Jungle Marathon Kit List Check

Yesterday I hooked up with my jungle buddy, Mark 'Tough Guy' Cooke, and we went through our final kit check. With just 1 week left before we depart to Brazil it was imperative we do a final check to ensure we at least had ALL the Mandatory Equipment/Kit which includes a number of 'Compulsory' first aid items.

The following is pretty much what we'll each be taking with us and which we have to carry each day.

Mandatory Kit List

• Hammock with mosquito nets – and rainfly sheet
  
• 2.5 litres of water carrying capacity (I am using a 1.8L Platypus Bladder and 2x600ml bottles strapped to the front straps of my Raidlight rucksack.)
  
• Insect Repellent (95% Deet Spray - Seriously strong stuff)
  
• Compass
  
• Safety pins
  
• Knife (Mine looks seriously dangerous....needed to cut snakes heads off in case you're bitten and you need to show the medics the snake type for the correct anti-venom :o))
  
• 2 x cyclaume sticks........these are glow sticks needed for the night time stage.
  
• Salt Tablets - taking a selection of Succeed S-Caps (These are high Sodium content capsules) and Nuun (tastes nice and has loads of much needed Electrolytes)
  
• Head Torch and spare batteries
  
• Waterproof Lighter
  
• Water Purifying Tablets for at least 10 litres
  
• Emergency Whistle (Just in case we want to have a football match :o)

As part of the mandatory kit we also have to take enough food to last for the 7 day event plus additional foods for before we start the race. It's best that we avoid any local foods before we start, just in case we get a dodgy belly.

Food List
The following list is not yet final but it won't be too far off this. Note that all the Breakfasts and Dinners are Dehydrated foods (from Expedition Foods) that are mixed with hot water, or for some breakfasts, cold water.

Race Day 1 - Sunday 11th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry (Have tried this and it's very tasty)
Snacks: 1 x Peperami stick, Home-made flapjack and assorted nuts/fruit
Post Race: Rego shake (This is a powder mixed with water to help with recovery.)
Dinner: Sweet & Sour Chicken

Race Day 2 - Monday 12th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry
Snacks: 1 x Peperami stick, Home-made flapjack and assorted nuts/fruit
Post Race: Rego shake (This is a powder mixed with water to help with recovery.)
Dinner: Chicken Tikka

Race Day 3 - Tuesday 13th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry
Snacks: 1 x Peperami stick, Go Energy Bar and assorted nuts/fruit
Post Race: Rego shake (This is a powder mixed with water to help with recovery.)
Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognese

Race Day 4 - Wednesday 14th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry
Snacks: 1 x Peperami stick, 1 x Go Energy Bar and assorted nuts/fruit
Dinner: Spaghetti Bolognese

Race Day 5 - (Long day - 55 miles) Thursday 15th october
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry
Snacks: 2 x Peperami stick, 2 x Go Energy Gels, Flapjack.
Mid point dinner: Museli (No need for hot water to eat this.)
No dinner for this one as we will be finishing around 3-4 in the morning. Straight to our hammocks.

Race Day 6 - Rest Day - Friday 16th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Strawberry
Snacks: 1x Peperami stick, Go Energy Bar and assorted nuts/fruit
Lunch: Pot noodle
Dinner: Chicken Tikka

Race Day 7 - Final Day - Saturday 17th October
Breakfast: Porridge & Mango
Snacks: 2 x Cliff Shot Bloks and 1x Flapjack


First aid kit- complusory items

1) Friars Balsam (Used as an antiseptic dressing and when it dries it gets very 'tacky' so useful for holding toe tape in place.)
2) Selection of Compeed (Use as a second skin to help heal blisters. These are a 'must have')
3) Cotton buds x 10
4) Sterile 18 gauge needles x 5 (Used to drain big fat blisters.... delightful.)
5) Betadine/Savlon Dry powder spray x 100ml
6) Betadine/Hibiscrub antiseptic hand wash. Hygeine is VERY important.
7) Alcohol wipes x 25 individually packed
8) Zinc Oxide tape (Strong tape used primarily for taping toes and feet to help prevent blisters etc.)
9 ) Gauze swabs x 10
10) Selection of painkillers like Paracetamol, Diclofenic and Codeine. Also some pills to stop any bouts of Diarrahoea.


