Jungle Marathon 2003
Amazon Rainforest Brazil
This
journal was transcribed from a report 'phoned in by satellite. Connections were
not always good and messages got garbled, so this may not be up to my usual
standard. Originally posted on EventRate.
Photographs by Armin Schirmaier. Jungle Marathon 2003
Luke putting shoes on seated on floor at camp
River, washing, bathing at Esmerelda's farm
No flip-flops no problem - water bottles and cardboard
Runners wading through swamp
Runners milling around before the start
Jeff K gets boiling water from cauldron
Camp - hammocks in log frames - further off
Boat from Manaus to base camp
Snake at survival briefing
I am off to race in the Jungle Marathon, a new 7-day ultra-distance footrace being held in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil.
I can't remember how I got into this one.
I've learned about heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat syncope and heat cramps, what their related symptoms are and what action I should take when faced with any of them. Suffice to say, some of the symptoms could easily be mistaken for symptoms normally associated with ultra-distance racing.
Recently the weather in London has changed. The dense (and admittedly unfeasible) heat of summer has dissipated, the blanket of grey is gradually returning to the skyline, the first hint of cold has arrived and the soon to be regular showers are replenishing the parched commons and parks. And so in answer to this I find myself packing up my belongings and preparing to fly south for the winter..
Well ok, not the whole winter, just a fortnight. And not really all my belongings. Just a few bits of emergency survival gear.
I am off to race in the Jungle Marathon, a new 7-day ultra-distance footrace being held in the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil. It begins on the 18th September and an international field of 45 runners will battle it out over 6 stages of varying lengths (Marathon des Sables style), each slogging through 160 miles of swamps, rivers, streams, tracks, plantations and trails in an effort to cross the finishing line more or less intact.
I can't remember how I got into this one - the past 2 weeks since I discovered for certain that I would be going have flown by. Two sponsors generously stepped forward to fund my latest racing adventure, my brother Harry Cunliffe and Michael Jackson (no, another one, a client of mine from Putney). In trying to combat my last-minute preparation habit I created a plan. Detailed and painstaking creative thinking went into this time-consuming document and, of course, I haven't looked at it even once since I wrote it. Pulling it from my file today I am relieved to find that with virtually no more shopping days left before leaving I have just about collected together everything I think I need.
The Amazon is like nowhere I've ever been in my life. Zillions of square miles of dense, dark canopy conceal one fifth of the world's bird species, a fifth of the world's plant species, one tenth of the world's mammal species and 2-3,000 species of fish according to Lonely Planet. And I'm guessing that the vast majority of fish are bound to be crazed flesh-stripping piranha or high-voltage electric eels. In addition, I expect to be savaged by numerous varieties of colourful leeches, mosquitoes, bees, hornets and other stinging and biting beasties which no doubt will fancy having a go.
I was told the other day by the UK rep for the race that a jaguar weighing twice as much as me was killed on the trail only three weeks ago. I didn't find this very reassuring as there was no mention of whether this was a lone jaguar or one of a herd. And I gather a panther was spotted in the forest as well, which could be something else to be concerned about on the night stage. Any number of snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies are likely to be in the neighbourhood, as well as vampire bats (yes, really) so I think the Jungle Marathon will go straight in at Number One on my top ten list of extreme events.
As far as preparation goes I have been doing as much research as possible, both talking to people with experience of racing or training in jungles and reading about Brazil and the Amazon rainforest. I am also one of those sad people who already has a book on performing in extreme environments so I didn't have far to go to find out what kind of hazards I might be letting myself in for.
