Hi,

I'm a Royal Navy Submariner, Leading Weapons Engineering Artificer John 'Wiggy' Bennett, from Grantham. I have now completed one of the toughest challenges in the world – a 200 kilometre footrace through the Amazon Rain Forest - Jungle Marathon. (Please read my daily blogs of the race, further down the page) I was the fastest Brit and came in 8th place overall.

I'm 28-years old and was given the great opportunity to take part in the race in October this year and I'm well on my way to raising the £1,600 entry fee.  I'm also hoping to attract sponsorship from friends, family and organisations for the race to raise money for the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC)

The race, which takes place in the State of Para, Brazil, is run in six stages over seven days. Competitors run along pre-existing paths, trails and tracks through primary jungle, negotiating natural obstacles through streams and shallow rivers along the way. A distance of 16.3 km to be completed within 10 hours eases the competitors into the race.  Stages two, three, four and six range from 18.4 to 24.8 km. By far the toughest stage, number five, is an overnight run of 87km starting at 5.30am and finishing at 7pm the following day. Runners are required to be self-sufficient, carrying their food and provisions throughout the race and will sleep overnight in hammocks at camp sites along the shores of the Tapajos river.

By doing this race I will be raising public awareness of the Royal Navy in an international forum and will raise money for the Arthritis Research Campaign (ARC), as many of my friends and family suffer from this affliction. I believe that Arthritis doesn’t get the attention it deserves, considering how many people suffer from it, the fact that most people will suffer from it and it makes many people old before their time. 

On a more personal note as an extreme sportsman I would like to challenge my abilities to their maximum potential in what is one of the most difficult competitions of its nature in the world today.

As a young Leading Hand I believe that my participation in this event will inspire other such rates to take on more active personal challenges, thus promoting a good Naval ethos to the public and service personnel alike.

Thanks for visiting my fund raising page. Please dig deep and sponsor me online.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Arthritus Research Campaign will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

So please sponsor me now!

Many thanks for your support.

My Daily Blogs,

7th October

Finally arrived at the first base camp 2pm (7pm gmt )on the 6th,  after flying several thousand miles on three planes and traveling  over night down the Tapajos river by boat, starting where the river  meets the Amazon river. Which is really weird as you can clearly see  the two rivers flowing separately, one green blue, the other brown as  if a line has been drawn down the middle.

The boat itself looks like  an old paddle steamer, minus the paddles and has three decks. Doing  anything on board was really complicated  as there’s hammocks every  where! At night it was much colder than expected, I had to wear my thick hoodie which I’d packed for when I got back to the UK.

Night time is interesting in the base camp with the constant noise of  insects and howler monkeys going off at four in the morning.

8th October, Stage 1,

Absolutely incredible, to say that it was really hilly is an understatement. Quite taxing on the mind too,  as you have to be constantly switched on, looking out for the marker  tapes, where your putting your feet, your hands - making sure you don ´t put them on any little beasties or spiky plants and watching your  head against branches, snakes and spiders, etc... I finished in 25th out of 46 after starting at the back as I had a separate pair of shoes for the first water crossing and wasting a lot  of time changing into my socks and trainers. Good to have dry feet for all of about a km after that there were numerous swamps and  marshes and stream crossings.

Everyone was completely soaked within seconds of entering the jungle proper with nearly 100% humidity, but that was good as it kept you cool. The race was amazing, I still can’t believe I’m here in the middle of the rain forest, seeing loads of  weird looking spiders, lizards, frogs, bugs and pigs. Really helped  to keep me going, I was just enjoying looking forward to seeing what  awaited me around the next bend. I finished the race today back on  the shore of theTapajosriver with it’s white sandy beach and  vultures circling over head - awesome!

Stage one is about 10 miles, usually I could run that in less than one and  half hours, It took me five and half today, due to the extremity of the  terrain. Can’t wait till tomorrow! 
 
9th October Stage 2
 
Got very wet and muddy today at numerous creek and swamp crossings (I found out that this was to become the norm) Sank up to my waist in one of the swamps right in front of the camera man.
 
Lot more lizards, massive butterflies, wasps and hummingbirds, sometimes difficult to tell which was which as they came buzzing past my ears. Also saw a jungle rat, it was right in front of me on the track and just casually climbed up the tree next to me, it was huge! As big as a terrier and looked like a cross between a pig and a rat.
 
I went through an area, about 3k before the end of the race which stank of big cat urine, found out later that about half an hour before I got there, there were two black jaguars there which growled at two of the Brazilian competitors scaring the hell out of them!
 
Finished in 17th today, wasn’t to bad a course, most people hated it and we lost a few runners today.
 
10th October
 
Spent last night in a camp in the middle of the jungle - the stream that ran by the camp was heaven ' like a plunge pool, just what I needed after the race.
 
At around midnight there was a thunder storm - sheet lightning - awesome! Nearly everyone got soaked as there was no room to properly set out the fly sheets.
 
Stage 3
 
After all the rain last night it was quite cool in the jungle. The jungle seemed so different from getting a good soaking.
 
Came up close and personal with three swarms of bees, first lot I new that they were there because of the bloke behind me started screaming and had to leg it out of there.
 
