Jungle Marathon 2003 by Jayne Allan
When I had finished pinching myself and realised I really was off to the Amazon, I then had 6 months to train and get in shape for what I rather naively assumed would be a challenge, but not that tough. I knew I was fairly fit and just gradually increased my weekly mileage to just before the race peaking at 60miles, alternating running with my sack with weight of approximately 5 – 6kilos.
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It was only when I arrived at the airport and was flying out for the race that I realised what a challenge the race was going to be, as other competitors were rather amazed that I hadn’t done anything like this before, not even a marathon, at one point someone pointed out to me how extreme it was that I had chosen this for my first ultra race. I was starting to feel very nervous especially when I saw some of the competitors, Karim Mosta the eventual race winner was a professional runner who had already completed 102 ultra races, and earned his living on sponsorship for such events.
After the initial introduction and day at the hotel we set off early the next morning on a boat down the Amazon to campsite 1, it took us 8hours to get there, which was enough time for us all to get to know each other and me to start feeling really intimidated by how fit some of these athletes were. We were all looking forward to getting off the boat; I was not looking forward to running back. It was pitch black when we landed at campsite 1, we all staggered up the bank to be greeted by something that looked more stark than a POW camp, our sleeping arrangement was in hammocks, before you think of lazy summer days swinging in a hammock with a margirita, these were plastic narrow hammocks that lurched to the side, better than a black coffee for keeping you awake, of which we zipped ourselves into, rather like zipping yourself into a bag. The next morning we had lessons on how to survive in the Amazon, if you see a jaguar ‘stand by a tree’ if you see wild pigs ‘jump in the tree’ Yep we are all going to die!!!!!!!!
Day 2 in camp 1 was exciting it was the start of the race, we were to race to camp 2 roughly 27km away, if we’d known how much more basic camp 2 was in comparison to camp 1 we may not have been in such a hurry to get there. The race was fairly tough, initially I stayed at the back as I was worried about being in the jungle alone ‘ what if I saw a wild pig’ but it wasn’t long before my competitiveness got the better of me and I was racing to catch the front runners, my first mistake as the humidity catches you unawares and for the first 18km I felt strong, and was managing to keep up, the first river crossing was quite wide and the water went up to my chest, but I still felt fairly energetic, the at last crossing I did not fair quite so well, I came out of there feeling very tired and unable to keep up, it wasn’t long before I fell behind and found myself completing the stage alone, I was starting to feel quite light headed, and was relieved when I saw the finish line, but it was great to have Stage 1 under our belts. On talking to other more experienced athletes I realised the mistake I had made was not eating and drinking enough, I would not repeat this again if I could help it. It was a sad day as we lost our first runner today.
Day 2 was a better day for me, after my mistakes the day before I made sure I stayed well hydrated and remembered to snack often, never the less it was a hard 31km not least because the water stops were not where we were told they would be, a lot of us ran out of water, but I felt really elated when we arrived at camp to find we were among the first into camp, although I paid a price for hammering it that day with my feet, and my trainers were showing the strain, the start of what was to hinder me for the rest of the race. Others did not fair so well today, we lost a couple of competitors to dehydration, some ended up in hospital hooked up to an IV.
Day 3 was supposed to be 41km but due to other competitors suffering yesterday the stage has been cut to just under half to give people chance to recover, although another one of the competitors was felled by dehydration and had to be hooked up to an IV, she remained in camp and through supreme effort managed to complete the next day.
Day 4 was yet another easier day, we had been told the stage had been cut to 19km, but through a mix up it was shortened again to about 12km, again I felt great today and managed to come in with some of the front runners, although my trainers finally gave up the ghost today, I was running through the jungle like coco the clown with the soles hanging off them, that evening found me trying to sew them back on wondering how I was going to make it through the next few days.
