 miles on foot over the last 7 days! We than had two nights in a 5-star hotel, the Berbere Palace with buffet breakfasts and evening meals where we could eat as much as we wanted to try and regain all the weight we had lost in the course of running across the Sahara. And finally, a note about the Official Guinness world record running the London Marathon in Ski Boots. After a lot of pain and water during the hottest London marathon on record; 5h 52 minutes later the GWR certificate was presented. Unfortunately, the Ski boots are no-longer usable for skiing and fortunately no longer usable for running.
Colin%20MDS.docx