For one thing I've learned about heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat syncope and heat cramps, what their related symptoms are and what action I should take when faced with any of them. Suffice to say, some of the symptoms could easily be mistaken for symptoms normally associated with ultra-distance racing. Take nausea and dizziness, for example. Well, running over incredibly long distances can sometimes make you feel a bit queasy. And others like confusion or irritability. Again, for me these are par for the course on an ultra - it's hard to feel cheery when you've run 25 miles on the long stage and you're going into the night tired, hungry and exhausted, with 25 miles more to go. But my all-time favourite is the request made to racers by the American College of Sports Medicine ".that runners seek help for impaired competitors who appear ill, who are not coherent, who run in the wrong direction, or who exhibit upper-body swaying and poor competitive posture." Which is a near-perfect description of me every time I race. Going by this, just one wrong turn could land me in the medical tent with an I-V drip in my arm.
However, as far as I can tell, the four main obstacles will be dehydration, foot-trauma, risk of infections and threats to my psychological well-being (fear, apathy, loss of humour etc) all of which are very likely at some point. To counter these in order I will be consuming truckloads of electrolytes, drinking gallons of water, wearing waterproof socks, liberally applying anti-septic potions and talking to myself. Well, hey, it works for me.
In terms of jungle survival the race website was very useful. Under the FAQ section there was a question "Is this race dangerous?" "Of course it is!" came the answer. However, I am led to believe the organisers are being very responsible and we are due to be given a survival lecture telling us what to do in case we see deadly animals. I would have thought that was a bit of a no-brainer, but apparently it will take two hours to tell us what must be frankly pretty obvious, namely "Run, man, run for your life! Keep on running and for goodness sake don't turn around.!" To supplement this lecture one of the site links led me to a wilderness survival site where I was invited to complete Sergeant Safari's Survival Quiz. Sadly I failed miserably with a grading which read (and I kid you not) "40% - My grandmother could've done better than you." Thanks Sarge.
The fact is, I can read all the books I like about the jungle and talk to scores of people who've been there, but ultimately I must go there for myself and experience first-hand what the rainforest has to offer.
Check out the Jungle Marathon website for more information.
Day 1
Today's course comprised 27 kilometres of jungle track broken into four legs of 3 kilometres, 9 kilometres, 6 kilometres and 9 kilometres respectively. This has to be the most hostile environment I've ever seen in the tracks.Day 3
We've just finished Day 3 of the inaugural Jungle Marathon based here in Brazil. Today's route was cut short to 15 kilometres owing to problems that so many runners experienced yesterday. Namely dehydration, from the humidity, and all sorts of problems that you'd expect to see in the jungle. There is a fairly high drop-out rate at the moment. So the race organiser has decided to cut one or two of the stages slightly shorter. Today's was 15 kilometres, and tomorrow's I gather will be cut to about 19 kilometres.Today started really badly for me. I fact it has been pretty bad ever since the end of yesterday's stage. I slept extremely uncomfortably. All our hammocks collapsed before we ever got into them. And as I tried to get into mine, I managed to flip over, spin straight through the side of it and tear it into two. I spent a pretty uncomfortable night…
We set off this morning chastened by the news that two jaguars had been spotted near the final checkpoint of yesterday's stage. Obviously we kept ourselves on our toes and got off to a quick start.
The first half of today's course was really hard. It was hilly, up and down, very difficult and I found it a real struggle to get moving in the humidity. I was feeling completely exhausted. But then, after 5 or 7 kilometres I found that I started to pick up a bit of speed and feel a bit better. BY the end of the stage it wasn't that bad after all.
Another runner has had to retire unfortunately today, or at least he has been retired by the medical staff, owing to the risk of infection to one of the most horrible blisters that I have ever seen in my life. And I've seen a few. And another runner is currently with the medical staff suffering from severe dehydration. This problem seems to be cropping up over and over again. It's very difficult to explain, but you just can't drink seem to enough water out on the trail.
There was an excitement this morning when a snake appeared on the start line. Another reason that we got a flying start... It was only a tiddler as it happens, about 18 inches long, and black and yellow. I have no idea what make or model it was but I certainly wasn't about to go and find out…
The end of today's stage has brought us to a fantastic farmstead right in the back end of nowhere. We're surrounded by... well by jungle obviously, but there is a beautiful little river, where we all swam when we got in after the day's race. It's a reminder of how remote we are here that all our supplies actually had to be airlifted in by helicopter.
