Guadarun 2008 Final thoughts
Bryan Sharp writes
Final Thoughts!
As with everything in life there are good and bad points..........
Firstly the bad.......I'll get back to them.......When I can think of one!
Secondly the good........
Where to start? From the minute we arrived at the airport we were met with a warm welcome and
every moment since felt part of the team, not just a runner but an integral part of the
whole event. The logistics of moving runners, support staff and equipment means the event is
limited to around 40 competitors, this allows everyone to get to know each other very
quickly and very well.
MORE...
The competitors came from all walks of life, from local school teachers to a group of high
spirited French Marines. A lot had travelled from the mainland France and Andy and myself
were the only two non-French speaking runners, I won't lie and say this didn't cause minor
difficulties, but we finished the race in good health, got fed at mealtimes and never
missed a ferry so they were minor. The lack of communication problems were due to the
willingness of those who could speak English to try their best and the timely arrival of our
multi-lingual lifesaver!
Food glorious food, lots of beautifully prepared fresh sea food, can't praise the staff
enough for this one. Nobody lost a dramatic amount of weight during the race, a varied and
plentiful menu and the availability of ice cream meant no one was ever hungry. The
vegetarians and non "Fruit De Mer" lovers amongst us were catered for without any fuss.
The day off, the tour of the island, it's rum distilleries, sugar cane plantations, windmills
were all high spots of the event..........but I'm not going to spoil it for you, you'll have
to see for yourselves!
The support staff, volunteers, organisers and everyone of the back stage crew made a very
difficult job look easy, would love to mention them all individually but they know who they
are. They made dreams and ambitions reality for every single competitor.
Bryan and Andy can do the dificult straight away,
the impossible takes them a bit longer!
We picked a race, spoke to Shirley at eventrate.com who gave us the necessary encouragement,
paid the cash, started the training, selected a worthy cause to run for and before we knew
it, BANG, we were in Guadaloupe!
We had chose to run together but it showed very, very early on that the heat was going to be
the only deciding factor between us, so we made the difficult decision to run our own race,
if we were going to run for charity we had to run to the best of our ability!
The first two days were dominated by Silvan Blin Ancel, who due to injury and fatigue wained
on the third day and Bryan(a Scottish road runner, with no trail experience) scooped first
place on the long Day 3 stage. This left Bryan sat in overall second with two days
remaining. This was when the U.K. duo sat down and weighed up the situation, in one race the
motto of "We are just going to run the race, if we finish we'll be happy" got kicked into
touch! The seemingly unachievable could be achieved, there may only be one pair of feet on
the podium but it would be a joint victory.
Third place and a torn thigh muscle on the fourth day didn't look good but with some physio
work and lot of determination, Bryan crossed the line in second place on the last day,
winning the title in 14 hours 13 minutes and 10 seconds. A trophy for one but a huge victory
for both.
Andy's initial three races were a baptism of fire. Struggling with the heat and humidity his
body denying him the fine balance between hydration and pace. Never one to be stopped by
something as trivial as biology Andy fought a hard battle up the mountain on day four
beating several professional soldiers in their own back yard. Day 5 another hat, another
rabbit, Andy glided effortlessly round the three hills to scoop sixth place on the day and a
hard fought 15th overall.
We ran the race for CLIC Sargent, if you've enjoyed reading this article and want to donate a little to a worthy cause........ http://justgiving.com/bryan-andy
This report is dedicated to Jo and Duggie, two key members of the team. Thank's for your
words of wisdom and being with us every step of the way. Hope to see you again soon!
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