Dateline : August 2005

After 155km, 8500 metres of climbing and a whole 15 minutes of sleep Neal and Christian completed the Ultra Trail Tour du Mont Blanc finishing in 763rd and 764th place out of some 2500 starters.

The event starts and finishes in Chamonix and the racers had just 45 hours to circumnavigate the highest mountain in the Alps going through France, Italy and Switzerland as they did so. It's one of the few races were your passport is on the mandatory gear list! The fact that 8500m is near enough the same height as Mount Everest (from sea level!) meant that the climbing aspect of the race was quite a challenge and included three excursions up to 2500 metres.

The non stop nature of the event (starting at 7pm with a mass dash out of the centre of Chamonix) meant that sleep deprivation was a big issue. The two of them spent most of the second night of the race hallucinating and were both in danger of nodding off while on the move. Not ideal when walking next to sheer drops. The second night of the race also brought with it heavy rain resulting in the rocky paths being covered in a slick layer of mud, increasing the danger of injury. Neal suffered a serious ankle injury but gritted his teeth to complete the course.

The race was fantastically well organised and supported. Given the ease of traveling to Chamonix from the UK it was surprising that there were not more than the 30 odd British runners taking part in the event. Neal & Christian's families were at the start to see them off and saw them finish on Sunday afternoon.

Christian took the opportunity to use the race to raise money for children's charity Winston's Wish. Winston's Wish supports children following the expected or sudden death of their mother, father, brother or sister. Recognised as a leading authority on the provision of child bereavement services across the UK, it is also the largest provider of bereavement services for children in Europe. Christian is still collecting donations in support of his efforts in the race via his charity donation webpage at http://www.justgiving.com/MontBlancUltra.