The sun beat down throughout the day but it wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of the runners. The wildlife making itself known around the course made sure morale stayed high.

But that’s not to say it hasn’t been a hard day. The temperature was punishing and the day began with the 2nd biggest climb of the race, a strength-sapping 5 mile grind that steadily saps the strength in your legs. The reward for this thought is a view, back over their shoulders, of Mount Kenya looming on the horizon.

The runners started in 3 waves this morning. The slowest going at 07:00, the bulk of the pack at 07:30 and the fastest at 08:00. This likely made the tracking a little harder to follow but it’s an essential safety feature. Keeping the pack closer together makes it much easier to keep the wildlife and the runners a safe distance from one another.

We had a brief hold-up early in the day as a large herd of elephants crossed the course, and runners found wildlife had encroached on the trail again late in the stage when a herd of 60+ zebra made their way over to watch the runners home.

The day ended with a meeting between the rangers who’ve been watching over the runners so far. They all came to camp and the runners and rangers had a chance to meet, chat and form up for a giant group photo. It was a poignant moment for the runners to be among the rangers their efforts are helping to support and they gave them all a massive round of applause. Two of their commanding officers then came to the campfire to talk about their work as an anti-poaching unit.

Tom Makin was first over the line despite starting 30 minutes behind most of the runners. He now has a firm grip on the overall lead. James Hassan, here for the 2nd time and part of a contingent from BATUK, the British Army Training Unit in Kenya, took 2nd today and Alex Ward 3rd.

Lou Cole had a storming day and was the first runner through the first 2 checkpoints. She looked strong from start to finish and had a half hour lead over the next female athlete, Katie Baker. Veronique Leivin was 3rd.

We will have 2 starting waves tomorrow. One at 06:30 (04:30 UK) and the next at 07:00 (05:00 UK). It’s a long stage tomorrow and a challenging one. Wish them a good night’s sleep and good luck for the morning.

Stage Two Results:

Overall Standings: