Good luck!
Finished 7.53. That was something else. Biblical rain and mud. Back home and showered now but I feel wrecked and not at all well.
More later.
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Congratulations FP - weather looks horrific.
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Thanks Anna, yes it was grim. We had about 90 mins when it was absolutely throwing it down. I’ll write a bit more later but results are, I came 51st out of 66 but what caught my eye was 3rd place.
Tim van Berkel?
https://www.sportident.co.uk/results/FreedomRacing/2023/FiveTrailsUltra/
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Think that’s a different Tim, if you’re referring to the triathlete…he’s sitting somewhere sunny watching rugby, according to his instagram 
Think you did amazingly well to finish. How are the lungs post corona?
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Ah that makes more sense. I wondered why he’d moved to Cornwall and changed nationalities 
Lungs and breathing didn’t feel too bad at all thanks but I did wake up with that rib pain that I had a few weeks ago and that caused me issues for the first 8km but it settled a bit, came back this morning though.
I’m surprised the race was even on, just driving there was a challenge with flooded and closed roads everywhere.
This was the first running of the race and there was a 30km option as well. I couldn’t decide what to wear but went with a short sleeved under my w/p jacket but last minute at the car, decided to add a long sleeve to the dry bag on the pack. A good move as it turned out.
I can’t even describe how wet and muddy the course was but after a few kms we’d already gone literally knee deep in water lots of times.
More sideway steps than forward ones🤦♂️
I kept everything at an easy pace as best I could. Ate every 20mins, which was hard in the wet . After a while it was dry weather for a bit, jacket came off but sporadic rain meant still getting wet.
It took me 4hrs to do 27km but the majority of the big climbs are in the first half but still plenty to come.
About 30km in I realised I was getting cold, so took my jacket and pack off and changed into the dry long sleeve. This was a great move as what brightness there was would soon be dipping and a cold wet jacket against skin is horrible.
I had no real issue with Achilles but did suffer with another issue that hits me randomly but slows me right down ( let’s just say it’s chaffing related)
We started at 10.00 and I had rough plan to go sub 8 hrs and get home and showered before the rugby.
Apart from the mud, the biggest challenge was the wet chalk on the SDW , it’s lethal in the wet.
Made it back in 7.53 and was probably only 10mins shy of needing a head torch.
Overall happy, didn’t ‘hate the race ‘ apart from the last 2km where I had the ‘where’s the fucking finish line’ feeling!
I spent the night throwing up and am seriously questioning why I keep slugging at this. Although it was good result for me, I’m not in good place with ultras right now if I’m honest.
Doing this on my phone in cafe. Sorry for any errors
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Well done
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Sounds like every ultra I have ever done
Well done for getting it done
I think I would have found a nice warm bed for a lie in as a preferable alternative
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61 Laps so far at the Big Dog. Bloody hell!
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Amazing! Been following this too. Phil Gore did 102 yards at Dead Cow Gully in the Summer, wonder how close they’ll get to this.
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PG is a bit of a legend at Dead Cow. I remember watching the Suffolk BY and John Stocker saying that the race really starts after Day 3. 
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At least they seem to have the weather there.
Im siding towards becoming a fair weathered runner nowdays , apart from the training …
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come to Suffolk
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Still going, currently at 83 laps (not helping my work output today), 12 still out on the course, I am not aware of such a large field going so deep, that record has got to be on. Both Phil Gore and Sam Harvey who support PG to the 102 still looking good 
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7 runners out on the 98th. Agree, think a new record is definitely on.
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102 laps the record I think - with that many still in the game surely the record will fall
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Good grief!
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Down to 6 at hour/lap 99
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They are now 23 mins into lap 101
That is over 4 days awake and running - coming up to 420 miles - London to Edinburgh is 402 miles - bonkers
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Mind boggling.