Miscellaneous Kit
Hydropel - Must have gel for preventing Blisters and Chaffing.
Anthisan - Cream used for treating stings and mosi bites.
Tick Tweezers - Expecting lots of ticks on the swamp stages.
Exped 40L Drybag - All my kit will be placed within this waterproof bag which will then be placed into my rucksack.
Socks - X:Sock Storm and 1000 Mile Sock. These are a Sock within a sock which helps prevent blisters. Great socks!
Night time wear - Silk liner (lighweight body warmer), t-shirt and shorts.
Cycling Gloves - Protection from lots of sharp nasty stuff as we climb over fallen trees etc
Leki 'Makalu Trail' Walking pole - Used to assist on climbs/descents and check depth of rivers/swamp crossings. Plus to be used in an emergency if faced with anything deadlier than a flying hornet.
Strong glue for ad hoc repairs on bag or shoes
Gaffer tape for ad hoc repairs on bag or shoes
Sunglasses with interchangeable lens. Yellow lens for jungle sections.
Digital Camera
Survival blanket
Headband
Hat
Suncream
Flip flops
Shampoo
Foot powder

With all the above packed in my rucksack the 'dry weight' is 9.5kg and with all the water on board it's 12kg

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Jungle Marathon Itinerary

The final 'day by day' plans for the Jungle Marathon have now been released. And are as follows:

October 7th 2009
Fly from London Heathrow to Sao Paulo. And then 2 internal flights, with Santarem as the final destination.

October 8th 2009
Arrival in Santarem

Transfer to boats at Alter do Chao.
Install your hammock and relax.
Departure for overnight sail to Jungle base camp at 2330hrs.
(Boats will be available for boarding from 1500hrs)

October 9th 2009

1200hrs Arrival at Itapuama

1300hrs -1400hrs lunch.
(Please note all competitors are required to be self-sufficient from their arrival in brazil. Hot water will be provided on the boat and at the base camp/ and campsites throughout the race.)

1430hrs Welcome briefing

1500hrs- 1700hrs Kit check

1800hrs-1930hrs Dinner

1930hrs cultural dance show

October 10th 2009

0700hrs-0800hrs Breakfast
0830hrs medical briefing by medical director

0900hrs Medical checks

1100hrs jungle training

1200hrs-1330hrs lunch

1330hrs-1700hrs jungle training

1800hrs-1900hrs Dinner

1900hrs race briefing for stage one. Excess kit transferred to boat

October 11th 2009
Stage 1

October 12th 2009
Stage 2

October 13th 2009
Stage 3

October 14th 2009
Stage 4 – end of 100km race

October 15th- October 16th 2009
Stage 5- non stop overnight stage

October 17th 2009
Final stage. (Wahooooo!)
Finish of 200km race at Alter do Chao.
1200hrs-1600hrs Arrivals lunch.
1500hrs Transfer to hotel.
1900hrs Prize giving and finish party.
Overnight in a local hotel

October 18th 2009
Departure from Santarem

October 19th 2009
Arrive back at heathrow T4 around lunchtime. (Time for a massive plate of spuds or a Pizza.)


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JM2009 - Course & Stage Descriptions

With less than 3 weeks to go the course organisers are now busy finalising the course route and I've just seen the latest report from the Course Director, Shirley Thompson.

For those of you who think I'm going on one of those little 'guided tours' then get a load of the following. This is the 'exact' report from Shirley from the course. (Hopefully this will give you a great feel for what's in store for the 100 participants this year.)

Course & Stage Description
Just back from marking, modifying and and doing our trial run of the course so a bit of info.

Distance, the total course distance this year is 222km (139 miles). Those of you doing the 100km will do 100.14km.

Due to all the heavy rain during the rainy season water levels have not subsided as much as normal so many parts of the course will be very wet and water crossings will be deeper than normal.
We will of course give a detailed briefing the night before each stage, but below is a short synopsis of each of the stages.

Stage 1 is still the shortest and really probably the toughest, as it has the most concentrated elevation. I am now acclimatized but even so my water intake was about 3 litres on the first stage. I started to feel really quite headachy and so tipped the contents of one suceed tablet under my tongue and instantly felt re-energised and much better. You really have to take it very easy this first day, if you don’t, you will never recover enough to complete the course.
Throughout the stage you are either going up or down, there is very little flat. The climbs and descents are very steep, you will need to use your hands on many of the climbs and also grab onto trees on the way down on the fast descents to steady yourself.

Stage 2 still has some climbs and descents but a lot more flat parts of the course and also three main areas of swamp crossings. Those of you wishing to increase your speed will be able to do so on this stage, but always be on the lookout for roots of trees and other natural obstacles in your path.
It is impossible to avoid going into the swamps, and you are likely to get lots of ticks. I removed about 30 after this stage. To remove them, you can either pull them out with tweezers if you do it early enough or smear some Vaseline onto the tick as it will then come up to the surface to breathe and you can pull it out then. They go for moist damp areas such as under arms, behind knees, top of legs, behind the ears…well basically anywhere….