Second lot. Found out they were there after being stung three times on my face at the same time, my nose, under my left eye and left lower jaw ' my eye and nose were streaming! The stings weren’t too bad, just a little worse than being bitten by a fire ant, which is like having a cigarette being stubbed out on your skin - I got quite used to this.
 
I found today a bit harder than the previous two stages, not because of the distance, but because of the two large blisters on my heals from stage one. They both burst near the end in the last stage of the ridiculously steep hills.
 
Came in 13th today with a sprint finish. The camp is next to a village and after hearing a competitors footsteps behind me and seeing the crowd cheering, I couldn’t resist, had to sprint across a football pitch, it was awesome!
 

11th October Stage 4 
 
Brilliant day, started with a 380m river crossing swim with all my kit, wasted at least ten minutes though after the crossing to dry my feet and put on dry socks and trainers.

Decided to run this one, brilliant - actually easier than yomping - I had to yomp on the hills and ran everything else.
 
I came in 10th place, really pleased. Especially as I beet Shaun, the Australian competitor, couldn’t live it down that a "Pomme" beat him. I was the first Brit across the line by a long way today and even beat a few of the pros.
 
Ran through another big cat patch, didn’t see them but definitely smelt them - same sort of jungle as last time too, mostly palms with leaves growing low to the ground.
 
Also has a glimpse of monkeys crashing through the tree tops just before the finish line.
 
The howler monkeys came very close to camp last night they were very noisy - sounded a bit like a ghost train. There was also a tarantula in camp, but the Brazilian runners killed this.
 
I had my feet properly checked out today - a bit worse than I thought, had left the dressing on over my blisters but they were getting more painful, so I removed the dressing to discover that the blisters had torn open and had filled with sand, no wonder they bloody hurt! I’ve also killed off two toenails - can’t wait for the 87k stage tomorrow!
 
12th - 13th October Stage 5
 
Didn’t have the best of starts, no sleep - I couldn’t sleep thinking about the race and then a thunder storm with torrential rain at midnight. I got absolutely soaked! The rain didn’t stop till 4am which is when I had to get up to get ready for the race.
 
Another wet start with a 100m river crossing. Had some really extreme hills to start with. This was the hardest race yet - I felt absolutely knackered at check point 2, I could barely walk my feet were in such a state. However, we then had another thunder storm, rain that heavy it was like standing under a shower for 4 hours. This really lifted my spirits the jungle was a completely different place - it was amazing having thunder and lightning going off around me and every now and then hearing a large tree fall somewhere in the jungle.
 
Really had to dig deep for this stage, my feet were a complete mess. In the night, I saw a few more animals - mostly massive frogs and giant spiders, at first I was carefully stepping around these, but later on I was just so knackered I just kept on walking straight over them. Also saw a jaguar, its eyes any way, lit up in my torch beam a few metres away, thought it best to just keep walking!
 
I decided to get the race over with a quick as possible hardly waiting at check points. I’ve never been so tired, exhausted and in so much pain. After starting the race at 0530 in the morning, I eventually finished just over 21 hours later at around 0240 coming in 9th place. Having a massive lead on most of the other competitors - one guy didn’t finish until gone 10 that night!
 
The race was made more difficult due to the complete lack of oil burners marking the way, so had to keep searching for the route ribbons and previous runners foot prints. Thos was really hard with only a head torch and being absolutely pitch black outside. In the last few hours it got even more difficult as being so tired and only being able to see with my head torch I had developed tunnel vision, I had lost all of my peripheral vision.
 
To make matters worse, check point 6 was missing so had to do over 26k in one go. And had 2 more river crossings before the end, one of these using a rope to pull my self to the other side.
 
14th October Stage 6 
 
Last stage at last! Quite a boring race really, as the whole race was on the beach. I wonted to get this over with as quick as possible as there was no protection from the sun. I ran as best I could for the whole race, every now end then running into the river and using my cap as a bucket to pour water over my head.
 
I was brilliant finishing in the town centre with all the crowds cheering, I finished in 10th place - fastest Brit, and came in overall in 8th place, I can’t believe it!
 
Finally got my ice cold beer too, gorgeous after being teetotal for 2 months.
 
To show how tough this race was, we lost 14 competitors, that's dropping out due to de-hydration and exhaustion, which is over 30% drop out.
 
Most of the competitors have done the Marathon des Sables (MDS) at least once and many other adventure races such as the Yukon challenge and theGobi desert. They said that this was the hardest race they had ever done and all agreed that MDS was like a walk in the park in comparison.
 
A big thankyou to everyone for their kind donations and continued support.

Money Raised offline.

Thankyou to the people of Barkston, my home village for raising £192.

Thankyou to Sandon School, Grantham for raising £167.00.

Thankyou to RNA, Grantham for Donating £50.00

Thankyou to the Carlton Scroop Yoga Group £65.00

Thankyou to Bridgwater Chapter Harley Owners Club for their generous donation of £500 from their "Hoggin The Bridge" charity ride where over 3000 Harley Davidsons, in a convoy, crossed the old Severn Bridge.