Now we've all had our food and most people are tucked up in their bags. Our hammocks are all dispersed among the trees. I've been assured that my new hammock will last the night. I've hung it next to river and so I have a riverside view. So, assuming we don't have any serious rain or flooding from higher upriver, I should have a comfortable night tonight…
Tomorrow we're off on Stage 4, which has been reduced to around 20 kilometres. We'll hope to make it in reasonable nick and we'll get back to you to let you know how we all get on.
Day 4
It's Sunday evening at the end of Stage 4. We did 12 kilometres today. The route was cut from 21 kilometres owing to the number of medical casualties that we're experiencing and to the fact that tomorrow's stage is going to be extremely long and hard. Approximately 70 or 75 kilometres.The day started pretty well. We were camped last night in a plantation and we all had a fairly good night's sleep and then most people have managed a good breakfast this morning. Someone found a scorpion in the camp this morning, which was then paraded around for everyone to see before being delivered back to the jungle.
To our relief the course was flatter than yesterday. There were no rivers or streams, or at least nothing to worry about, so it was a little bit easier than we've become used to. Having said that we took our time, and covered the distance in around 2 to 2.5 hours.
For myself, I've been suffering from an eye infection for the last 24 hours, which the medics have been attending to, slooshing it out with saline solution in an effort to keep it clean. The medical tent is heaving at the moment as people are beginning to experience serious foot problems. There are a lot more blisters and quite a few cuts are getting infected.
So, people are getting apprehensive about the long stage tomorrow. It's one thing to do this sort of distance in the desert, but in the sweltering heat of the jungle it's a pretty scary thought.
We'll be starting at 7am. We're told we have 30 kilometres of rough jungle to cover to begin with, followed by 36 kilometres of plantation, and then another 9 kilometres of thick jungle at the end.
In the first 30 kilometres we gather that there is a swamp about 200 metres across, which we're encouraged to wade through. This is giving quite a few people some cause for concern… All we know is that it's covered with foliage and we don't know how deep it is. I asked the organiser if it was dangerous and he just looked at me and laughed. I'm taking that as a yes.
And we also know that in the 9 kilometres of jungle at the end there have been many jaguar sightings quite recently. It's not far from the town that we are actually going to finish in three days' time. But the fact that jaguar have been spotted up there has obviously set a few sphincters twitching.
So people are fairly apprehensive about tomorrow's run. They are coming up with different strategies about how to complete it. Most people seem to be planning to spend the night out on the course at some point, sleeping presumably on the plantation, rather than going into the final jungle section in the dark. Certainly I have no intention of going in there overnight, either on my own or with company.
That's about it for today's report. We will try to call in the day after tomorrow, once we've reached Base Camp 3.
Day 5
We concluded the fifth stage, to enormous relief, at about 8.15 this morning.Most of us have been in with the medics at some point today for the treatment of foot problems, or blisters, or whatever. There have been some quite interesting injuries here, a lot of cuts and things which have become infected…
The habit we get into at the end of each stage is to go straight down to the river, strip off and have a good wash and wash out all our clothes. Next we try to get he ticks off our legs which is one of the things from one of the runners. I shan't tell you his name so that wife will still welcome him with open arms. PS, it wasn't me, he adds.
There have been quite a few stories of pain throughout today as a lot of people are arriving in really quite a dreadful state. It's been a very very tough stage indeed.
Tomorrow we know the stage is 16 kilometres in total and we're told it's going to be fairly straightforward. They've actually shortened it to make it a little bit easier for us to cope with. They're getting a little worried here that people won't be able to finish.
