Interview with the Grand2Grand Ultra team following 170 mile ultra-endurance race

Kate - I’m very tired! It’s been a big part of our lives for over 9 months now so to be finished is a strange feeling. You are happy that the race went well but at the same time there is a part of your life that’s now missing as you don’t have a goal to focus on. 

Chris - At the G2G, you have the long stage and then two marathons afterwards. The long stage killed me, with being on my feet for 28 hours and because I was out until midday, I got blitzed by the high sun, so in terms of finding my limit – I’m done now. I think I finished 92nd out of 99 finishers and 130 started the event. I started off well but gradually got positioned lower following the long day. I made myself a deal in the middle of the dune fields – I said to myself, “you finish this event and you’ll never have to do anything like this again.” I finally got myself to my body’s limit, and I’m happy with what I achieved. 

Stuart - Our biggest challenges were altitude, heat, variety of terrain, multiple ascents/descents, less than 4 hours sleep per night and living on ration packs. The temperature of the Human Performance Lab heat chamber helped us prepare, but the piercing nature of the sun, you just can’t prepare for. 

David - The heat and the altitude both presented a huge challenge for us all on the G2G. Unlike many of the people in the race we had the opportunity to prepare in the environmental chamber under the guidance of GSK Human Performance Lab scientists. This allowed us not only to accelerate the body’s adaption to the environment we faced, but more importantly, allowed us to understand how to recognise symptoms of pushing ourselves over the limit and when to slow down. This was invaluable for us during the race and I have no doubt the preparation we did at the HPL gave us a much greater chance of finishing the race, bearing in mind 25% of the participants who started didn’t finish. 

Kate - I can’t say for certain if it was the heat or the altitude but I have never experienced sickness during a race like I did in the first two stages. I felt genuinely ill during this time and was physically sick a lot, meaning that I had to slow down to a power walk to recover. I met other runners who were also showing similar symptoms of struggling in the environment, but the local runners from Kanab (where G2G is held) were well adapted to these conditions so didn’t experience any problems.

Stuart - The welfare of team members was a big challenge, particularly with Chris, who suffered on days 5 and 6.

David - G2G posed a harder challenge than anything I have taken on before. We always knew that the environment would be tough but the extremely uneven ground, over 6,000m climbing and the constant threat of being skewed by a cactus made it especially challenging. My feet suffered a lot, forcing me to spend a considerable amount of time in the medical tent. I had blistered most of my toes and ended up with infected cuts that not only made it painful to walk with every step, but presented a real threat to my ability to finish. 

Kate - One of the biggest challenges I faced was whether to compete or to help people. During the night stage I felt strong and was really enjoying it! I bumped into a competitor who was having a really rough time – they were exhausted, throwing up and getting slightly delirious. I decided to forget about the time and to help the competitor finish the stage safely. 

David - Every morning and post-race we completed an iPad based cognition test. A simple reaction and co-ordination drill was performed on each occasion and despite attempts to concentrate, it became obvious that the effects of the long days and lack of sleep were having negative effects on the results.

Kate - We completed cognition tasks within 30 minutes of waking up and 30 minutes of completing the day’s event. They were really short tests that assessed our reaction times and ability to follow/process orders. For example, we would have to touch a green dot on a screen but not a red dot. Although the tasks were only 7 minutes long, they felt a lot longer. I think I always did better when I was exhausted for some reason – maybe the post-running adrenaline got me the best results, but I guess we’ll see...

David - I have no doubt that G2G presented a tougher challenge. This is something that anyone who has done both races agreed with and whilst it wasn’t as hot as the MDS, the extra miles, altitude and vertical ascents made G2G a very serious challenge. The heat was lower than the MDS, but it felt more relentless at G2G as there was no sun protection for much of the day. The tents were also closed (unlike the open sided tents at the MDS), which meant that they were very warm during the day and prevented us from getting much rest. The resulting lack of sleep over the week added to the challenge.  

Kate - I would say that G2G was harder than the MDS for several reasons: I feel MDS is marketed as ‘the toughest race on the planet’, but because of the focus on placing with the G2G, people were less inclined to help their fellow competitors, so that lack of support made this more challenging.  As I mentioned earlier too, the conditions were much tougher- with heat and altitude giving me sickness for two days, which I’ve never had before. 

Stuart - I’m looking for a world first in endurance, so watch this space... 

Kate - Nothing as of yet. I would like to continue running ultras. I think I need to get stronger and faster, especially with hills, so I’m going to concentrate on doing one-day races which include a few hills. I’m sure someone will suggest another crazy race soon though…

David - The multi-day ultra is something that I’ve ticked off and will leave for a few more years. Two major challenges remain for me at the moment: The Arch to Arc, running, swimming and cycling non-stop from London to Paris is something that will test me to the maximum and is a goal for the next 5 years. Then there is Everest, the ultimate challenge. I have no doubt that I could not have achieved what I have done without the support of GSK Human Performance Lab. Under their guidance I have changed from a 114kg rugby player to a 93kg ultra runner. Their support has been invaluable to us all.