Day 5 dawned, to say I felt demoralised today would be an understatement like quite a few of the other runners I could barely stand on my feet and had the prospect of 80km in front of me today, fortunately I was kindly loaned Gerard’s trainers (one of the runners who had dropped out through dehydration) they got me through the jungle stage and then I put my sandals on for the road stage, as my feet were throbbing and rubbing too much in the trainers, and after having them dried and dressed at the end of the last jungle stage I couldn’t bear the thought of putting wet trainers on for the road stage. Even though half of the road stage was at night, and not very flat, apparently when it rains vehicles can’t get up them, I found it infinitely more enjoyable than the jungle stages, which were really starting to feel claustrophobic now. I got to the edge of the jungle with 8km of this stage left at about 11.45pm, 19 hours on my feet, and slept there till morning ready to complete the last 8km in the light, a couple of brave runners went through the jungle just as it was getting dark and were apparently trailed by jaguars
Day 6, we all woke early eager to get the next 8km behind us, so we could spend the rest of the day recovering. I really don’t want to go back into the jungle, I’m finding it quite oppressive, my feet are so sore its not very long before I find myself stumbling through it alone, I’m hoping it will be an easy 8km but as usual I am wrong, it’s really tough straight away with lots of climbing, some of the climbs are so steep the only way up is crawling on your hands and knees, going down I don’t trust my feet so just slide down on my bum, I haven’t eaten today, so have very little energy left,I didn’t eat very much yesterday, god bless SIS and REGO without it I don’t think I would have survived. My biggest fear is water I really don’t want to get my feet wet. The doctors keep telling me to keep them dry that they will only deteriate more in the wet, but who are they kidding not long before another river crossing more swamps and mud, the pain trudging through the water and mud is excruciating, lucky I’m alone as the air is quite blue with the expletives coming from my mouth, when I eventually stumble into camp some 41/2 hours later I feel quite broken and don’t know how I’m going to survive tomorrow I stagger over to the river to wash my feet and like a wimp can’t stop crying with the pain and enormity of it all. Eventually I make it over to the doctors area and sit for an hour while they dress my feet and then eat my last meal, ironically the one I was least looking forward to dehydrate spaghetti bolognaise and was the most enjoyable meal I’d had all week.
Day 7 we were all looking forward to getting today over with, again the route had been altered today, so rather than wading through the river we went up it on boats which despite the trepidation wondering what was ahead of us, was rather fun, I’m only relieved I don’t have to get my feet wet today (boy was I wrong) I decide to take it easy today, I know I’m not going to make up the time I’ve lost over the last 2 days and decide just to make sure I finish the race, and so stay with the back runners, the race start isn’t too bad, but its not long before we’re wading through more ant invested mud that find my sandal clad feet very tasty, for once I’m happy to throw myself in to the next river just to get them off. If we thought we were going to have an easy day of it today we were very much mistaken, at some points we find ourselves crossing local peoples property which is rather pleasant, but when we go back into the jungle it is as tough and inhospitable as ever, to top it all I’m starting to worry that I will run out of water again as the check points are once again not where we are told they would be, fortunately Shirley stays with me today and so at least I know I’m not going to be stranded without water alone. Eventually just like buses we come across 2 checkpoints within a few km of each other, and find ourselves on the road to Rio preta, as we approach the town we can see there is a carnival atmosphere going on, I managed a pathetic jog over the finish line with Shirley and was then whisked off to the doctors enclosure once again to have my feet dressed. Being in Rio Preta was surreal, we were like pop stars for the day, signing T-shirts and having our photos taken with locals, who thought we were crazy and what we had done was incredible and were all patting us on the back congratulating us, I’m amazed they could stand that close to us as none of us smelled very pleasant. The ride back to Manaus took about 20mins in the helicopter I managed to hitch a lift on, thanks to James Smyth, a member of the support staff chartering it back. It was amazing to see how dense the jungle is, and to think we had run through it, in some places we were the only people to have trodden there, as some parts were cut specially for us.
Arriving back at the hotel was wonderful, I couldn’t wait to phone home and let them know I had survived, I then dived into the shower, and then the bath and then the shower again, in fact the hotels water consumption will have gone up that day as we all spent a long time washing the jungle off. Despite all of this I wouldn’t change any of it the experience was definitely a once in a lifetime if you feel adventurous I would strongly recommend checking it out.
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