First of all, well done to Jo Kilkenny, who has completed the run to Dover in her “Arch to Arc” attempt in a record time. She now rests before swimming the 22 mile English Channel to France at 3am on Thursday (weather dependant), and then cycling 180 miles to Paris. You can follow her progress on her website. www.jokilkenny.com

Another congratulations to Mark Cockbain who has once again completed The Badwater Ultramarathon, in absolutely brutal temperatures. The race was won by Brazilian Marcos Farinazzo in a time of 23:39:18. The first lady to finish was USA’s Jamie Donaldson in 27:20:18. Congratulations to everyone who took part.

Stage 3 of the Al Andalus Ultra Trail is now complete. Raul Morales Lopezhas has the lead by 45 minutes to his nearest rival Mark Woolley. The leading lady at the moment is the UK’s Mimi Anderson and she is also 8th overall. Mimi holds a commanding lead over second place lady Catherine Dubois, who is currently over 2 hours behind her. Still 2 stages to go in Spain, we’ll bring you more as we know it.

Finally, some very sad news to bring you. Dario Melaragni, well known race director of the West Highland Way Race, and Cateran Trail Ultramarathon in Scotland, passed away a few days ago near the summit of Lochnagar whilst out with friends, who battled to save his life. We’d like to pay our deepest respects, and send our thoughts out to his family and friends at this difficult time.

Just a few days until this years Al Andalus Ultra Trail gets under way, in Andalucia, Spain.

July 13th – 17th, 2009
Poniente Granadino
Andalucia – Spain
250km, 5 stages, supported.
(A very tough, scenic, mountainous route)
Stage 1 – Loja – Alhama de Granada
Stage 2 – Alhama de Granada – Jatar
Stage 3 – Jatar – Jayena
Stage 4 – Jayena – Santa Cruz del Comercio
Stage 5 – Santa Cruz del Comercio – Loja

Make sure you keep up with the latest news. Hopefully we’ll be posting updates here, but you can also follow the latest news on the event website

Also getting underway on the 13th July is the Badwater Ultramarathon. Beyond Marathon site advisor and friend Mark Cockbain is taking part yet again. He’s just completed the Thames ring 250 (miles), and now he’s straight off to Nevada to take part in the 135 mile Badwater, where temperatures are typically above 50C all day, and rarely dip much below 38C at night! Mark has already completed the event twice before, in fact he’s actually done a double Badwater as well! Finishing, climbing Mount Whitney, then running back to the start line!

The best of luck to Mark from Beyond Marathon.

Also starting either on 13th or 14th, weather depedant, is Ultra Athlete Jo KilKenny’s (www.jokilkenny.com) Arch to Arc attempt. This consists of an 87 mile run from Marble Arch in London to Dover, swim the 22 miles of the English Channel and cycle 180 mile to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Only 5 men have successfully completed this event so far with the record standing at 81hrs 5 mins. Jo is raising money for the meningitis trust www.justgiving.com/jokilkenny. Good luck Jo!