By Alex Trickett Our man in La Manga gives you the inside track on heat one

McCullough pushed past the pain

The events did not always come easily to those unfortunate enough to be drawn in the "Group of Pain".

For every good performance - Henry Olonga's 100m or Greg Searle's bike ride - there was one to make the skin crawl.

Toil and trouble

Just ask Wayne McCullough, who picked up second-degree burns in the squat thrusts.

Defying advice and any normal man's pain threshold, the Irish boxer ripped hundreds of layers of flesh off his toes when attempting the controversial sliding technique in only one pair of socks.

He then looked like a man running on hot coals in the 800m.

But ever the good sport Wayne told us that he'd be ready to have another crack at the gym tests and could break Brian Jacks' all-time records.

And he played down the pain in true pugilist fashion: "Boxers are used to it - try getting hit by Erik Morales: that smarts a bit I can tell you."

Regis had to walk to the finish

All at sea

Jonny Searle probably didn't expect to end up in the back of an ambulance when he started his 600m bike ride.

But that's where the rower-turned-lawyer ended up after overexerting on a hill that would claim many more scalps.

Searle's predicament was thankfully minor, but John Regis could have been lost forever at sea in the kayak event.

Famously water-shy, the barrel-chested sprinter dipped in his oar nervously, and it was soon evident that he had no clue how to steer his craft.

Veering one way and then another while whipping up his own mini-tornado, Regis skipped out of his lane and ran aground 48m from the start to become the only athlete to record a distance rather a time.

Land of the giants

An abiding memory of the good-natured "Group of Pain" is altogether more tranquil, however.

Winding down after their traumatic uphill ride, strapping six-and-a-half footers Mark Foster and the Searle brothers, freewheeled back down again accompanied by McCullough.