Day 5: Rest day

Rest day after the long 70km stage.

We have just been told that a competitor died last night in his tent. Bernard Jule, from France, came in 45th last night as one of the elite runners. He went to bed saying he was fine. He got up briefly at 3.30am to cheer some others in to the finish, said he was fine and looked fine, then went back to his sleeping bag. He never woke up.

As you can imagine the tone around camp has changed. I am sure you will hear about it on the news so please don't worry. I am fine. I came in yesterday in 12hrs 19mins, to make me 235th overall in just over 28hrs. It was a long hard hot day, but I ran well on my own.

The race will continue tomorrow. Most talk is that though this race is intense and extreme, it was not the cause of death. A doctor who works in A&E says he sees this sort of death regularly. Perhaps some heart condition that he never even knew he had. His ECG for the race was fine and he was an ultra fit guy. It just happened.

Thanks for all emails.