STAGE 6 UPDATE 1600HRS 4-APRIL-2009

They ran into the square in San Pedro hand in hand and crossed the finish line together, their moving gesture of unity and sportsmanship epitomising, in a single moment, everything the Atacama Crossing 2009 has been about – the sharing of a life changing experience.

There aren’t many sporting events where the first and second placed athletes cross a line together, but that’s what winner Mehmet Danis of Canada and his closest rival, Peter Osterwalder of Switzerland, did to a roar of approval from the watching crowd.

Mehmet wasn’t even thinking about his overall victory in what has been a brutal, unforgiving, but thoroughly wonderful event.

“I’m glad it’s over, but I’m really emotional,” he said, grabbing a slice of pizza and a soda. “I’m going to miss some of these guys. It’s a long race but sometimes it’s just too short. I wish I had the chance to get to know them better. When I was crossing the finish line I didn’t really care about winning the event, I just wanted to enjoy the moment and the crowd is something else, you don’t get this every day.”

You certainly don’t. The scene in San Pedro this morning was joyous, with hundreds of people awaiting the arrival of the first competitors. Local musicians were playing and kids were running around excitedly. San Pedro’s eclectic mix of dogs, real characters one and all, were also milling around seeing if they could get lucky with the pizza that was being prepared for competitors.

Today’s staggered start kept things nice and interesting. Not that this event has ever been anything other than totally captivating. The slowest group left their campsite in the Kari Gorge at 0900hrs, with the next leaving at 1000hrs. The fastest pack stormed out at 1100hrs in a cloud of dust, but minus any undercurrent of ruthless competitiveness. The results for these guys would remain unchanged after this 10k stage and they were just going to enjoy themselves.

The first competitor to actually make it to San Pedro was Christian Zagal of Denmark.

”“It was awesome,” he said. “I was really happy just to get it over with. It was a hard race and if I want to do this again, I have to prepare so much, but it was fantastic.”

The staggered start ensured a steady stream of arrivals from then on. Every one of them got a rapturous welcome from the gathered townspeople and RacingThePlanet event staff.

Rob O’Brien from Ireland, a man who battled a brain tumour, performed a jig on the finish line, much to the delight of everyone watching. Croc wearing Brazilian, Carlos Dias, was extremely emotional, waving his Brazilian flag around and shouting “Brazil!” with tears streaming down his face.

Proving he had plenty left in the tank, Germany’s Harald Meyer dropped down before the finish and knocked out a load of push-ups. Indeed, he kept on going much longer than we expected.

First team to cross the line were Aranda Aventura, hand in hand and clearly delighted with their overall win in that division.

”We ran hard, hard, hard,” said team member Delfin Esteban Revenga.

Chile’s team Andesgear made it into town before second placed Lleidaextrem of Spain, but it had no impact on the overall team result. Regardless, the local boys got a passionate reception and team member Carlos Valenzuela laid down to kiss the ground and give thanks.

RacingThePlanet’s Founder and CEO Mary Gadams, taking part in her first ever 4 Deserts event, had suffered pretty much every step of the way. She was dead last in Stage 5, but seemed to be digging deep when she came trotting slowly up the street towards the finish line. Not a lady who loses her composure easily, she was overwhelmed by the reception.

“I’m really excited and at a loss for words,” she said, sinking a soda and some pizza. “I really had to hold back tears at the end, I could hardly breathe. It was a very, very tough week, probably the hardest seven days of my life. It was a good bonding experience. My tent mates were great, the medical team were great and they all got me to the finish line. When you see the finish line, you can’t believe the feeling, it’s unlike anything else.”

At this point it all got a bit too much for Mary, who teetered on the brink of really letting go with the tears.

“I’m just exhausted,” she laughed. “I want some TLC and a nice bath.”

Olivier Thiriet of France crossed the line with the two Japanese competitors who had become his good friends during the week. His left knee was heavily bandaged and he was moving slowly.

“Initially the goal was to finish well and then the goal was to just finish,” he said, echoing the survival approach followed by many of his fellow competitors. “I was in a lot of pain.”

Women’s division winner, Fleur Grose of Australia, didn’t appear in San Pedro quite as quickly as everyone thought she might. The second and third placed athletes in that division – Mirjana Pellizzer of Croatia and Tracy Simmons of the USA, came in before her. When she did arrive she was running with partner Damon Goerke, soaking up the experience.

“I’m really elated to be finished because you never know what’s going to go wrong,” she said. ”We had a good run in to the finish but I really had nothing left. We’re just looking forward to celebrating.”

There was real delight to see 77-year-old Laurence Brophy of Wales coming across the finish line. Although Legendary Laurence didn’t quite manage to complete every stage, he’s a battler and a gentleman who gave it his all.

“I would have liked to have done more,” he said. “I did start every stage though. Perhaps I was a bit presumptuous to try this event, but it would have been awful for all the people who’ve performed so greatly to see me succeed, so I’ve done them a favour.”

Laurence, you’ve done all of us a favour by just turning up in Chile. You have our respect.

Amanda Heading of the UK performed strongly at the start of the event, but then found herself in a survival situation, battling sickness for the remaining stages. It took its toll on her and at times it looked like she’d have to stop, but mentally this lady is like a piece of iron. She appeared on the gentle hill leading up to the finish, followed by a couple of big loping dogs.

“The camaraderie and the people have just been brilliant,” she said, clearly very disappointed not to have been able to mount a stronger challenge on the lead. “What really helped was I had these two dogs following me and I was feeding them bits of my food. It just reminded me of my two dogs at home and it really, really helped. I’m sure in a few hours I’ll say it’s been a great event.”

And then there was only one name left on the finish line check-in sheet, that of Alastair Todd from the UK. His feet had all but destroyed him early on in the event and only his truly epic mental determination was keeping him moving ahead at a snail’s pace. It didn’t matter what speed he was doing though, he was making progress towards that line.

Then we saw him, course sweepers following closely behind and 4 Deserts veteran Alasdair Morrison urging him on. The response Alastair received brought tears to many eyes. It was momentous and rightly so, for he looked like death. But then a huge smile cracked across his face and he looked up at the finish line banner. He’d made it. Mary Gadams, who had shared a tent and her own suffering with Alastair for much of the way this week, awarded him his Atacama Crossing 2009 medal. Everyone who makes it this far is heroic, but Alastair’s guts humbled us all.

“I’m tired, but I’ve done it for my little boy Alfie and my wife Kim,” he said. “I’d like to thank the medical crew because I wouldn’t be here without them. It was fantastic to see everybody waiting. I’m so grateful. That was really nice of them. They could have gone home instead of waiting for me.”

What an end to this astounding event. Had you asked them yesterday, pretty much all of the competitors would have been looking forward to finishing and getting a rest. But talking to them today, there was sadness that it was all over. Like the Atacama they’ve just crossed, desert racing is full of contrasts and contradictions, but it’s clearly one of the most life affirming experiences there is. You just needed to look at the faces on competitors in that town square today to understand exactly why they do this.