Night Team:

Once again, northern hospitality lived up to its reputation and the night team was allowed to sleep in until 1.30pm and were even served breakfast then! With a full Scottish inside us we were ready to do battle with the A9 for the last time...

We took over the afternoon team just after Allness. Despite it still being light, as Ed headed off on the A9 in the rain we realised that he would benefit with some lighting and a reflective jacket as visibility was low. We pulled alongside him a short way up the road and kitted him out. Ed ran his last shift well getting to Newfield where he changed over with Rich having run the best part of 11 miles.

Rich hadn't exactly recovered from his knee but he was still committing himself to another 4 hours of slow, agonising progress on the A9. Ed and Carlos popped into Tain to purchase a portion of chips, wich was duly shared with Rich. The route took Rich over the Dornoch Firth and made it to Loch Fleet. Rich had suffered greatly with his knee but had struggled on regardless - there was notable relief when Rich finished his shift. Despite limping for the past two days, he had done the job and could now rest easy... at least until the final mile that everyone would run together!

The previous 5 days Carlos had managed to complete at least a marathon and would attempt to make this his 6th consecutive sub-4hr marathon. The A9 would now follow the north-east coast closely, rewarding him with fantastic views in an eerie, permanent half-light as the sun merely dipped below the horizon for a short while before rising again. Upon running through Helmsdale, Carlos was attacked by approx. half a dozen sea-birds who, being protective of their roosts on the high-street buildings, attempted to empty the contents of their bowels upon his head! The followed him for over a mile out of Helmsdale - they really had it in for him, quite funny really! With 10k left Carlos' strength was waning and the lows were beginning to outlast the highs. With 2.9 miles to go he injected the last bit of pace that he could. On completing his 6th marathon, he decided to walk for a bit - completely exhausted he jogged slowly towards the morning team who'd just got there in time!

Morning Team:

This would be the last shift the morning team would have to endure. Since it was only a short way to John o' Groats now (ETA 14:00), they had agreed to share some of the running time with the afternoon team to stop them from missing out (if you can call it that) on their 6th day of running.

This would be the last push (except for the last mile, which everyone will run together). This last push, Anna reports, threw everything at them, including a massive hill, which, when we got high enough, left them exposed to a terrible wind. A bit further up rain started lashing on Anna & Charlie. "Bring it on!" They sped up on the final stretch and even managed a 7.5 mins / mile pace.

Gemma was under the impression that Anna had taken care of all the hills, but not so - she only took care of most of them! Gemma had a weird experience - she felt fit enough; it was her legs that simply said "no" up the first hill. They loosened up a little after the second meaning that she could take in the views with a little more enjoyment. She was struck with wind and rain halfway through her run. The whole of the run went fairly quickly - perhaps because she knew it was the last one. She made it - and didn't fall over or cry; what a result! :)

Rachel enjoyed her last stint much more than the previous day despite it being a bit windy. She couldn't believe how close the whole team was to finishing! Charlie (the dog) was said to have expresed the following "I am VERY tired and moody. I don't want to do ANY MORE running - I need some SLEEP!" :)

Afternoon Team:

The last changeover took place earlier than usual as the morning team and the afternoon team had agreed to share the remaining distance left by halving their shifts. Lesley kicked off the afternoon shift running through Wick before passing the baton onto Mikey.

Mikey then took over with a little over 13 miles to! So close now. The head wind was strong over the flt exposed landscape. Lesley mistakingly thought that she could see the John o' Groats landmark.

Pete took over with less than his fair share of distance left to cover, but nonetheless he was happy to be greeted by the rest of the team with 1 mile left to go!!