Tomorrow's stage was going to start with a 700 metre swamp and river crossing (Luke chuckles ironically at this), followed by a few kilometres of jungle and I think they've decided to take that section out. So we're actually being taken downriver by boat to our new starting place. We'll have our last 16 kilometres down through jungle, plantation and on a road into a village called Rio Preto Dieva. And that'll be where we finish and, hopefully (because it's not done yet), where we'll celebrate on the line. I gather they have a beach there. So we're all looking forward to that.
What's come through very clearly over the last couple of days is that this year, being the first year of the race, it's very much been an experiment. And I think will be a lot of lessons learned both by the organisers and runners alike about what to do and what to expect on a run like this in the future.
We've had some injuries and illnesses and some casualties. Unfortunately we had another one who was casevacked out today with a fever. Most of us have made it intact.
He pauses.
And the race has certainly presented… At this point Luke's familiar understatement began to resurface. …one of the er… most difficult challenges around.
I'll call back tomorrow when I will hopefully have completed the final stage.
Final Stage
This is Luke Cunliffe from the Amazon Jungle just reporting in on the last day of the Jungle Marathon. It was day 7 - which was stage 6 - originally scheduled to be 24 kilometres - it was cut down by in theory 6 kilometres, but realistically only 4 to give around an 18-20 kilometres stage.We had to be ferried down river in small wooden canoes.. from the camp we had stayed the last night at.. Down to the new start line further down the river by about 40-45 minutes. This was not an inconsequential journey, and gave several of us cause for concern.. The first thing that happened with our canoe was, although we were happily photographing things on the way down.. We hit a submerged log in the canoe which nearly tipped us over. Suddenly cameras went back in their bags - faces grew much whiter.. Eyes grew a little bit wider.. And we focused a little bit more on the journey.
It was an amazing journey down this fairly narrow, winding river - a bit like a scene out of Deliverance but without the banjo player. We arrived at a small holding where we started the race.. It was all a bit festive, with everybody knowing this was the last stage - and theoretically quite easy. We had been warned where the checkpoints were likely to be - and how much water was likely to be there - Unfortunately something that became a daily occurrence - Checkpoints weren't quite where we expected - marking weren't quite as good as they needed to be.. And water wasn't as plentiful as it could have been, so it wasn't an easy stage be any stretch of the imagination.
Myself I started with Stephen Tennent - Kenny McKenzie, Andy Deshmukh and Tim Wooff - and most of us stayed together as a group until the finish. Stevie just wanted to take some photographs and stopped at one point to in the plantation for a bit of a rest - but I think that was his excuse to take some photos and enjoy himself.
At one point - we got to a section of forest where one of two guys started shouting back down the line - "Run for It!" - and I couldn't quite understand what the reason was, but it turned out there were quite a nasty breed of ant in the woods called "Fire Ants" - which have this lovely habit of jumping up and biting you.. And when they do so - it feels like you've been burnt. These guys were being burnt to ribbons by these fire ants - I was probably a bit lucky - as I was wearing trousers.. Nevertheless we did run through that part.. But we stayed to a fairly steady - tabbing / march way of approaching for the rest of the way.. Making our way again through more jungle.. A lot of plantations through some small holdings, across fields and through heading down past a school and onto a main road... On the main road it was about three quarters of a mile into the town of Rio Preto de Eva where we were met by hundreds of locals all shouting and cheering.. There was a beech by the river there... And a great deal of BBQ'd food...soft drinks and medical attention.. Unfortunately one woman was unable to finish this stage - and was pulled out of the race in an ambulance. I believe she is OK now - but that reduced the field from 45 starters to 35 finishers..
In terms of overall difficulty of this race - it has to be up there with the toughest of the tough...and one that I expect in the future will become of the great legendary races. I'll do a more full debrief next week by email on the Eventrate website, but just for the moment this is the last report you will have on the audio files.. And I'm sorry on behalf of Eventrate that we were unable to get the reports out as quickly as we'd wanted... We have some technical glitches going on here in Brazil.. This is why we switched to doing audio files..