A wrap on GBUDRO23

First riders in John O’Groats 

The final night 

The final push

No more room at the Inn (Checkpoint)

Kirsty is out.

The night draws in 

Stage 3 first finisher.

Reshuffle up front 

The weather begins to turn 

Nils Opgenorth

Jordan Matthews

Wouter Gerritsen

Bart Pombreu

Laurens Dingenen

Cameron Duffield

Paulius Aluzas

Alex Fthenakis

Steven White

Adrian Reynolds

Pete McNeil

Cristian Batista

John Hale

Will Robinson

Donnie Campbell

Kirsty Gunstone

Alan Colville

Felix Turian

José Crogiez

Mike Sheldrake

Joanne Wilson

Richard Christie

Hanif Meeran

Bryce Jersing

Tudor Gillham

Chris Ellison

Ben Melling

Tom Hall

Alex Boswell

Thomas Becker

Markus Kroell

MediaRider Bryn D

MediaRider Dan M

MediaRider Tom G

MediaRider Anthony P

MediaRider Kitty D

MediaRider Lewis C

MediaRider Ed W

MediaRider Fergus C

With Nils rolling in yesterday early evening all 15 riders who started the last stage are in and home. 

A massive congratulations to all those who took on this best! 10 days navigating the UK through pretty much every terrain it has to offer. 

As you can imagine Donnie claims the overall with Will just behind, and Cristian behind him. 

We have seen some great shows of camaraderie, ingenuity and determination. Til next year! 


Well we saw some cracking finish times over night. A beautifully placed tailwind looks like it made the final stage a great, and fast one! 

As has been the case with every stage, Donnie was first in, at just after 2am. 

Will was not far behind and behind him John came in an hour or so later.

A great ride for Pete saw him finish just as the sun started to stir. A ride which saw him claim 5th on the stage and remind us how strong he is! 

As of 9 am we have 8 finishers, most recent of who was Alex Fthenakis. 

Next in looks as though it’ll be Paulius who has around 100 kilometres to go.

As we enter the final full night of GBDURO we see Donnie once again taking the lead with under 100 kilometres to go. Just behind and ever up there is Will a few kilometres back. 

Riders have been enjoying the beauty of this stage song with, I hope, many macaroni pies. 

Contin stores was visited by many and once again is a hub for resupply. 

Pete McNeil is finishing strongly up in 4th place, giving it some juice for the last big push. He did mention earlier in the race to me that the last stage would be an all in oner!

Nils and Cameron have once again found themselves riding close by. They have just over 200 kilometres to go. 

How many riders will we see pushing through the night? And how many will be done by morning? 


Well 8am rolled round again the final stage of GBDURO23 has begun. The shortest of the lot and,in most opinions, the best will take the riders to John O’Groats.

So far riders are in great spirits. Morale is high for the final push.

It looks as though Adrian may still be at the checkpoint but everyone else is now out on the course! 

Paulius and Jordan have been DJing and dancing their way into the stage! 


With the second night of the checkpoint closing in we have everyone safe and warm! All settling into there last night at a checkpoint before the end in John O’Groats.

We saw some more clever waste management from Cameron who has been foraging for some berries in the bushes. A perfect, wrapper free snack. 

Most recently into the checkpoint by the look of things was Nils. Making good time and still in a bit of daylight. 

Fort Augustus is an important place to stock up with food. Stage 4, despite being beautiful, is the most remote of the lot. Contin stores will come early in the route and is an excellent place to top up the supplies. 



We have had a reasonably busy night at CP3 with riders coming in in a steady trickle. The trackers seem to be struggling a little coming into Fort Augustus but I think we now have around 8 in the checkpoint. 

Alex Fthenakis, an adopted Scot, has been finding new ways to replenish his sugar supplies. With Sugar! A whole bag of it in his bottle! Impressive. He will also be the next rider to arrive. 

Paulius is the latest bike shop visitor. A new tyre has been fitted, by the sounds of it very quickly and he is back up and running!

Kirsty had been making excellent progress until last night and now unfortunately has scratched. After having gear issues reducing her to just 2 cogs as well as running low on all her battery power items due to spending such little time in the checkpoints. She said if she were to sort the issues out she would miss the cut of time. 

At the end of day two we have 4 finishers of stage 3, Will, Cristian and Steven join Donnie. All pushed hard to make it in before darkness and will have ample time to recover before stage 4.

Next in will be John Hale who doesn’t have far to go and will hopefully be there in the next few hours. 

Nils has overcome multiple mechanicals, including his mech hanger snapping. Despite this he is pushing on and has fixed all issues! 

Kirsty is pushing on. She says she can’t face another 5 am arrival so is digging deep to get to the stage in time to have a sleep! 

We have our first finisher of stage three. Donnie rolled in about 10 minutes ago and now has the luxury of sleeping indoors! This is is an exception to this stage due to the checkpoint venue not having any outdoor area.

Will is still out there, fighting the demons and battling to the end of the stage. 

We have another reshuffle in the front this morning. From what I can tell from the crackly windy voice note from will he is pretty gutted after having to shelter for around 3 hours under a tree last night. It sounds like the elements closed in and he just couldn’t get warm again. Sometimes you just have to put your safety first. 

Therefore Donnie is leading but not by much, will is still hanging in there! 

Alan was rescued by mountain rescue last night after being up there for well over an hour. His guardians including John Hale then dropped into town where they managed to blag some food! 

It looks like Kirsty hunkered down somewhere last night to shelter. Hopefully she will be on the move again soon. 

Well, the riders are firmly into the night now, with Will still storming along. He is just on his way through Stirling, a nice section with a good bit of road. 

Cristian is having a great ride and is in second, just passing the Falkirk wheel. He’s followed closely by Donnie and Steven. I’ve been informed that Steven is now on local roads and will be all the way until the end of the stage. Definitely a big motivating factor! 

I’ve been updated by some dotwatchers on the ground that the top 4 are all looking good. Donnie has been plagued with punctures once more but is digging deep to get back. Apparently they’re all keen to push through but the wind is setting in along with the rain. So we will see what they end up doing soon. 

Alan is now in the safe hands of mountain rescue and John Hale and Jordan Matthews are back on their way. Kudos to them for sticking by Alan the whole time. 

Wouter and Paulius are both heading into the section where Alan went down. Hopefully they’ll both be ok in the dark on this bit! 

Kirsty is now well into Scotland and past Kielder forest. She’s looking good and hopefully will be able to push through the elements as they begin to close in. 


Bryn Davies

GBDURO23 Tracking + Commentary: It's often referred to as the "scrappy rolling picnic through Britain's ever-changing landscapes".  The race runs off-road from Land's End to John O'Groats, the two furthest points of the mainland UK.

GBDURO23 2023 Tracking

It's often referred to as the "scrappy rolling picnic through Britain's ever changing landscapes". In more detail, it's a four-stage mixed-terrain race from the Southern-most tip of England up to Scotland's John O'Groats with three checkpoints in mid-Wales, the Pennines and Scottish Highlands.

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