Stage 3 is fast and brutal. And my favourite stage as it has a mixture of everything- plenty of flatter parts where you can increase your speed, some insane elevation, some water parts to it and it goes into one of the villages so you get a chance to see some local life. This I a very long stage, its nearly 38km. don’t hang around at the checkpoints for too long, you need to keep a steady pace to get out of the jungle before dark.

Stage 4 is mainly flat and a good stage to recharge your batteries before the long stage. There is only one climb, towards the end of it.
You do start it will a 250m water crossing………

Stage 5 is a combination of everything. You begin with a water crossing of around 220m. There are plenty of fast parts to make up time and also the steepest climbs and steepest descents in the entire course. There are a huge amount of natural obstacles on the fastest parts, you will be frequently climbing over fallen trees. Always check what is on the other side before you put your foot down or grab onto a fallen trees trunk- this is a favourite place for snakes to doze.
It is possible to make it out of the jungle before dark, but if you don’t you will have to stay at CP4 during the dark zone- this area of the jugnel has a huge population of jaguar and we cannot have competitors wandering round here in the dark. The jungle campsite is well protected. There is a campfire, guides with guns and full medical support.
Once you pass this CP, the next CP is out of the jungle onto paths and trails through several little villages. it is mainly flat ( though there is a steep climb after CP6) and a few more hills between CP7 and 8. Some of it takes you down onto the waters edge along the shores of the Tapajos. If you do this in daytime there is very little shade, make sure you have something to cover your head.
The last few kms of this seem endless. The total distance for the long stage this year is 89.39km (55.6miles). There is one part still with a huge amount of water along the shoreline, so we will make a decision the week before the race whether to amend this and bring you onto the road if it is still deep as it would not be prudent for those of you doing it in thr dark. ( we did it in the daylight).

Stage 6 (Final stage) is along the stunning beaches of the Tapajos river and through several little villages. It is over 30km so still a long stage,with little shade. But there are several creek crossings to cool you down.

A few bits of info:
Pack: I used my raidlight pack, but it was not as full as your packs will be. My pack was about 7-8kg per day as we had to carry all our water for the day as there were no check points in place.

Water I drank an average of 4 litres a day, but I have been here for a couple of weeks so am acclimitised. I did run out of water on stage 3 and drank water from a fast running stream….and have lived to tell the tale……!

Snacks Was ravenous the entire time I was on the trail, ate crisps, nut,toffees,fruit .took one emergen c powder mixed with water per day.

Salt/electrolytes took an average of 2 suceed tablets per day.

Feet on stages 1-5 used 2 coats of new skin liquid bandage on my feet daily with thorlo socks and sealskinz. No blisters.
On stage 6 I changed footwear, dropped the new skin and the sealskinz and hobbled into alter do chao with three enormous blisters. I cannot recommend new skin highly enough.

Nighttime a couple of nights it got really chilly, bring something warm to sleep in.


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Last Training Hike

Well, I've just completed my last off-road training hike before heading out to Brazil on the 7th October.

The route was a 22.5 mile undulating route, starting at Watlington, I have done numerous times before and yesterday, 20th September, I completed it with Mark Cooke and James Binks.

As it was our final hike it gave us all an opportunity to try out a few things with our kit. For example I was trying out my new 1.8L Platypus water bladder, along with 2 water bottles attached to the shoulder straps of my Raidlight. The configuration will allow me to hold the 'compulsory' amount of water when we leave each checkpoint in the jungle which happens to be 2.5L. So with a 1.8L bladder and 2 * 600mL bottles I'll be covered.

Another thing I tested on this hike was having wet feet for over 20 miles. Just before we set off I soaked my trainers and socks in water, much to the amusement of Mark and James. But, there was method in the madness and it allowed me to get a hold on whether my feet would really 'suffer' when wet. Thankfully after finishing the hike I didn't have any blisters, although my feet did look like dried prunes. Although the feet recovered very quickly I've learned that I'll need to dry my feet a few times, coupled with dry socks, on each day of the Jungle Marathon.

The hike started off in Watlington and covers part of the Ridgeway. The ground was pretty hard and we also enjoyed a number of short steep climbs which gave us a chance to really test our fitness, and leg strength. Bearing in mind we were all carrying our race weight backpacks which averaged out around 9-10kg.

We kept up a steady pace for the 22.5 miles and didn't stop for any breaks. Apart from the occassional clearing of stones from shoes. The weather was nice and warm and we managed to cover the distance in 5hrs 15mins. This was a really good pace considering the amount of hills we covered too.

Overall I'm now pretty happy with what I'm gonna wear and carry in the Jungle, although I'm sure there will be a few 'tweaks' before we start the first stage.

Between now and the 7th I'll be doing my regular daily speed marches with the backpack and obviously ensuring I don't pick up any silly injuries.