France here we come...

The guys are now on the ferry and headig to France. Apparently all teams have now abandoned the swim leg so it must have been really rough. The bike leg is still on though and looking like it will be an overnight ride - getting into Paris early sunday morning.

On dry land...

...but in England. Hugh got really really sick so the boat has come back. He's been seen by paramedics and feels much better now. So the guys are heading to the ferry terminal to find a much drier (and more sensible) way to get to France! Only two boats still out in the channel so not a good day for channel swimming.

Seeing France - and Dover

The guys are out in the channel. Sam is swimming at the moment and looking strong. Barbs, Maria and Hugh have been sea sick but the rest are ok. Hugh, Barbara and Emma have all swum. Erika is next. And thenPaul can't wait to dip his toes in! ;0)

The sun is out and there's not much wind.

And one of the boats has had a mechanical and returned to harbour!!

1/2 hour into the swim for Hugh ;-) Barbara has just been sick!!

Water looks nice and calm. Legs are a bit tired, but everyone is keen to go ;-) France here we come!

Swim time!

finished

Barbara did a good 10th run leg beating the cows/bull and conquering 3 menacing hills. However emma had an eventful leg being chased out of the field by cows, diving over the barbed wire fence and up a tree, having to be resued by the boys. In which time UBS ran through not seeing any cows as they were all chasing Emma over to the other side of the field. Emma then finished her leg in the dark to hand over to Sam who dide an amazing 34mins 10k last leg to dover, over taking UBS. Finshed at 9.30pm. Had dinner and now going to bed.  Getting up at 6am to start the swim for 9am tomorrow.

leg 8 done

lots of mud but pretty with a scary dog. Still catching Accenture and Virtualis.

On leg 8

Sam and Paul have both done fantastic legs to get us to within 18 seconds behind Accenture and about 8 minutes behind Virtually with UBS behind us still on leg 7. CS are out in front by about 40minutes. Erika is now out on leg 8 and we are racing to the change over at Wye to meet her. The weather seems to be clearing up a bit but the routes are now all cross country so we are getting pretty muddy! Took three of us (all girls!) to clean the mud off of Paul's legs after he had managed to get up out of the field he had collapsed into!

7th leg

Paul is currently on leg 7, we are ahead of UBS thanks to sam's super fast running. We're coming to get the other teams. Currently have lack of internet signal and laptop power.

Erica in Hugh off

We have made up 10 mins, less than 10 mins behind Virtualis. Well done Erica. We are on your trail Virtualis.

we got lost!

Was winning the first leg but made a wrong turning so now 45 mins behind. We're all going to run super fast to catch up. Sat navs fault. Waiting for runner 2 (Erica) to come in.

And we are off

10am are first runner Paul, sets off into the rain on the first leg. Thanks for all the barclays supporters who were there to cheer us off. We all jumped into the van, managed to not stop at McDonalds and are waiting at the change over point route 2/3 ( formally known as de ja vu night club) update you again soon.

Almost time to go......

After months of planning, preparation not to the training the Barclays Capital Team is ready for the Enduro Challenge 2011.

Our team this year are:

Hugh Gibbs

Barbara Callaghan

Paul Perry

Emma-Lea Davis

Sam Robinson

Erika Henson

Damian Monaghan

Not forgetting our Super Support Crew, Amanda Barrett and Maria Rudzki and our drivers Tom Castleton and Majid Ashena

The weather is isn’t looking good for ’Bank Holiday Trip’ to Paris, but we have all packed rain coats and I’m sure that knowing that our efforts are helping to raise funds for our chosen charity, Demelza’s Children’s Hospice, who look after life-limited and life threatened children. http://www.demelza.org.uk/  will help us through the rain and wind.

If you haven’t visited justgiving page it’s not too late to log on and show your support to the team. http://www.justgiving.com/BarclaysEnduro2011

As we make our way to Paris we will be posting updates on our progress on our blog so come back and check how we are doing.

If the force 5 winds in The English Channel subside then we will be starting our swim around 9am Saturday morning. You can follow us as we swim using our boats tracker.

 Barclays Capital will be on Sea Satin piloted by Lance Oram.  Click on link below to track the boat.

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0VRLs4Of9DsYVSvsoj4lmW7Ik0Zgi69fk