However that included what turned into a 25-minute pit stop at the Devils Dyke pub when we reached Checkpoint 7... The boys were surprised at how good it felt having a pint en route!
It was a mixed day of sunshine and heavy showers, and we seemed to spend a lot of time repeatedly taking out our rainjackets to put them on, then putting them away again, then taking them out again. In the early stages there was an hour of constant rain which was hard going and even a brief hail storm. As we passed Chanctonbury Ring a fierce wind seemed to want to push us off the ridge - there was a strong chance that Rich would become airborne in his poncho (see picture below).
But we battled on and we all felt in pretty good shape when we hit 30km. Only 4 weeks left until the big event, but as our training ramps up we're gaining confidence that we can achieve this. Next Saturday we will tackle 40km covering stages 2, 3, 4 & 5 ......
* Stage 6: 10 km ... 2h25m (+10 mins at checkpoint)
* Stage 7: 9.4 km ... 1h50m (spurred on by the pub up ahead?... +25 mins at checkpoint)
* Stage 8: 6.9 km ... 1h25m (+5 mins at checkpoint)
* Stage 9 (first 1/4): approx 3.5 km ... 40m
* Total 29.8 km ... 6h20m walking + 40 mins of breaks
