Highway to Hell - ACDC

At precisely 7am, right on time, The Magnificent Seven hit the 'Highway to Hell', some 860+ miles from John o'Groats to Lands End. Into a gale force wind up here of course and a balmy 9 degrees they sprinted off from the famous Start/Finish line outside the still derelict hotel.


We are off to our first checkpoint to see how they are getting on and settling into their first day on the road.


More later on...

Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin

Well we are here - armed, ready and set for 16 days out there on the roads of the Scotland, Wales and England. We had great weather conditions for the final leg of the journey up here and shivered only slightly during our photo session in front of the post.

It's going to be an early night for the guys as we start at 7am prompt tomorrow for our first 63 mile leg down to Brora. We drove thru there today and it took a further two hours to get here along a very long and winding road.

So all it remains for us at ULTRArace to say is 'Good Luck for tomorrow Chaps'...

More then

Airport - The Motors

There's nothing quite like a bit of male bonding...I say and the class of 2011 are already arriving and settling in and getting to know each other. It's all good manly stuff.

We have a further 130 miles to get up to JOG and are on our way as soon as the 13:30 arrives at Inverness Airport with the other runners.

- for more information check out www.rorycoleman.co.uk

 

Ready to go - Republica

I tell you what... 450 miles is a bloody long way to drive, let alone run! And it's taken us most of the day to do it, in the comfort of our Chevrolet Captiva. In fact looking at the stats, we did in an average of 60 miles per hour, exactly what our seven runners plan to cover a day over the next 16 days... hmm...

It doesn't compute somehow and thinking about the whole 860+ miles right now must feel extremely daunting to the guys prior to starting on Friday... it's one hell of a test of human endurance.

Inverness is still a mighty long way from JOG and we still have a five hour trip to make the first of our daily stopovers and the photocall at the famous fingerpost at the start of the 9bar JOGLE Ultra. We are already safely snuggled up on our luxury sleeper bus tonight and ready for the Class of 2011 to arrive tomorrow. So goodnight from Bonnie Scotland and more tomorrow.

Summer Sun - Texas

Well,we have made it to Scotland in our ULTRArace Chevrolet... It's a ridiculously high 24 degrees and is fantastic weather to get our 9bar JOGLE Ultra underway.

We meet the sleeper bus at about 10pm tonight at The Ironworks in Inverness... Paul,our driver is already a few miles ahead of our stop and will hopefully have our home for the next 16 days up and running for when we arrive...

It feels like going on holiday right now! Some holiday eh?

More later...

Seven by Seven - Hawkwind

Well, we are all packed for the trip up to Inverness tomorrow to greet 'The Magnificent Seven' on Thursday.

Ben, Edward, Graham, Michael, Micky, Steve and Torkel deserve a huge round of applause even to get to the start line of 'The 9bar JOGLE Ultra - The Ultimate ULTRA-marathon'. The 17,806 metres of climb over the next 16 days (that's more than climbing twice Mount Everest from sea level) will no doubt sort the Men from the Boys and the 17,747 metres of descent will sort out what's left!

Hopefully, they have looked long and hard at last year's competitors and have seen how 2010 Champion Neil Bryant conquered the 860+ miles. With any luck they will also have seen how he, David Miles and Mark Cockbain went thru the pain barrier time and time again to get to that final run into Lands End and finish the longest mega-marathon footrace in Great Britain.

It was amazing to watch... and let's hope 2011 is just as exciting.

Anyway, our on-board Chef, Anne White arrives at ULTRArace HQ tomorrow at 10am and then we are off... and it's Bonnie Scotland here we come...

The Final Countdown - Europe

'9bar JOGLE Ultra' - 3 days to the Start

I am sure that there are some sleepless nights ahead now for 'The Magnificent Seven' as they begin the final countdown before the biggest ULTRArace of their lives... 860+ miles on the road over 16 days is something to be very respectful of for both runners and voyeurs as they run their hearts ourt and we look on as the drama unfolds.

In the ULTRArace office it's all JOGLE right now and we are already packing supplies for the long journey up to Inverness on Wednesday.


JOGLE fever has also hit our email as 2012 is already booking up fast with 6/13 places filled with at least the same amount considering their entry status... no doubt they are looking in right here to see what happens to the class of 2011 first.

Intro's to 'The Magnificent Seven', tomorrow... and more then.