Welcome to John Quinn's Jungle Marathon 2008 website.
Here you can find out all you ever wanted to know about John's participation in the Jungle Marathon 2008...and probably a lot more.
ABOUT THE JUNGLE MARATHON
The Jungle Marathon (JM) is a 6 stage, 200 km (125 mile) endurance race around the Amazon Jungle in Brazil. Competitors will be self sufficient – carrying all of their own provisions (including a hammock to sleep in) – other than bottled water which is provided by the organisers at designated checkpoints.
The distances and routes of Stages change each year but will be approximately as follows:
Stage 1: 16 km / 10 miles
Stage 2: 25 km / 15 miles
Stage 3: 31 km / 19 miles
Stage 4: 18 km / 12 miles
Stage 5: 87 km / 54 miles*
Stage 6: 25 km / 16 miles
*Competitors have around 37 hours to complete Stage 5, however, anyone who hasn't left CP4 (that's checkpoint 4 to normal people) after approximately 10 hours will be forced to stay there overnight...because that particular area of jungle is densely populated by jaguars. John also have it on good authority that a jaguar was spotted by one of the competitors in last years race.
WHY IS JOHN RUNNING THE JM?
Well, as some of you will know John completed the Marathon des Sables (MdS) in 2007 (His webpage, blog, etc can be seen at: http://johnquinn.saharamarathon.co.uk/). The MdS is widely regarded as 'the toughest footrace on Earth.' However, since completing the MdS John discovered that several people who have taken part in both events (MdS and JM) have said that the JM is EVEN tougher. The main reason for this is the extreme humidity in the jungle environment, which makes heat dissipation very difficult and hence hydration even more critical. Other reasons include river crossings, steep muddy banks, razor sharp vegetation, mosquitos, piranhas, snakes, spiders, large caymans, stingrays, jaguars and last but certainly not least the dreaded candiru fish!
Anacondas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDw0NdhK6QU)
Candiru Fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candiru)
Caimans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_cayman)
Jaguars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_onca)
Piranhas (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zc2NJDqkqPw)
Stingrays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray)
Tarantulas (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=boZebIFn0P0&feature=related)
So, since John is quite interested in (dangerous) wildlife he decided to give it a whirl. More important than his enjoyment however is that by taking part in such a downright silly event (no offence to the organisers!), he can hopefully utilize the opportunity to raise some money for good causes…
SPONSORSHIP: 2 VERY WORTHY CAUSES
He is taking part in the Jungle Marathon 2008 to raise money for the following two very worthy causes:
LIFE & CAST
LIFE (Life Improvement For Everyone)'s main objective is to support individuals (children and adults) who are experiencing emotional, psychological and behavioural difficulties as a result of deprived backgrounds both in the UK and around the globe. They aim to increase the quality of life of the individuals supported through the use of specialised methods of therapy, social support, and the further education of primary caregivers. CAST (Child and Adolescent Support Team) specifically focusses on younger people. They work with children and adolescents displaying physical and psychological disabilities as a result of deprived upbringing. They have a database of around 360 volunteers, managing projects in the UK, Romania, Bulgaria, Belarus and India. (http://www.cast-uk.com/, Hayley Lee's story, Overview of LIFE & CAST)
City of Hope
The City of hope is a local organisation offering refuge for abused women and children. The shelter houses up to 50 women, includes victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and other forms of discrimination. City of Hope provides these people with a safe place to live, counselling, training programmes, education, medical care and legal support, in order that they may become self-sufficient. (Further details of the work of the organisation can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjqlbVuTtEA and http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR28/32.pdf)
Making a Donation
Unfortunately John hasn't been unable to set up an on-line sponsorship facility (as yet). A Sponsor Form is attached. If you wish to make a donation geographical location needn't be a problem as Santa's little helpers are all around. If you do wish to make a donation or have any queries please feel free to send John an e-mail at mail@johnnyquinn.co.uk
TRAINING
As anyone whose seen John over the last few months will tell you he's taken his training VERY seriously ;)
In preparing for an event such as this, John is a firm believer in a relatively little known philosophy called EDT. This comprises 3 simple steps and is demonstrated below:
E: Early Nights
D: Diet
T: Training
JOHN'S JM BLOG
Even though John will be in the deepest, darkest depths of the Amazon jungle, thanks to the wonders of modern tchnology, he will (touch wood) be able to update his Jungle Marathon Blog (which can be found at: http://junglemarathon2008.blogspot.com/) at the end of each stage. (Thanks Baz!). There should also be daily updates and photographs available from the organiser's website (see link below).
MESSAGING JOHN IN THE JUNGLE
Thanks to the wonders of remarkably similar modern technlogy to those referred to above, John will also be able to receive written messages during his time in the Jungle. Messages can be sent via the Organisers website (http://www.junglemarathon.com/. At the time of last checking this could be done by selecting 'Contact' at the top of the site's homepage, and then selecting the 'Send e-mails to runner or crew member' link on the right hand side. The link was not functional at the time but should be activated shortly before the start of the race). Please do send plenty of messages, even if for no other reason than it will annoy John's friend Mark if he receives lots more messages than Mark does. Unfortunately, however, the organisers have advised that the passing on of work-related e-mails cannot be guaranteed :)