decides to do it on his mountain bike, throwing some old excuse of a "knackered achilles" as justification. Blonde Bird (who is a redhead) claims shin splints as an excuse. So what about the rest of us with hangovers (both of the head and belly)? Do we

.Rutto went into the event as the race favourite. That was based on winning Chicago in a world debut record of 2:05:50 despite rivals who included world champion Jaouad Gharib, the Olympic champion, Gezahegne Abera, and Kenya's Sammy Korir, who became

, sand and intensity of the MdS, but smart training will get you as close as possible. Nail down a long-term training plan and sign up for an ultra or two (there are a growing number of multi-day stage races on our events listings). For a pre-race multi

with the Pirates and the support was unbelievable. It had been hard and hot, but I survived and I was hooked. When the time came to enter Ironman Switzerland I knew I wanted to be part of it. Training went well but in August my right Achilles went – my first ever

kept you going," said Zilla. "My first two laps were okay on the bike," Andy Collier said, "But on the third I could feel my Achilles go and I had to stop by the side of the road for half an hour. I was throwing up, but I never thought about quitting

cruel tactics: amputations by machete, eye gougings, burns, injections with acid, rape, beatings. Young boys were coerced into working as child soldiers, while girls were often forced into sexual slavery, with reports that some had their achilles tendon