BBC SPORT | Athletics | Peak performance

BBC SPORT | Athletics | Peak performance: "Ten minutes before the leader is due home in the world's toughest marathon, a small army of locals are chipping away with axes at the ice on the path metres from the finish. Once that potential hazard is removed, another more awkward obstacle presents itself. A herd of yaks is inching its way up the same narrow, uneven street in Namche Bazaar, the commercial capital of the Sherpa community in Nepal. The doughty creatures are unmoved by the kerfuffle surrounding them as they move slowly upwards with their supplies of rice, soybean oil and San Miguel beer. Welcome to the Everest Marathon, which was run this week (Wednesday) for the 12th time since its inception in 1987."